Daiyan Henley played just one season under Brandon Staley and has made it clear at every turn that he is glad the LA Chargers moved on to hire Jim Harbaugh.
Henley has not been shy about critiquing Staley in the past, even if he's never directly mentioned him by name. Henley has publicly questioned his former head coach's defensive scheme, while also calling out the fact that Staley forgot his birthday (as silly as that sounds).
The linebackers latest critique of Staley was pretty pointed, albeit without mentioning him by name. When asked about how various Chargers rookies have stepped up this season for injured veterans, Henley applauded his current coaching staff for putting players in positions to succeed. In that praise, Henley was pretty blunt about his rookie season under a completely different staff.
"I wish I had these coaches when I was a rookie, but it is what it is. "
Daiyan Henley has the same wish Chargers fans had back in 2023
Henley wishes he had a different head coach his rookie season, which is exactly what Chargers fans wished for at the time. It's fitting that Henley's comments come before the team heads to Jacksonville to play the Jaguars. Last time the Chargers were in Jacksonville disaster struck.
The Chargers infamously blew a 27-point lead against the Jaguars in the AFC Wild Card round in January, 2023. While Staley led the Chargers to the playoffs for the first time since 2018, many fans wanted to see him left on the tarmac after the historic meltdown.
It took longer than that. Former offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi became the fall guy and Staley stuck around. He didn't last through the 2023 season, getting fired after another historic loss: 63-21 against the Las Vegas Raiders on primetime.
The 2023 season was essentially a lost season with Staley at the helm and Justin Herbert getting injured midway through the year. Fans viewed it as inexcusable at the time, wishing for the very same thing Henley just publicly admitted.
However, everything happens for a reason and fans should be happy the team took its lumps in 2023 to get to where it is now. The Chargers wouldn't have had a top pick in the NFL Draft, meaning both Ladd McConkey and Joe Alt likely would be on different teams right now.
More importantly, the Chargers wouldn't have Harbaugh. Harbaugh hadn't won a National Championship yet and likely wouldn't have jumped ship to the NFL until the next year anyway.
Frank Reich, Sean Payton, Demeco Ryans and Shane Steichen were the head coaches hired in that cycle. There are some good coaches in there but Payton is the only one who really would have moved the needle, and even that would have taken the Chargers trading draft capital to hire him like the Broncos did.
Everything happens for a reason. While it was miserable for Henley and fans at the time, the Chargers keeping Staley for one more season ended up working in the end. Now the Chargers are exactly where they need to be.