Adam Gase hasn’t coached in the NFL since the Jets fired him in 2020, but the 47-year-old could resurface on the Chargers’ staff next season. Head coach Jim Harbaugh is “strongly considering” Gase for the Chargers’ passing game coordinator role, Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports reports.
In joining the Chargers, Gase would take over for soon-to-be Ravens assistant Marcus Brady and team with two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Justin Herbert. Harbaugh and new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel would be landing a seasoned staffer in Gase, who carries 16 years’ experience in the pros.
Gase has held high-level assistant jobs with the Lions (QBs coach, 2007), Broncos (QBs coach from 2011-12, offensive coordinator from 2013-14) and Bears (O-coordinator, 2015). However, he’s better known for his ill-fated head coaching tenures with the Dolphins and Jets.
Gase took the reins in 2016 in Miami, which won 10 games and earned a playoff berth that year. Things went downhill from there, though. After the Dolphins combined to go 13-19 over the next two seasons, they fired Gase.
It didn’t take long for Gase to land with the Jets, who hired him under two weeks after the Dolphins canned him. Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, whom Gase coached in Denver from 2012-14, recommended him to Jets owner Woody Johnson. Despite Manning’s endorsement, Gase’s run as the Jets’ sideline leader was a disaster. They went 7-9 in 2019 and then spiraled to a 2-14 mark the next season, leading Johnson to hand Gase his walking papers.
Gase, owner of an ugly 32-48 record in a half-decade as a head coach, has stayed connected to the game despite not officially working for any teams since 2020. When Antonio Pierce was the Raiders’ interim head coach in 2023, he invited Gase and fellow former HCs Tom Coughlin and Marvin Lewis to participate in meetings. Gase, the son-in-law of Denver senior defensive assistant Joe Vitt, also spent time around the Broncos and offensive coordinator (then their QBs coach) Davis Webb last summer, per Jon Heath of Broncos Wire.
Along with Gase, Dolphins offensive assistant Max McCaffrey is a candidate to join the Chargers’ staff, according to Zenitz. There’s a “strong possibility” the Chargers will hire McCaffrey, possibly as their running backs coach, after he worked for McDaniel in Miami from 2023-25. Kiel McDonald, the Chargers’ RBs coach from 2024-25, will not return next season, per Daniel Popper of The Athletic. That could open the door for McCaffrey.
An NFL receiver from 2016-18, the 31-year-old McCaffrey is the brother of superstar 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey and Commanders wideout Luke McCaffrey. He began his coaching career assisting with Northern Colorado’s WRs in 2020.