Chargers Considering Offensive Changes

Herbert has not looked to be a good fit in Mike McDaniel’s offense. The Chargers won out for the coveted coaching free agent this offseason, but securing McDaniel’s play-calling services does not feel like the prize it once did. Herbert is mired in a career-worst slump, and the Bolts rank 30th offensively through six games.

A Sunday report indicated Chargers GM Joe Hortiz was rebuffing trade inquiries into other players — no Herbert move is expected — the team is now 0-6 and will almost certainly consider selling at the deadline. But staff adjustments may come before that point.

Harbaugh said (via ESPN.com’s Anthony Gharib) the team would evaluate everything as the offense was “not scoring enough points.” The third-year Los Angeles HC did not confirm McDaniel would continue calling plays.

The team is viewed as likely to make a change of some sort, per The Exhibit’s Josina Anderson. It is not known if that will be a McDaniel firing or stripping the former Dolphins HC of play-calling duties, but the status quo certainly isn’t working for L.A. That said, the team has held off on such a consideration thus far, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport adds, with the expectation McDaniel’s offense would bring an adjustment period. But an 0-6 mark heading into the Bolts’ bye week will likely produce a shakeup of some sort.

In our Chargers Offseason in Review piece, I wondered about the team not being aggressive enough with its cap space to support Herbert. McDaniel was viewed as the Chargers’ top acquisition, as he was this year’s most popular figure on the coaching carousel. McDaniel interviewed for 10 jobs — six of those being HC positions — following his Dolphins firing, but downward momentum has persisted for the former Kyle Shanahan assistant.

After leading the Dolphins to consecutive playoff berths — the AFC East franchise’s first such instance since the 2000 and 2001 seasons — McDaniel saw his tenure sidetracked. The 2024 and ’25 seasons brought regression, to the point the team benched Tua Tagovailoa late last season. McDaniel being paired with a more talented quarterback — one the Dolphins passed on to draft Tagovailoa in 2020 — was among the offseason’s most interesting developments, but it has brought a glaring step backward for the Bolts’ centerpiece player. Herbert ranks last in QBR (29.9) by a wide margin.

Former Dolphins and Jets HC Adam Gase is on Harbaugh’s staff, being hired as a pass-game specialist this offseason. This is Gase’s first NFL job since his Jets firing five years ago, but he has extensive experience as a play-caller — dating back to his place on the 2013 Broncos’ record-setting offense. Gase has called plays for four teams (Broncos, Bears, Dolphins, Jets).

The Chargers have Shane Day in place as their quarterbacks coach. Day was present for Herbert’s early-career prolific stretch, being in place as QBs coach under Joe Lombardi. This is Day’s second stint as pass-game coordinator in L.A.; the team fired him along with Lombardi after the 2022 wild-card collapse in Jacksonville. Day has never called plays for an NFL team.

A McDaniel demotion would likely signal his Chargers tenure will be capped at one season. McDaniel has served as his team’s play-caller since the Dolphins hired him as HC in 2022. His value is derived from that skill, though he did boost his stock as Shanahan’s non-play-calling OC in 2021.

A longtime Shanahan staffer leading up to that point, McDaniel worked with Day in San Francisco from 2019-20 and kept the recent Greg Roman assistant on staff despite the two-year Charger OC’s January firing. It will be interesting to see if Day or even Gase would be considered for play-calling duties, as the Chargers are staring at a lost season due largely to the McDaniel-Herbert fit not working out.