As much excitement as there is about the implementation of Mike McDaniel's offensive scheme for the Los Angeles Chargers this season, the true crux of the issue may lie on the defensive side of the ball.
After two seasons of unprecedented success in Los Angeles, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter departed to become the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens this offseason. He'll be replaced by Chris O'Leary, who spent time with the Chargers in 2024 as safeties coach and called plays last season as the defensive coordinator for Western Michigan.
If anyone is poised to replicate Minter's schematic success, it's O'Leary. He has a strong understanding of the innerworkings of the secondary in Minter's complex, zone-heavy scheme. But an underrated aspect of Minter's scheme was the pass rush— his ability to draw pressure out of the Chargers' edge rushers without blitzing was nearly unmatched in the NFL.
In Mike Jones' recent piece for The Athletic, which outlines a looming question for each of the NFL's 14 new defensive play-callers, O'Leary is tasked with a challenge. The Chargers brough back Khalil Mack and drafted Akheem Mesidor this offseason rather than gamble on an extension for Odafe Oweh. Can O'Leary make those gambles pay off?
"Perennial Pro Bowl pass rusher Khalil Mack had his least productive season in 2025 as injury limited him to just 12 games and 5.5 sacks and 11 quarterback hits. Mack, who had just six sacks in 2024, returns for a 13th NFL season, but at 35, a resurgence isn’t likely... O’Leary will try to uphold the standard set by Jesse Minter, who is now in Baltimore, but he’ll need his pass rushers to serve as the tone-setters for the defense to ensure success in Year 1." Mike Jones, The Athletic
Chris O'Leary will need to leverage his pass rush to find success in Year 1
Although the Chargers began last season with Mack and Tuipulotu as their primary edge rushers, it quickly became apparent that their depth behind that pairing was insufficient. When Mack went down with an arm injury in Week 2, Los Angeles' pass rush lost a significant amount of its bite.
The team's trade for Odafe Oweh from the Baltimore Ravens was a calculated gamble. While Oweh had yet to post a sack to that point in the season, he had the power and the strength to complement Mack and Tuipulotu off the edge. After the arrival of Oweh, Minter was able to leverage each of his pass rushers individually, putting the whole of the line in advantageous situations by pairing players in his traditional non-blitz fronts with intentionality and unpredictability.
Even with the sixth-lowest blitz rate in the NFL, the Chargers managed to finish 13th in overall pressure rate and tied for 10th in total sacks.
To this point in the offseason, many of the questions surrounding O'Leary have centered on the secondary. Will he be able to implement his own version of Minter's heavy pre-snap communication system? Will he be able to maximize Donte Jackson, Cam Hart, and Tarheeb Still in the same way that Minter did?
But as Jones points out, the pass rush is at least an equally important consideration.
Mesidor, whom the Chargers nabbed at 22nd overall in the 2026 NFL Draft, should be able to provide the same power off the line of scrimmage that Oweh did, plus some additional alignment versatility. But in letting Oweh walk, Los Angeles is gambling on two things.
Firstly, they are betting that Mack's under-productive 2025 season is not the first signals of a sharp decline. Mack's pressure numbers stayed steady, but unless Mesidor is able to immediately step in as a starting-caliber pass rusher alongside Tuipulotu, they will need his sack numbers to increase from the 5.5 he posted in 2025. Secondly, they're gambling on Tuipulotu being able to replicate what he did last season.
By all measures, it should be possible. But the point is that O'Leary' success will hing on much more than just ironing out the particularities of his zone-heavy coverages in 2026.
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