The Chargers are close to naming Mike McDaniel their next offensive coordinator, Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington of ESPN report. McDaniel, who’s having dinner with team brass on Tuesday, is expected to take the job.
While McDaniel dropped out of the running to become the Browns’ head coach on Tuesday, he remains a candidate for the openings in Las Vegas and Baltimore, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. If he doesn’t land with the Raiders or Ravens, though, McDaniel is primed to sign a deal to join Jim Harbaugh‘s staff in Los Angeles. The Chargers have informed other candidates they’re planning to hire McDaniel, Dianna Russini of The Athletic relays.
After McDaniel’s four-year run as the Dolphins’ head coach ended on Jan. 8, the Lions, Eagles and Buccaneers joined the Chargers in showing interest in him for their offensive coordinator positions.
The Lions have since hired Drew Petzing, though the Eagles and Buccaneers each regarded McDaniel as their top target, per Darlington. However, McDaniel’s desire to return to California will win out. He previously worked there from 2017-21 as an assistant on Kyle Shanahan‘s staff in San Francisco.
McDaniel’s success with the 49ers led the Dolphins to hire him as their head coach, and the move paid dividends initially. The Dolphins combined for a 20-14 record and earned playoff berths in McDaniel’s first two seasons. Their offense impressed in finishing sixth in yards and 11th in scoring in 2022, but the unit found another gear in 2023.
During an 11-win campaign, the Dolphins scored the most points and racked up the second-most yards in the NFL. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa led the league in passing en route to a Pro Bowl nod, while Tyreek Hill ended the year tops in receiving yards.
Unfortunately for McDaniel, the 2023 campaign proved to be his peak in Miami. After the Dolphins combined for a 15-19 mark over the past two seasons, owner Stephen Ross fired him. A significant Tagovailoa decline helped lead to McDaniel’s ouster. The left-hander played so poorly in 2025 that McDaniel benched him for seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers ahead of Week 16. Tagovailoa sat out each of Miami’s final three games. The Dolphins’ offense wrapped up the year 25th in points and 26th in yards.
As the fifth overall pick in 2020, Tagovailoa entered the league one selection before Chargers QB Justin Herbert. The 27-year-old put together his second Pro Bowl season in 2025 to help the Chargers to 11 wins and a playoff berth. However, after an ugly 16-3 loss to the Patriots in the wild-card round, Harbaugh fired offensive coordinator and longtime friend Greg Roman.
In Roman’s second and last year running their offense, the Chargers racked up the 12th-most yards in the league, but they struggled to put points on the board. LA was just 20th in scoring, though it hurt Roman’s cause that the team’s starting tackles, Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, didn’t play together all year.
Slater sat out the entire season with a torn patellar tendon, while an ankle injury ended Alt’s campaign after just six games. The Chargers were also shorthanded at running back, where offseason free agent pickup Najee Harris tore his Achilles in Week 3 and first-round rookie Omarion Hampton fractured his ankle and wound up missing eight games.
Although this season didn’t go according to plan for the Chargers, they’re now on the verge of reeling in one of the game’s most respected offensive minds. The 42-year-old McDaniel is slated to work with an enviable group of talent that will include Herbert, Slater, Alt, Hampton, wide receivers Ladd McConkey, Quentin Johnston, and Tre Harris, and tight end Oronde Gadsden II. While it doesn’t appear McDaniel will receive his second head coaching job this winter, that could change a year from now if he revives the Chargers’ offense in 2026.
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Yeah I would rather be the OC in LA for Justin Herbert then the HC for Shadeur in Cleveland too
Agree. Take a step back and reinvigorate his career instead of killing it in Cleveland.
Ooh, fun. He’ll have a much better quarterback, a vastly better pair of tackles (assuming health), and some interesting weapons.
McDaniel and Harbaugh together is a very funny pair of contrasting vibes.
And a mental midget at QB. People have been saying he looks the part since he was at Oregon, and he keeps coming up small when it counts.
Stick to your team since you know nothing about mine.
Could say the same thing about Josh Allen, he keeps coming small when it counts. 0 Super Bowl appearances in all those playoff appearances.
Massive upgrade from Tua and poor WR core
Poor WR corps? In Miami? I want some of what you’re smoking…
It is poor what are you smoking lmao
That’s a ridiculous statement. Hill and Waddle were as good a pairing as Miami has ever fielded, but the GM gave them a QB who couldn’t stay healthy or play consistently good football.
I’m talking after Hills injury lmao
Changing the narrative now? LOL, even after Hill’s injury (he’s surely done there), Miami had a better WR room than half the other teams, which is hard for me to say as I hate the Dolphins.
Stats show otherwise lol never changed a narrative. Tua could barely get the th ball
Makes sense
McDaniels served as the 49ers run game coordinator and under Shanahans offensive philosophy so should add some new ideas to Harbaughs run first approach.
Should be very interesting to see how each approach to the run game influences the other.
Chargers don’t have just abundance of quality wide receivers either. Think he likes coastal cities
I dont hate it.
Get ready for a playbook full of screen passes to Hampton.
It doesn’t seem like the Eagles have a plan.
If they wait too long they’ll end up with another mediocre/bad OC.
I’ll miss his media interviews, they were always very entertaining. But great pairing with Jim Harbaugh, that offense will be much more fun to watch. Jim is one of the best HCs for MacDaniels to learn from if he wants to pursue another HC job down the road.
Yep, he’ll learn every way to cheat and get away with it from Jimmy “Slick” Harbaugh.
Say what you want about Jim H, but he’s still one of the best football coaches in the game, and excellent QB coach.
Chargers fan’s should be very excited! McDaniel is one of the brightest offensive minds in the game, and he will especially revitalize the Chargers running game. I think Hampton is likely to be the biggest beneficiary from this move, and next year I’d expect him to have a monster sophomore season. Whether it is the passing game, the screen game, or their running game, I expect Hampton to be featured a ton, and he’s going to have a blast with the variety of ways he’s going to get his touches and opportunities.
Now, ultimately, his degree of success is obviously going to come down to his own health, but Slater and Alt will have to stay healthy as well if he’s going to maximize his potential production.
Having the Charges running game becoming such a weapon should also significantly help out their play-action passing game, and that is where I fully expect Gadsden, McConkey, Harris, and Johnston to improve and rack up their own numbers. Hampton, McConkey, and Gadsden should act as security blankets and quick check downs for Justin Herbert, and then Johnston and Harris should rack up their own fair share of yards when McDaniel decides to take advantage of the defense creeping up by taking some calculated deep shots down the field.
That is jot even including any potential weapons they might add to the offense in the draft and possibly free agency. This is a excellent sign of things to come for Chargers fan’s, and they deserve to finally have this team get over the hump and make a long playoff run. I think by the Chargers staying healthy, by adding McDaniel, and by adding a few key additions in the draft and free agency this team should be able to finally reach their goals.
War and peace, volume 2. When you comment is longer than the story, it’s time to walk away…
Color me shocked. Way outside of Harbaugh’s comfort zone if you look at his OCs going back 20 years, both pro and college. However, it’s not going to make a difference. Herbert is the common denominator.
He just hates Sean Payton so much that he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play him twice a year. 🤣🤣🤣
O.H. 1st round pick in fantasy now?
From running it up the gut & multiple TE’s; to a spread out O needing multiple WR’s that the Chargers are short on. The most recent offensive philosophies for them. People use the bust term too loosely. It’s directionless franchises that fail QB’s more often than not.
So glad the Raiders avoided that fool-
You’ll get even a worse fool with Davis’ likely trying to pay minimum wage as he tries to dig himself out of several bad coaching contracts.