So, exactly how has McDaniel asked Herbert to tweak his footwork in this spring?
When lining up in shotgun, most right-handed quarterbacks have their right foot forward in the stance. McDaniel said that essentially all quarterbacks did that in the early 2000s except for Brett Favre in 2005 and Tom Brady in 2007.
McDaniel then did an extensive study in Houston when he was with Kyle Shanahan, now the 49ers Head Coach, and found that switching it up and putting the left foot forward.
The reason?
"Ultimately trying to take advantage of the space that defenses gives," McDaniel said while not wanting to get too much into specifics.
McDaniel then implemented that tweak into previous stops he's been at, including Washington, Atlanta and Miami, and now has Herbert, who is right-handed, lining up with his left foot forward.
"I don't mandate it, but with Justin I really just showed him where I thought it would be advantageous," McDaniel said. "He didn't blink for a second and was excited to attack it.
"When you have players like that that go after their craft in that way, you can do things, change things that have been standardized in their game for years and you can do it with reasonable expectations and higher performance," McDaniel added.
Herbert's response to the change?
"Mike just talked about how he saw the quarterback position being played and why he thought that was the best way," Herbert said Wednesday. "Jumped on board and got as many reps as we could and it's been going good so far."
The crux of the tweaked footwork is that Herbert should be able to get the ball out faster and line up Chargers skill players for more yards-after-the-catch chances.
"You want to get the ball in a position where the receivers can run with it," Herbert said. "Getting the ball out earlier and in timing and rhythm allows them to do that.
"I think we've got the guys who are explosive and able to make guys miss. The more that I can do that, the better we'll be," Herbert added.
McDaniel added: "You're throwing a 5-yard out route, how can we get 12 [yards] on that? Well, timing based on our footwork and when we're able to throw has a big portion in the maximization of that 5-yard out route."