Chargers Clips
As a wise man once said, “The Browns is the Browns.”
Even after the departure of chief strategy officer Paul DiPodesta (whose strategies rarely bore fruit in the form of on-field success), the Browns remain obsessed with data. To a fault.
But, no, they’re not dysfunctional. They just function differently from the other 31 teams.
Appearing on Friday’s edition of The Rich Eisen Show, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network explained that the Browns continue to put an excessive focus on transforming the subjective into the objective.
“The Browns’ search process, which they have run a number of times, is unlike any other in the NFL,” Pelissero told Eisen. “And it plays to certain types of candidates. They are a data-driven operation in Cleveland. And so they spend an extraordinary amount of time gathering data on their coaching candidates. You’re talking about taking a personality test. You’re talking about writing an essay. You’re talking about completing homework assignments going into both the first and the second rounds of interviews. It plays toward the types of candidates that they have in the mix. Which is very, very smart people in a lot of cases that just often happen to be tall, thin guys who came from Ivy League schools, though that’s certainly not a requirement. That’s the type of candidate generally that is going to fit into a data-driven environment.”
Eisen was flabbergasted. “There’s a written test? Really? Like they want you to write an essay. ‘This is why I want to be the coach of the Cleveland Browns’?”
“Questionnaires, a multi-part essay, and a personality test,” Pelissero said. “And then additional homework assignments if you get through the first round to get into the second round.”
It was implied that former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel opted to withdraw from consideration based on this uniquely cumbersome process. (That said, he went to Yale.) Jesse Minter also withdrew, but he was on the brink of getting the job in Baltimore.
The ultimate question is whether the process leads to the right coach, whose job will ultimately have less to do with crunching numbers and more to do with making real connections with professional athletes. Teaching them. Motivating them. Pushing them to collectively achieve more than the sum of the individual parts would otherwise suggest.
Yes, there’s a place for analytics and data. But it can’t hijack the process. And it can’t impose a burden on candidates that dramatically exceeds the usual process. When that happens, coaches with options will opt to go elsewhere.
Look at Minter. If the Browns job was viewed as highly desirable, he would have chased it in lieu of taking the job in Baltimore. Which means that, in the end, the Browns will hire someone that no one else currently wants to hire.
Which is more than enough reason for them to reconsider one of the various failed strategies that DiPodesta devised.
Former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel will interview for the Bills’ head-coaching job. Unless he won’t.
Per multiple reports, McDaniel canceled Friday’s interview with Buffalo, which is seeking a replacement for nine-year head coach Sean McDermott.
Given McDaniel’s propensity for verbosity, and Wednesday’s never-ending press conference featuring Bills owner Terry Pegula and G.M. Brandon Beane, maybe it’s a good thing. Once the three of them started talking, who knows when they would have stopped?
McDaniel recently opted not to go through with a second interview for the Browns’ head-coaching job. It was later reported that the Chargers plan to make him their new offensive coordinator.
Why would McDaniel not go through with a head-coaching interview? Such situations are both rare and ripe for all sorts of speculation. If it’s as simple as he doesn’t view a given job as an ideal spot for his next shot (which could be his last one) at a team of his own, it’s one thing to pass on the perennially dysfunctional Browns. But the Bills? With Josh Allen?
Maybe, after digesting Wednesday’s press conference and the widespread reaction to it, McDaniel realizes it’s a no-win situation, since the primary expectation will be to win enough games to get to the postseason — and to win more than one game once he gets there.
In Cleveland, there’s nowhere to go but up, but there’s no clear reason to think an ascension will happen under current ownership. In Buffalo, there’s nowhere to go but down, and there’s every reason to think that will happen under current ownership.
Again, dysfunction flows from the top. McDaniel already worked for one of those teams. For his next head-coaching job, it becomes critical to find a stable organization in which the owner stays out of the way (i.e., not Cleveland) and doesn’t make rushed, illogical decisions in the heat of the moment (i.e., not Buffalo).
With Jesse Minter departing the Chargers to become Ravens head coach, Los Angeles has started conducting interviews to find his replacement.
The Chargers announced Titans defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson has interviewed for the position on Friday.
Wilson, 43, spent the last two seasons with Tennessee as defensive coordinator. He does have ties to the Harbaughs, as he was Baltimore’s defensive backs coach in 2023.
Since entering the league as a defensive quality control coach with the Rams in 2012, Wilson has also worked for the Jets and Eagles coaching defensive backs.
Philip Rivers showed he still has command of an NFL offense when he came out of retirement to play three games for the Colts in December.
Could he be in line to take over a team?
The Bills are at least interested in the possibility, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Rivers is interviewing for the club’s head coaching vacancy on Friday.
Rivers, 44, has been the head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Alabama since retiring after the 2020 NFL season. He has led the team to two state semifinal appearances during his tenure.
Via Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Josh Allen and Rivers have a strong relationship, which is part of what has Buffalo interested in Rivers as a candidate. The Bills are reportedly involving Allen in the search for Sean McDermott’s replacement, which makes sense given Allen’s status as one of the league’s top quarterbacks.
By interviewing Rivers now, the Bills could also consider the former quarterback as a potential offensive coordinator option if the club hires a head coach with a defensive background.
Rivers would be a particularly out-of-the-box hire. But after what he displayed in three games this season — albeit losses — the interest in him as a candidate is not as far-fetched as it might have been.
The Ravens’ move to hire Jesse Minter as their head coach left the Chargers without a defensive coordinator and they’re looking to Minter’s new team for a candidate to replace him on Jim Harbaugh’s staff.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that they have requested an interview with Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr.
Orr took over as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator when Mike Macdonald left to become the Seahawks’ head coach in 2024. He was previously their inside linebackers coach and he played linebacker for the Ravens for three seasons before retiring due to a spinal condition.
The Chargers have also requested an interview with Rams assistant head coach/defensive passing game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant.
Mike McDaniel is slated to be the Chargers’ offensive coordinator during the 2026 season, but the Chargers would have to look elsewhere if McDaniel lands a head coaching job.
That remains a possibility as Albert Breer of SI.com reports that McDaniel will interview with the Bills for their vacancy on Friday. The Bills have conducted three other interviews since firing Sean McDermott earlier this week.
McDaniel has also interviewed with the Falcons, Ravens, Browns, Raiders and Titans this month. He withdrew from consideration for the Browns job and all but the Raiders have filled their openings already.
If the Bills do the same by hiring someone other than McDaniel, he’ll likely be calling plays for Justin Herbert come the fall. If he winds up landing the Bills job, he’ll be doing the same for Josh Allen and facing his former Dolphins team twice a season.
The Chargers have requested Aubrey Pleasant to interview for their vacant defensive coordinator job, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
Pleasant is the assistant head coach/defensive passing game coordinator for the Rams. The Rams defense ranked 10th in points allowed and fifth in takeaways in 2025.
He has coached in the NFL for the past 13 seasons.
Pleasant has spent time with Washington, the Browns, Lions and Packers.
The Chargers are seeking to replace Jesse Minter, whom the Ravens hired as their head coach on Thursday.
Another day, another serious candidate for the Browns’ head-coaching job opts not to proceed with a second interview.
Earlier this week, former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel canceled his second interview with the Browns. Now, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter has canceled his second interview.
Here’s the full tweet from Cabot: “Jesse Minter is not interviewing for the Browns HC job today as scheduled, likely because he feels like he has other HC opportunities that are more certain.”
Of the jobs still open, Minter has been interviewed by the Cardinals, Raiders, and Ravens. Some believe he’ll become the next head coach of the Ravens.
The 42-year-old Minter has spent the past two years in L.A. He spent the two prior years as Michigan’s defensive coordinator. He has four years of NFL experience, from 2017 through 2020 with the Ravens, serving as defensive backs coach in his final season there.
Well, now we know why Mike McDaniel passed on a second interview for the Browns’ head-coaching job.
Via multiple reports, McDaniel will become the new offensive coordinator of the Chargers.
It gives McDaniel a chance to partner with coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback Justin Herbert. And it gives McDaniel an opportunity to author the kind of performance that sets him up to potentially become an A-list candidate in 2027.
McDaniel coached the Dolphins for four seasons, with a record of 35-33 in the regular season and 0-2 in the playoffs.
He had drawn head-coaching interest, and it’s apparently possible he could still pivot to a bigger job. As noted by Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, no deal has been signed. He remains in play for the top jobs with the Ravens and Raiders.
For now, however, McDaniel is on track to partner with Jim Harbaugh. Both are quirky. Both are unique. And we can only hope that the Chargers will be the focal point of Hard Knocks in August.
Mike McDaniel won’t be the Browns’ next head coach, as McDaniel withdrew from the search on Tuesday. But the Browns are getting closer to hiring a replacement for Kevin Stefanski.
Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter will interview with the Browns on Thursday, Albert Breer of MMQB reports, with Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski interviewing on Friday.
The Browns talked with their own defensive coordinator, Jim Schwartz, on Monday and Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken on Tuesday.
Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase also remains in the mix in Cleveland.
