The LA Chargers coaching staff lost one of its most important members after the 2021 season as offensive line coach Frank Smith left the team to be the offensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins. That is part of running a successful operation in the NFL and if the Chargers are as successful as we are expecting then it will happen after the 2022 season as well.
This is something that head coach Brandon Staley welcomes. Staley recently appeared on the Drue Tranquill Show and explained that his goal is not just to prepare his team to win but to prepare his fellow coaches for rich and beneficial coaching careers.
There are three coaches on the LA Chargers who could be coaching for a promotion with another team after the 2022 season.
1. Joe Lombardi
This is the most obvious inclusion on this list as Joe Lombardi was getting head coach buzz this past offseason after his first season as the Chargers' offensive coordinator. The long-time New Orleans Saints quarterbacks coach has the track record in the league to get his foot in the door and another top-five season offensively for the Chargers might just be enough to get him a new job.
This is ironic as well as Charger fans online were not happy with Lombardi for most of the season last year because of the perceived lack of deep balls that Justin Herbert threw. In reality, Herbert threw it deep just as much as he did the year before and the offense was even more efficient. The deep throws might be the highlights but Lombardi's job is to create a complete offense, not a highlight offense.
Lombardi is the only coach on this list that could transition to a head coaching gig after this season as that is really the only direction he has left to go. There are no more promotions that he could get between his current job and being a head coach.
2. Shane Day
If Joe Lombardi gets promoted and lands a head coaching gig with another team then there is no doubt that Shane Day is going to get a promotion next season as well. Day is different from the other two coaches on this list, though, because his promotion is just as likely to come with the LA Chargers as it is with any other team.
If Lombardi is hired by another team to be their head coach then Day is the logical selection to be promoted as the offensive coordinator. Day already works very closely with Justin Herbert and seems to have a great relationship with the franchise star. His transition to coordinator would, in theory, be a seamless one. That is the most important thing for Herbert.
However, he also could leave. There is the chance that if Lombardi is hired elsewhere that he would take Day with him to be his offensive coordinator. Granted, because Lombardi has such a great relationship with Brandon Staley, he would likely respect the Chargers and allow Day to be the coordinator there without interfering.
There is also the chance that Lombardi does not get hired as an offensive coordinator and Day has to get promoted elsewhere. There is a world in which not that many head coaching jobs open up and Lombardi simply misses out on the cut.
If the Chargers have a fantastic season offensively then there are going to be teams who need coordinators who will be looking to poach LA's staff. If that is the case, Day becomes the most obvious coach that could get hired by another team.
If Lombardi stays, Day's chances of leaving grow significantly. If Lombardi leaves then Day will likely stay in LA.
3. Giff Smith
Giff Smith has been a position coach in this league for a long time and he seems to have immense respect for the impact he has as a defensive coach. Smith is the outside linebackers coach for the LA Chargers and he is dealing directly with Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack. That group is obviously poised to be successful next season, which will only raise Smith's stock.
Smith has already received high praise in the past for what he was able to accomplish on the Buffalo Bills defensive line when he was the defensive line coach there. He has been with the Chargers since the 2016 season as he was the only coach on the staff that Staley decided to keep when he was hired.
On top of this being his seventh season with the Chargers, Smith has another five seasons in the league as a coach. Before coming into the NFL, Smith spent 13 years at the college level as a position coach.
Brandon Staley has a defense that is much more in line with what he wants to accomplish scheme-wise this season. With this new-look defense, there is a good chance that Staley's moniker as a defensive guru returns with the Chargers turning in a top-10 season defensively.
That obviously will raise the stock of everyone on the Chargers' staff and Smith, with all of his experience in the league, could become a candidate to make the jump to a defensive coordinator job elsewhere.
MUST-READ: Former Chargers who would have been perfect under Brandon Staley
Frank Smith went from offensive line coach to offensive coordinator so perhaps we see the inverse of that with another Smith after the 2022 season.