The Chargers are near naming Mike McDaniel their next offensive coordinator, Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington of ESPN report. McDaniel, who’s having dinner with team brass on Tuesday, is predicted to take the job.
While McDaniel dropped out of the running to turn into the Browns’ head coach on Tuesday, he stays a candidate for the openings in Las Vegas and Baltimore, in response to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. If he doesn’t land with the Raiders or Ravens, though, McDaniel is primed to sign a deal to affix Jim Harbaugh‘s staff in Los Angeles. The Chargers have informed other candidates they’re planning to rent McDaniel, Dianna Russini of The Athletic relays.
After McDaniel’s four-year run because the Dolphins’ head coach ended on Jan. 8, the Lions, Eagles and Buccaneers joined the Chargers in showing interest in him for his or her offensive coordinator positions.
The Lions have since hired Drew Petzing, though the Eagles and Buccaneers each regarded McDaniel as their top goal, per Darlington. Nonetheless, McDaniel’s desire to return to California will win out. He previously worked there from 2017-21 as an assistant on Kyle Shanahan‘s staff in San Francisco.
McDaniel’s success with the 49ers led the Dolphins to rent him as their head coach, and the move paid dividends initially. The Dolphins combined for a 20-14 record and earned playoff berths in McDaniel’s first two seasons. Their offense impressed in ending sixth in yards and eleventh in scoring in 2022, however the unit found one other gear in 2023.
During an 11-win campaign, the Dolphins scored probably the most points and racked up the second-most yards within the NFL. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa led the league in passing en path to a Pro Bowl nod, while Tyreek Hill ended the yr tops in receiving yards.
Unfortunately for McDaniel, the 2023 campaign proved to be his peak in Miami. After the Dolphins combined for a 15-19 mark over the past two seasons, owner Stephen Ross fired him. A big Tagovailoa decline helped result in McDaniel’s ouster. The left-hander played so poorly in 2025 that McDaniel benched him for seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers ahead of Week 16. Tagovailoa sat out each of Miami’s final three games. The Dolphins’ offense wrapped up the yr twenty fifth in points and twenty sixth in yards.
Because the fifth overall pick in 2020, Tagovailoa entered the league one selection before Chargers QB Justin Herbert. The 27-year-old put together his second Pro Bowl season in 2025 to assist the Chargers to 11 wins and a playoff berth. Nonetheless, after an unsightly 16-3 loss to the Patriots within the wild-card round, Harbaugh fired offensive coordinator and longtime friend Greg Roman.
In Roman’s second and last yr running their offense, the Chargers racked up the Twelfth-most yards within the league, but they struggled to place points on the board. LA was just twentieth in scoring, though it hurt Roman’s cause that the team’s starting tackles, Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, didn’t play together all yr.
Slater sat out your complete season with a torn patellar tendon, while an ankle injury ended Alt’s campaign after just six games. The Chargers were also shorthanded at running back, where offseason free agent pickup Najee Harris tore his Achilles in Week 3 and first-round rookie Omarion Hampton fractured his ankle and wound up missing eight games.
Although this season didn’t go in response to plan for the Chargers, they’re now on the verge of reeling in one in all the sport’s most respected offensive minds. The 42-year-old McDaniel is slated to work with an enviable group of talent that can include Herbert, Slater, Alt, Hampton, wide receivers Ladd McConkey, Quentin Johnston, and Tre Harris, and tight end Oronde Gadsden II. While it doesn’t appear McDaniel will receive his second head coaching job this winter, that might change a yr from now if he revives the Chargers’ offense in 2026.