​Mike McDaniel has come to Los Angeles with two clear objectives: to keep leaning into his quirky, unmistakably McDaniel persona, one that some observers wonder might be a long-running Andy Kaufman-like bit, and to extract the maximum from the extraordinarily talented Justin Herbert. I’m more confident about the first aim than the second, though the line between them isn’t as sharp as it seems.
In January, not long after he accepted the Chargers’ offensive coordinator job, McDaniel said Herbert—entering his seventh NFL season—“hasn’t neared the ceiling of what he is capable of.” That sentiment should please Chargers fans and fantasy players alike. Over the past three years, Herbert has posted an adjusted EPA per dropback that mirrors Kyler Murray’s, yet trails the efficiency marks of Tua Tagovailoa and Sam Darnold. In terms of pure accuracy, he’s been roughly on par with Kirk Cousins and Daniel Jones. That’s not the company you’d call elite.
“I think not relying too heavily on Justin’s ability to do above and beyond I think is critical,” McDaniel told reporters this offseason. “That’ll be one of the first things that we’ll try to do is take a little off his plate.” The challenge for 2026 is turning Herbert’s extraordinary arm talent into an elite NFL passing attack, and McDaniel’s grasp of that task appears to be solidly in place.
A look at the 2025 Chargers box score and personnel landscape shows the scope of the task. The team finished with a points-per-game mark around 21.6 (20th), produced about 334 total yards per game (12th), and ran 64.4 plays per game (3rd). Dropbacks per game hovered at 42.2 (6th), with a dropback EPA per play near 0.02 (23rd). The rushing attack wasn’t the engine—designed rush attempts per game sat at 25 (21st), and rush EPA per play was a negative -0.08 (23rd). On paper, Herbert remains the pillar, but the supporting cast and scheme needed refinement to consistently maximize explosive potential.
In the broader personnel map, Herbert would be flanked by a receiving corps headlined by Quentin Johnston and KeAndre Lambert-Smith at the X and Z, with Tre Harris and Derius Davis providing depth and speed. At tight end, Oronde Gadsden and David Njoku offered mismatches, while a veteran line and running backs group could help unlock Herbert’s play-action and downfield opportunities. Still, the core enabler is McDaniel’s design philosophy.
The contrast between McDaniel and the Chargers’ previous OC, Greg Roman, is stark. Roman’s tenure in Los Angeles did little to establish a coherent offensive identity. He preached the run but often abandoned it when it made sense to lean on the pass, creating a pattern that left Herbert and the offense unsure of their best rhythm. Roman’s two-year stint often looked disjointed and, frankly, suboptimal for maximizing Herbert’s talents. In contrast, McDaniel arrives with a defined approach that fits Herbert’s skill set but also challenges him to play within a structured system that suppresses nothing—except perhaps the quarterback’s tendency to try doing too much on every snap.
There is a natural tension in installing a McDaniel-style scheme with Herbert at the controls. McDaniel’s offenses, including his time with the Dolphins, have leaned toward a run-first bias and frequent motion—designed to keep defenses off balance and at least momentarily disoriented. Miami’s play-action rate under McDaniel has tended to outpace what Roman did in Los Angeles, and the Dolphins frequently used motion to create favorable looks and timing windows. Herbert’s arm talent, decision-making, and timing can thrive in such a structure, provided the play design consistently asks him to execute within a clear, repeatable framework rather than ad-libbing to rescue every drive.
The balancing act for McDaniel is to preserve Herbert’s dynamism while imposing enough discipline to prevent negative plays from proliferating. The plan will likely involve more schedules and concepts that simplify reads on early downs, integrated with a robust play-action backbone that throws off coverage and creates easy access routes for Herbert to deliver the ball on rhythm. The aim is to reduce the mental load, not to strip away Herbert’s improv—an approach that could unlock big chunk plays and improve third-down efficiency. If McDaniel can cultivate a streamlined progression tree, the Chargers should see greater consistency, better time-of-possession control, and fewer critical misses in the red zone.
Herbert’s fit within a McDaniel system hinges on several factors. First, the coaching staff must translate the quarterback’s physical gifts into a shared offensive language—one that encourages Herbert to trust the progression and the rhythm of pre-snap to post-snap timing. Second, the personnel must be orchestrated to exploit Herbert’s arm strength with catchable targets in space, a role that Johnston, Lambert-Smith, Harris, and Davis are positioned to fill. Third, the blocking and run-game design must be sufficiently marshaled to create play-action windows and keep defenses honest about the threat of the run.
If McDaniel can strike the right balance, Herbert’s ceiling could become the standard by which the Chargers’ offense is measured. The combination of a quarterback who can dissect defenses with precision and a system engineered to maximize that precision without forcing him into precarious decisions has the potential to redefine how the Chargers attack games. It’s not merely about Herbert squeezing out more passes or higher yards per attempt; it’s about marrying his extraordinary arm talent with a cohesive, sustainable attack that keeps defenses off balance for four quarters. In that sense, McDaniel’s success—or failure—will be judged by how well he translates the quarterback’s gifts into a disciplined, high-functioning, and consistently productive offense.