Chargers tab Butch Barry as OL coach and request to interview Jim Leonhard for defensive coordinator, signaling significant offensive line change and defensive leadership pursuit.
After getting a bunch of good news recently, there is some more Los Angeles Chargers news today....although I'm not sure if it's good or not.
The first bit of news has to do with filling the opening at offensive line coach, and it looks like the team let Mike McDaniel handle that hire....
Butch Barry
Cameron Wolfe announced on X earlier today that the Chargers are hiring Butch Barry as their new offensive line coach. Barry has been the OL coach for Mike McDaniel's Miami Dolphins for the last 3 years and, I believe, was the OL coach for the Miami Hurricanes before that.
I understand the idea of letting Mike McDaniel have the coaches that he believes in for the success of his system. At the end of the day, if Barry is bad at this, it's going to be McDaniel's career and reputation that will take the hit.
That being said, the Dolphins offensive line was awful in 2025. According to Pro Football Focus, it was the 29th best offensive line out of 32 NFL teams (just ahead of the 30th ranked Chargers offensive line).
I suppose I need to trust the process here, but offensive line is the position group that is most responsible for the downfall of last season's team, so it worries me just a little bit that its performance is being put in the hands of someone who was having similar issues on the opposite coast.
Jim Leonhard
The Chargers are still searching for a replacement for Jesse Minter, who left his position as the Los Angeles defensive coordinator to take a job as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, and have been quietly interviewing candidates.
Today, Ian Rapoport announced that the Chargers had requested to interview Broncos defensive passing game coordinator (these titles are getting out of control) and assistant head coach Jim Leonhard.
Leonhard had previously been the defensive coordinator for the University of Wisconsin before taking a job with the Denver Broncos (first as their DB coach) and is one of the people credited with creating such a swarming, suffocating defense this year.
Assuming that he could make a similar impact away from the Denver infrastructure, this sounds like exactly the type of coach the Chargers should be looking to hire to take over for Minter.
For Leonhard, finding similar success with a similar group of players in Los Angeles could find him quickly in the position Minter found himself in, as a hot head coaching candidate around the NFL.