Chargers OC Mike McDaniel is hard at work in the teams' offseason program. After rookie minicamp, the focus will turn towards the teams' first OTA practices on May 26th-27th. But many of the teams' veteran players are already in the building at this stage of the offseason. McDaniel is focused on making the Chargers a dangerous offense to play against this season.
But McDaniel has also been open about his long term goals. At his introductory press conference with the Chargers, the former Dolphins HC was asked if he wanted to be a head coach again: "I think absolutely, my end goal of being able to bring championships to an organization as a head coach," McDaniel said. "That's still in place."
If everything goes well with the Chargers in the next year or two, McDaniel's time in LA may not last long. That's been known since he was first hired by the team.
Mike McDaniel takes his first steps towards determining his post-Chargers future.
But McDaniel has taken a formal step towards putting himself back in head coaching conversations next year. He will appear at the NFL's accelerator program this week in Orlando. The program focuses on engineering opportunities for high-level coaches and executives who are within a year or two of potentially getting a promotion.
Chargers assistant GM Chad Alexander will also be attending the program this week. This comes after Alexander declined an interview with the Minnesota Vikings for their GM opening. He has taken part in previous iterations of the accelerator program before.
It's not often that a former head coach attends the accelerator program. But that's the position McDaniel finds himself in after being fired by the Dolphins.
The alarm bells shouldn't be going off for Chargers fans just yet in terms of McDaniel's short-term future. A lot will be determined by his performance this season before we see just how many teams are interested in him as a head coaching candidate next year. But the urgency for the Chargers to fix their offense and maximize what they get out of McDaniel this season is becoming clear.
It's worth noting that there are comp pick implications with McDaniel getting a head coaching job in 2027 vs. 2028. The Chargers would not receive draft compensation for the promotion of McDaniel as a minority head coaching candidate if he was hired next offseason. But they would if he was hired the year after. For Alexander, they'd receive two third-round picks as a result of him being hired in 2027.
Winning as a franchise means other teams will want a piece of your brain trust. That's the reality the Chargers had to deal with this offseason with former DC Jesse Minter going to Baltimore. The same could be true next offseason with McDaniel and Alexander.
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