Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers are looking to make Mike McDaniel their next offensive coordinator which was first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington. McDaniel was fired by the Miami Dolphins last week after finishing the season 7-10, and 26th in total offense. The Dolphins benched starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa after another tough season and the writing seemed to be on the wall for the majority of the season that McDaniel would get fired. Since being fired last week, McDaniel was interviewing with multiple teams for head coaching and offensive coordinating jobs with Tampa Bay and Philadelphia taking a major interest in him to fill their vacant offensive coordinator positions.
McDaniel most likely decided to sign with the Chargers due to Jim Harbaugh but mainly the allure of getting to coach quarterback Justin Herbert. The Chargers fired their OC, Greg Roman two days after their 16-3 wildcard round loss to the New England Patriots. In the two playoff appearances Greg Roman made with LA, the Chargers only scored one touchdown.
Mike McDaniel was first seen as an offensive innovator during his first season as the Dolphins head coach with the team finishing 6th in offense, the first time the Dolphins finished top ten in that category since 1995. McDaniel’s greatest achievement with Miami was their 70-20 win over the Denver Broncos in 2023 but has since seen his offense dive bomb in the last two seasons. In his two playoff appearances with the Dolphins, McDaniel went 0-2.
McDaniel will be expected to help develop Herbert into a top five quarterback and hopefully help the Oregon alum win his first playoff game of his career next season. Herbert is 0-3 in playoff games in his career.
