While working as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, Mike McDaniel's offense had one of the longest time-to-snap offenses in the entire league. However, in the past few days, up-tempo training and surprising speed could hint at changes to this philosophy.
Mike McDaniel is implementing a new apsect of his offensive philosophy in Chargers training camp
McDaniel could simply be testing the waters, or even just helping test the defense, but recent activity at camp has been a major break from the typical philosophy employed by McDaniel when designing an offense.
McDaniel has certainly made a name for himself as a credible scheme guru in the NFL, and those familiar with his style of coaching will know that his scheme has typically been oriented around a solid run game and heavy pre-snap motion. When heading up the Miami Dolphins, McDaniel maintained an impressive 31.2 second average time-between-snap in the 2025 season, putting the AFC East team squarely in the lead for longest time-to-snap offense.
While the time-between-snap record can stand as a testament to the West Coast philosophy of McDaniel, it didn't mesh well with the personnel available to the team last season, leading to a 7-10 record and multiple instances of a misplayed game clock. However, some may look at this more as a failing on the execution of QB Tua Tagovailoa, or other members of the Dolphins' 2025 offense rather than as a knock on McDaniel, as few would argue that the Shanahan tree schemer is a bad offensive mind.
This number was achieved through a heavy mix of pre-snap motion, adjustments, and maintaining tempo in downfield drives, and for those who have watched McDaniel coaching before, it's no surprise to see his scheme effectively aligning with his laid-back demeanor, working to maintain possession and control the tempo of the team through patience rather than through force. However, recent camp showings have included a number of surprises, and the most surprising to some may be the urgency with which the Chargers offense was moving, practically sprinting to the line of scrimmage in between plays and quickly moving through the design.
While training camp is largely a flexible testing ground for many of the NFL's schemers, seeing McDaniel bring this sort of tempo to the field is a major deviation from his typical offensive planning, and could be a sign of things to come for an offense led by quarterback Justin Herbert rather than Tua Tagovailoa. Herbert is no stranger to up-tempo offenses, having both college and NFL experience in the sorts of fast-paced reads and field shifting plays that would be employed in such.
Likewise, the Chargers have had to play against up-tempo schemes as well, with the Kansas City Chiefs in particular often running up-tempo sets and quick-break huddle snaps mixed into their offensive success over the past years. In addition, the Las Vegas Raiders will be employing a brand new scheme from OC Andrew Janocko, who employed some up-tempo play while working with QB Sam Darnold on the Seattle Seahawks path to a championship this past season.
While looking at any evidence from training camp is largely speculative and it's difficult to get a true read on offensive plans from just the first week of camp, McDaniel's shift in schematic operation may be a sign of things to come, or even a break from the typical West Coast, schematic route-tree driven offenses the coach has employed in the past. However, McDaniel has also heavily emphasized those very same route trees and in-depth schematic approaches with the press and in the early days of camp as well, which has caused the recent up-tempo trend in camp to be even more of a surprise to viewers.
Of course, there is also the possibility that this was primarily done to work the defense in the up-tempo cadence that the Chargers will certainly have to face at some point this season, and that McDaniel fully intends on maintaining his stout run game focused offense rather than change gears so suddenly. It wouldn't be surprising if, however, McDaniel, in his schematic capability, wanted to use all of the tools available to him, and having a quarterback capable of running a successful up-tempo offense has enabled him to explore going down such a path.
It's an exciting time to be following the team during camp different players look to break out with a new offensive coordinator, and even the coordinator himself may be subject to a major change this season as environments and acquistions change. While most every move the team has made this season points to a continuation of the heavy set run game McDaniel became known for during his tenure in Miami, don't be surprised if he pulls out a few twists with an NFL Top 40 player behind center who is capable of matching the scheme guru's desired tempo.
Whichever way it goes, watching the Chargers offense sprint to the line and roll out quick tempo action while still employing deep route trees and play design has been a serious break from the difficulties of the Greg Roman OC tenure, and McDaniel seems poised to push Herbert to the next level, whether through helping him out by employing NFL-level schematics that have been sorely lacking or by using all of the tools the quarterback has in his kit.
This may be the first time in both Herbert and McDaniel's NFL careers that the OC and QB pairing are on the same level of competency, and it heralds for an exciting time for the Chargers offense.
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