The Los Angeles Chargers had a pair of monumentous decisions in front of them this offseason after the firing of Greg Roman and the departure of Jesse Minter. They needed to replace both coordinators, and the immediate future of the organization hung in the balance.
Despite all of the hope he has delivered to the organization, Jim Harbaugh's first two seasons as head coach have been undeniably disappointing. The team has been embarrassed in the Wild Card Round twice, and major changes need to be made in response.
Without exaggeration, the coordinator hires this offseason could make or break Harbaugh's time in Los Angeles.
According to Jordan Dajani and Bryan DeArdo at CBS Sports, he may have just pulled it off. The Chargers hired Mike McDaniel as their offensive coordinator and Chris O'Leary as their defensive coordinator for 2025.
Both hirings received excellent grades in the writers' round-up of offseason coaching hires.
Mike McDaniel and Chris O'Leary could prove to be two of the league's premier hires of the offseason
The value in the McDaniel hire is obvious. After being relieved of his head coaching duties by the Miami Dolphins, he was the premier option on the offensive side of the ball if he chose to take a coordinator job.
Although his final two seasons in Miami were underwhelming, he worked schematic miracles there with how he created touches for their running backs and utilized the speed of their receivers. In 2023, the Dolphins finished first in total offense under McDaniels' leadership.
He's stated his desire to create easier completions for Justin Herbert, and there's ample reason to be excited about his vision for the offense. The hiring received an A+ from CBS Sports.
O'Leary, meanwhile, was a much more uncertain hire. He was last with the Chargers in 2024 as their safeties coach before spending last season at Western Michigan as defensive coordinator. He worked under Jesse Minter at multiple stops both at the college and the NFL level.
As far as continuity goes, O'Leary is everything you could hope for from a nominally external hire. Not only did he spend extensive time under Minter, but he led Western Michigan to an excellent defensive season as a play-caller.
If he can continue to implement Minter's zone-heavy scheme and maximize the talent of the Chargers' secondary, as he helped do in 2024, O'Leary could prove to be one of the best hires of the offseason as well. His hiring received an A-.
Overall, the offseason has gone about as well as one could have possibly hoped for an organization that has long been stuck in the mud from a coaching perspective. Hopefully it turns into concrete results in 2026.