As much hope as there is for the Los Angeles Chargers to approach their ceiling in 2026, there's always uncertainty when introducing new coordinators and schemes, especially on both sides of the ball at once.
Given the limitations of the offense under Greg Roman, moving on from him was always a necessity. Mike McDaniel should provide the Chargers with the adaptiveness and the modern offensive structure to truly leverage the talent they have available on that side of the ball.
The departure of Jesse Minter was also unavoidable, but in a different way. During Minter's two seasons in Los Angeles, the defense found consistent dominance under his zone-heavy scheme, leveraging Derwin James Jr. in a nickel/dime role and maximizing the talent available at every level of the unit. Young, innovative coordinators almost always get their shot as head coaches, and Minter's departure to the Baltimore Ravens this offseason didn't come as a real surprise.
The Chargers quickly replaced Minter with Chris O'Leary, who has the tools and the experience to replicate Minter's defensive success. But as they head into a new season, they will almost certainly continue to face external pressures on their staff.
Although Chargers defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale ultimately didn't land the defensive coordinator job this offseason, his integral role in the team's defensive success could set the stage for his departure.
Steve Clinkscale has all the makings of a hot defensive coordinator candidate, even if it wasn't meant to be this cycle
What Minter accomplished during his time in Los Angeles was obviously impressive. The Chargers were fifth in total yards allowed in 2025 and 11th in 2024, and their ability to limit opponents' offensive attack through their zone-heavy scheme was consistently impressive. If there's anything you can chalk Los Angeles' back-to-back 11-win seasons up to, it's their consistency on that side of the ball.
Obviously, much of the credit for that goes to Minter. But Clinkscale has been integral as well.
Minter's scheme, during his time with the Chargers, depended upon his ability to maximize the talent he had available in the secondary. Donte Jackson became one of the league's most surprisingly resurgent corners under Minter, and both Tarheeb Still and Cam Hart became solid rotational contributors. Even Benjamin St-Juste, who struggled heavily in coverage in his prior stint with the Washington Commanders, found his footing in Los Angeles.
Clinkscale deserves a large portion of the credit for helping implement Minter's scheme. The Chargers have routinely outperformed what the talent in their secondary might indicate they're capable of, and it's been in large part because of Clinkscale's ability to implement the zone-matches and pre-snap communication that's integral to Minter's scheme.
Clinkscale also has play-calling experience, having called plays in his final season at the University of Cincinnati and played a major role in the game-planning during Minter's time at the University of Michigan.
If the Los Angeles secondary is able to maintain this level of success under O'Leary, Clinkscale won't go unrecognized as a pillar of the Chargers defense for long. As teams continuously seek out fresh play-calling talent on the defensive side of the ball, there's certainly room for Clinkscale to receive interest next offseason from rival teams— especially since the path for an internal promotion is now blocked off for the foreseeable future.
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