The Los Angeles Chargers land offensive mastermind Mike McDaniel, leaving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to search elsewhere for their next offensive coordinator.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t be hiring Mike McDaniel to be their next offensive coordinator.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Tuesday night that McDaniel, who the Miami Dolphins fired earlier this month after four seasons as head coach, is expected to become the offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers.
This will sting Bucs fans who wanted McDaniel, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise.
It had been reported by FoxSports’ Greg Auman that McDaniel preferred being the OC of a winning operation vs. the head coach of a losing one. McDaniel seemingly confirmed this Tuesday night when Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reported that McDaniel took himself out of the running for the Cleveland Browns’ head coaching job. McDaniel then further confirmed it by apparently taking the Chargers job.
The Charges are certainly a winning organization, having made the playoffs in each of Jim Harbaugh’s first two seasons as head coach.
The team also has a franchise quarterback in Justin Herbert.
But Herbert and the Chargers have combined to score just 15 points in their two playoff games under Harbaugh— both losses.
A mind like McDaniel could help fix that.
An advantage that many felt the Bucs had in the McDaniel sweepstakes over the Chargers, Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles— who also interviewed McDaniel— is that Tampa is the only one of those teams who doesn’t have an offensive-minded head coach. Although McDaniel having complete control over an offensive sounds enticing on the surface, it’s worth noting that his only other NFL OC job was with the San Francisco 49ers and their offensive-minded head coach, Kyle Shanahan.
McDaniel impressed enough there to become an NFL head coach, so there’s no reason to think working on Harbaugh’s staff can’t help him re-establish whatever goodwill he may have lost because of the way his time with Miami ended (consecutive losing seasons).
So where do the Bucs go from here?
Well, Todd Bowles is used to having to pick a new offensive coordinator, having done so after each of his first three seasons.
Two of these openings happened because of firings (Bryon Leftwich, Josh Grizzard), and two of them happened because the Bucs’ OC did well enough to be offered a head coaching job (Dave Canales, Liam Coen).
So it’s hard to tell what the next guy will do, but the Bucs still have seven official candidates to choose from.
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