Mike McDaniel was introduced as the new offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers on Tuesday. He was fired as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins earlier this month after four seasons in charge, and he’s now set to take on a new challenge under Jim Harbaugh.

In his introductory press conference, McDaniel seemingly blamed Tua Tagovailoa for the Dolphins’ offensive struggle in his final two seasons at the franchise. The quarterback missed a significant chunk of the 2024 season due to injury, while failing to return to his best in 2025.

“Football is a humbling game, regardless of how good you are as a coach,” McDaniel said. “We really dealt with some injury issues with Tua the year previous, and I think it really pulled into focus how important the quarterback is to your overall effectiveness as a coach and as a team.

Looking to predict NFL playoff Scenarios? Try our NFL Playoff Predictor for real-time simulations and stay ahead of the game!

“I think there’s a lot of things that you’re doing from a head coach’s perspective when you’re calling plays as a play caller that has to do with your offense, defense, and special teams. I think it really narrowed my focus as an offensive coordinator.”

Mike McDaniel eventually benched Tua Tagovailoa in the final three games of the 2025 season after the Dolphins were eliminated from playoff contention. His firing possibly complicates the situation around the quarterback’s future in the franchise.

Mike McDaniel notes it’s important not to heavily rely on Justin Herbert

Mike McDaniel was glowing in his praise of quarterback Justin Herbert’s talent in his press conference, noting he’s unlike any he’s ever coached. He made it clear that one of his key goals moving forward is to build an offense that doesn’t lean so heavily on Herbert’s superhero-level ability to bail out plays.

“There’s a lot of incredible plays that Justin has made,” McDaniel said via NBC Sports. “He’s firmly capable, and sometimes as a coach, you can rely upon that a little too much. There’s schematic ways to get completions that maybe all three quarterbacks on your roster would be capable of doing.

“Easier completions, not putting so much — It can be taxing over time for a player to necessitate an incredible play too often to be able to score points and win football games. So you try to take it off of him by creating some low-cost, high-reward offense that he’s firmly capable of doing but maybe a player of lesser talent would be capable of doing as well.”

Mike McDaniel is far from the first Chargers staff member to rave about Herbert’s combination of arm strength and athleticism. Yet, the Chargers have yet to turn it into consistent playoff success. The new offensive coordinator plans to help achieve that from next season.