Chargers are playing with fire and it’s too late to turn off the gas when it comes to Mike McDaniel
Mike McDaniel is still surveying his options beyond the Chargers, and there’s nothing they can do about it now.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the Buffalo Bills are interviewing “Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator” Mike McDaniel to be their next head coach Friday morning.
A logical piece of information to be sure. McDaniel was the HC of the Miami Dolphins for the last four years, so his familiarity with another AFC East is absolutely there. He’s also one of the brightest offensive minds in the NFL, which is why Buffalo would want him as quarterback Josh Allen’s play-caller, and why the Chargers hired him in the first place last week.
Except Los Angeles didn’t hire McDaniel. Nothing is officially set in stone. No contract has been signed. The club has not announced a hiring yet. McDaniel is expected to be hired so long as he doesn’t get a HC gig this cycle.
And it makes zero sense why the Chargers would be okay with this, or letting the general public know about it.
Chargers are playing a dangerous game with Mike McDaniel
McDaniel is an OC candidate worthy of mass excitement. He engineered a successful offense with Tua Tagovailoa as his QB, and crafted an explosive run game with different ball-carriers during his time in Miami. L.A. pairing him with Justin Herbert and last year’s first-round pick Omarion Hampton is a fantastic idea, and when starting offensive tackles Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater return from injuries next season, the infrastructure for McDaniel to get creative will be largely in place.
All of that tracks, but none of it matters if McDaniel can land a HC job. The Chargers cannot prevent him from pursuing opportunities with the Bills or the Las Vegas Raiders unless he puts pen to paper, and he hasn’t done that yet.
What he has done, clearly, is kept his options open. He wouldn’t be talking directly to Buffalo’s brass, including Allen, if he was fully locked in as Herbert’s next play-caller. Schefter’s original report stated McDaniel would be joining Los Angeles “barring a change of heart,” and that has shown to be true on the surface if his heart is listening to the Bills today.
This is asinine, to be frank. Why report an OC hire that is not only not finalized, but subject to not even happen in the first place? Why would the Chargers allow this information to go public if there was even a smidgeon of doubt McDaniel could pull out and go after a better gig? You could definitely argue calling plays for Herbert is a great landing spot, but a fired HC will take another HC job nine times out of 10 over an OC gig.
Clearly, McDaniel is thinking the same thing, or else he wouldn’t still be talking to other teams.
Los Angeles is in a losing position right now
McDaniel is the owner of all leverage in this relationship at the moment. He has a playoff team hoping, not knowing for sure, he’ll be its OC in 2026. Interested teams like the Bills have to recognize that and potentially up their offer to reel him in from the Chargers’ grasp. When an offer is legitimately on the table like that, actions can be accelerated.
Meanwhile, in L.A., the Chargers have informed other OC candidates they’re rolling with McDaniel. They’re committed to a hire that hasn’t been made official, even if said hire is still mulling his options.
What happens if McDaniel takes an offer to be a HC? Does L.A. have to call the other candidates and say, “Disregard, haha just kidding!” Seriously, the search could open back up very late in the hiring cycle, and some of their options could be off the board by then. By not being able to survey other options, which is exactly what McDaniel is doing right now, the Chargers are operating with both hands tied behind their backs.
All of this can be forgotten when/if McDaniel finally lands in El Segundo for good. Los Angeles can be the place McDaniel needs to re-enter the head-coaching sphere in 2027 and have even more options to choose from. The Chargers just need to hope he doesn’t take what’s in front of him now after everyone already knows he’s who they want.
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