Joe Hortiz: Chargers had ‘no real discussions’ of trading Justin Herbert, drafting J.J. McCarthy

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh raised some eyebrows ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft when he tabbed former Michigan star J.J. McCarthy as the best QB in the draft.

Harbaugh also declared that McCarthy was the best quarterback in Michigan history as the duo led the Wolverines to a national title.

Because of Harbaugh’s bold claims about his former quarterback, some questioned if the Chargers would be interested in trading Justin Herbert in order to make a run at J.J. McCarthy. However, Chargers GM Joe Hortiz said that trading Herbert and making a move for McCarthy was never seriously discussed.

“I can tell you this, I never got one call about it. I had some loose questions at the combine. They were quickly shot down,” Joe Hortiz said on The Pat McAfee Show. “So there were no real discussions about us trading Justin Herbert or teams really being interested.”

The Chargers drafted Justin Herbert in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft with the No. 6 overall pick. He was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year that season and has also already made a Pro Bowl.

Hortiz said the Chargers were not interested in moving on from Herbert and other teams knew that.

“They know what we have. They know where we stood,” Hortiz said. “So there was no real questions. I know there were some rumors out there, but I don’t know where they’re coming from. They’re not coming from the Chargers organization, because none of us got calls.”

As for J.J. McCarthy, he ended up being selected in the first round, No. 10 overall, by the Minnesota Vikings.

After leading Michigan to a national championship last season, he is hoping to have a successful NFL career. Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell expects him to excel in the NFL.

“We went through a great process between the Combine interview and getting to see J.J. throw the football there at the Combine. But then spent about a whole day in Ann Arbor on his home turf there in the classroom setting, out on the field and really got to know the player, got to know the person.” O’Connell said on The Pat McAfee Show. “Really give him an idea via some installation of some of our offense that then we were able to go out on the field and work through and really see kind of a translation from some success at the highest level, winning a national championship.

“(We got to see) a lot of the great things he was able to do, demonstrate his physical skills on his tape. But we were able to really get a great feel for where J.J. is at, you know, high level intelligence and just kind of some of the traits and intangibles that I was really looking for as we attacked this process. Really happy (and) excited, to say the least, to have J.J. on our team.”