Ramping up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' competition in the race to land a quality offensive coordinator, the Los Angeles Chargers enter the race for sought-after offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.
If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers want to hire Mike McDaniel as their next offensive coordinator, they now have more competition for the services of the former Miami Dolphins head coach.
NFL.com's Ian Rapoport reported late Saturday that the Los Angeles Chargers will interview McDaniel for their offensive coordinator opening next week.
The Bucs interviewed McDaniel for the job Friday and are among many teams looking at him for either their head coach or offensive coordinator vacancies. The Las Vegas Raiders, Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans have all reportedly expressed interest in McDaniel for their head coaching jobs, and the Chargers join the Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay in testing McDaniel’s candidacy as an offensive coordinator.
Atlanta on Saturday hired former Browns chief Kevin Stefanski as its next head coach, so that option is off the board.
McDaniel, who turns 43 in March, is still a young guy in the coaching profession, so it’s reasonable to think he’d want to be a head coach again someday.
McDaniel spent four seasons at the helm in Miami before his dismissal on Jan. 8. Although his tenure didn’t end well, McDaniel the Dolphins to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons.
Still, McDaniel may not rush to become a head coach again.
FoxSports' Greg Auman reported Thursday that McDaniel would prefer to be an offensive coordinator for a winning organization than a head coach for a losing one.
The Bucs had a rough 2025 season, losing seven of their last nine games to finish 8-9, with the Panthers taking the NFC South title. But Tampa's recent past promises a brighter future, as throughout the 2020s, the team won the NFC South for five straight seasons, from 2020-24.
But all of the other organizations interviewing McDaniel for their OC openings are winners too.
The Lions made the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, and arguably could have gone to the Super Bowl in 2023.
The Eagles have been to two Super Bowls in the past five seasons and won it last year. Philly's head coach Nick Sirianni on Tuesday met with his offensive coordinator, Kevin Patullo to say he needed to make a change: Patullo was out.
The Chargers have made it to the playoffs in each of Jim Harbaugh’s first two seasons, but scored a combined 15 points in their two first-round losses.
With a franchise quarterback already in place in Justin Herbert, the Chargers might be a quality OC away from taking the next step.
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