Mike McDaniel has his eyes set on becoming a head coach again. He admitted to as much in his offensive coordinator introductory press conference with the Chargers. The question is how long will he be in Los Angeles before he gets a second opportunity as a head coach?
McDaniel attended the NFL's accelerator summit in Orlando along with Chargers assistant GM Chad Alexander. Clearly, he has his eyes on potential 2027 head coaching gigs. And assuming he has a successful season with the Chargers, he will get interview requests.
The Chargers might be thinking about their long term future even with Mike McDaniel here for 2026.
If McDaniel did leave next offseason, there probably would be no shortage of candidates who'd want to work with QB Justin Herbert. Following the revamping of the offense into a Shanahan-style scheme, the Chargers would probably have even more interest in their OC vacancy.
The Chargers could approach that OC opening in the same way they did this year: just hire the best guy on the market. It made sense with McDaniel this year. If HC Shane Steichen were to be fired by the Colts, could he be next year's McDaniel? Again, the Chargers would have no shortage of external options.
But the Chargers will likely also interview internal candidates for the job. This offseason, the team interviewed former passing game coordinator Marcus Brady (now with the Ravens) and QBs coach Shane Day for the OC job.
The Chargers announced a series of promotions yesterday for several staff members. Coaches that received title promotions included the aforementioned Day as well as Mike Elston and Steve Clinkscale. Day is now offensive passing game coordinator in addition to QBs coach.
A promotion plus an OC interview for Day this year seems significant. Herbert has internally fought for him to be on staff and was integral to Jim Harbaugh hiring him back to the team in 2024. Day spent two years on Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers coaching staff as QBs coach. McDaniel was also on those Shanahan teams as run game coordinator before he became offensive coordinator in 2021.
If McDaniel were to leave this year, Day seems to be the lead internal candidate to replace him. The Chargers would obviously explore their external options, and an outside choice might be favored if there was a McDaniel tier OC candidate next year. But the Chargers did (kind of, sort of from Western Michigan) hire Chris O’Leary in an “internal” fashion to keep continuity with Jesse Minter’s defense. Maybe the same would be true for Day in a future season.
Nothing is guaranteed for any offensive coordinator candidate if McDaniel leaves next year. But this promotion certainly seems to give Day a leg up on Adam Gase or other offensive minds on the Chargers staff.
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