EL SEGUNDO >> Right from the start, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman said they were committed to running the football for the 2024 season and beyond. Sure, they would pass it now and then. After all, who wouldn’t with Justin Herbert at quarterback?

General Manager Joe Hortiz showed how serious he was about the ground game when he signed former Baltimore Ravens running backs Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins to replace the versatile and productive Austin Ekeler, who signed with the Washington Commanders as a free agent.

Training camp sessions were filled with plenty of running plays during 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills. Exhibition games featured plenty of runs, too, although it was clear they were strictly from basic formations. There was no sense giving away the team’s secret plans in August, well ahead of next month’s season opener.

So, it was difficult to know how effective the Chargers could be on the ground.

“I’ll be fully transparent here,” Roman said. “I never have an idea what it’s going to look like until I see it in the season and I see it evolve during the season. Very often it’s a process during the season. So, you never quite know, I never have, what it’s going to look like. You think you have an idea, but what I’ve learned over the years is that I thought I had an idea, but I really didn’t. So, let’s take that approach and we’ve got to be ready to adjust and move as the season moves on.”

Under the previous regime, coach Brandon Staley was devoted to the pass.

Running the ball was often an afterthought despite the presence of Ekeler, who led the NFL in overall touchdowns for the 2021 and ’22 seasons. A sprained ankle limited his effectiveness early in the 2023 season, and the Chargers never recovered and eventually swooned to a 5-12 record.

Ekeler had a team-leading 628 yards rushing with five touchdowns in 179 carries.

If all goes to plan, Edwards and Dobbins each might get those kinds of numbers in the 2024 season. But don’t ask Roman for a prediction for the running game, at least not now with more than a week to go before the season-opening game Sept. 8 against the Raiders at SoFi Stadium.

“You’re looking at everything,” he said. “You’re turning over every stone, but it’s really more of a piece-by-piece, player-by-player evaluation than it is a full-scale scheme type of thing. So, you’re really looking at everything. Again, in the preseason and that team-building training camp time, it’s really more component-by-component, position-by-position. Then you start to get an idea what the different possibilities are.”

Bosa talks injury

Edge rusher Joey Bosa revealed that he broke his left hand, an injury that required surgery, on the final play of a joint practice with the Rams on Aug. 4. He also said he was sound enough to play in the season-opening game and would ditch the protective padding he’s worn in practice sooner than later.

Bosa returned to practice this week after sitting out for three weeks and working out in the weight room with Ben Herbert, the Chargers’ strength and conditioning coach. Bosa said he told Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford it was broken when Stafford asked what had happened during the 11-on-11 drill.

“It was pretty wild,” Bosa said. “I was not expecting that to happen, but I’ve moved on. It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m over it. It’s a bone. It’s not like some more finger exercises would have protected my hand from snapping. It (stinks). The second you get injured, a million thoughts go through your head. Most of them are negative.”

Roster moves

The Chargers announced they acquired backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke from the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for a seventh-round draft pick in 2025 that converts to a sixth-round selection if certain conditions are met. Heinicke played five games last season, including four starts. ... Veteran safety Tony Jefferson was released and running back Jaret Patterson was waived. Jefferson was then added to the practice squad. Center Sam Mustipher and tight end Eric Tomlinson were signed to the practice squad. Cornerback Robert Kennedy was released.