LA Chargers: Grading five potential 2021 head coaching hires

Joe Brady

Joe Brady is certainly the polar opposite of Del Rio, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. He is viewed as one of the brightest offensive minds coming up in the league. His time at LSU and his Panthers’ offensive coordinator tenure have mostly been great.

Brady has the Panthers averaging two more points per game this season than they were last year. That may not seem impressive on paper, but consider the fact that Christian McCaffrey has been out for most of the season.

In addition to that, Teddy Bridgewater has also been playing injured. The Panthers laid a 20-0 smackdown on the Lions with XFL star P.J. Walker as their quarterback and no McCaffrey.

Some will point to his age and relative inexperience, but that’s also what people said about coaches like Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan. If a veteran defensive coordinator were to be hired along with quality positional coaches, I don’t think his age would really stick out in a bad way.

Personally, I’d prefer an older, more seasoned candidate this coaching cycle. But Brady has the appeal of being the offensive genius type. It’s not usually a bad thing when you have a young quarterback to work with. We saw the rapid improvement Jared Goff made when the Rams went from Jeff Fisher to McVay.

Brady is partially responsible for turning Joe Burrow from a day three draft pick to the number one overall pick. Bridgewater has also had some notable improvements this season in passing efficiency. The idea of Brady taking Herbert to that next level is very, very appealing.

Joe Brady: B