The Scouting Combine is still three weeks away, but #ConfrontationSeason has already begun.
From the folks at Kaplan & Crew, via Brandon Contes of AwfulAnnouncing.com, comes a report that former Chargers quarterback Ryan Leaf verbally accosted former Chargers physician David Chao at Radio Row, the center of the NFL media universe in the days preceding Super Bowl LX.
“Ryan Leaf has got a bone to pick with everybody,” Scott Kaplan said. “He goes on Twitter and he just tries to rattle cages. He comes over and before you know it, he is in Dr. David Chao’s face. In his face!”
Chao, as Kaplan describes it, was non-confrontational during the exchange. Chao invited Leaf to join him during Chao’s imminent appearance on Ross Tucker’s podcast, so that they could discuss the situation.
“Ryan Leaf goes, ‘Fuck you and fuck Ross Tucker,’” Kaplan said, adding that the situation became “very aggressive.”
“I’m not making a big deal out of it,” Chao said in a subsequent visit with Kaplan & Crew. “I wish the best for Ryan. I’m not sure why over the ten years here at Radio Row, I’ve seen him dozens of times, this is the first time he’s ever said anything to me.”
Chao explained that he doesn’t plan to do anything about it.
“Snitches get stitches,” Chao said. “I am not gonna report Ryan to anyone. It didn’t get physical, it was words. Was it inappropriate? You be the judge.”
As noted by Contes, Leaf once sued Chao, alleging negligence in Chao’s treatment of Leaf’s injuries during Chao’s time with the Chargers.
Chargers Clips
The Chargers and coach Jim Harbaugh have found their replacement for Jesse Minter.
The team has announced that Western Michigan defensive coordinator Chris O’Leary will become the new defensive coordinator.
O’Leary had served as the Chargers’ safeties coach in 2024. He spent six seasons before that at Notre Dame.
Before that, O’Leary was a graduate assistant at Georgia State for in 2015 and 2016. He was hired to be the safeties coach at Florida Tech in 2017.
The return to the NFL in the position of defensive coordinator counts as O’Leary’s biggest break yet. And it puts him him position, like Minter, to eventually become a head coach at the pro or college level.
The Chargers hired Mike McDaniel as their new offensive coordinator and they’re adding a coach from his Miami staff to Jim Harbaugh’s staff as well.
Cameron Wolfe of NFL Media reports that Butch Barry will join the Chargers as their offensive line coach. Mike Devlin had that job in 2025, but was let go along with offensive coordinator Greg Roman this month.
Barry spent the last three seasons in the same job for the Dolphins. The Dolphins led the league in yards and finished second in points scored in Barry’s first season, but the Dolphins slipped to the back-half of the rankings while missing the playoffs the last two seasons.
Barry worked for the Broncos, 49ers, Packers and Buccaneers before joining McDaniel in Miami.
Jim Leonhard was already a popular defensive coordinator candidate and now another team would like to speak with him.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Chargers have put in a request to interview Leonard for their defensive coordinator vacancy.
Lenohard, 43, has been with the Broncos since 2024. He was the club’s defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator in his first year before being promoted to assistant head coach/defensive pass game coordinator for 2025.
The Bills have strong interest in bringing in Leonhard as their defensive coordinator under new head coach Joe Brady. The Jets also have interviewed Leonhard for their vacancy.
Mike McDaniel held his first press conference since being hired as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator on Tuesday and quarterback Justin Herbert was a major topic of conversation.
McDaniel was effusive in his praise of Herbert’s talents and said the “short answer” is that he hasn’t worked with a quarterback who has the same capabilities as his current one. He’s not the first to wax on Herbert’s skills, but the Chargers have not been able to translate that into playoff success to this point in Herbert’s career. McDaniel said one of the things he hopes to do is create an offense that’s less reliant on Herbert’s individual talents.
“I think not relying too heavily on Justin’s ability to do above and beyond I think is critical to maximize those types of opportunities,” McDaniel said. “That’ll be one of the first things that we’ll try to do is take a little off his plate so that he is free to do that when his greatness is required.”
McDaniel did not share all the ways he plans to do that, but he did emphasize that offenses need to “take advantage of that space” provided by defenses before snaps in order to both protect the quarterback and build momentum as a unit.
“There’s a lot of incredible plays that Justin has made,” McDaniel said. “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.”
McDaniel said that Herbert has not “neared the ceiling” of what he can do in the NFL and the Chargers are banking on their new coordinator helping him get closer to that level in 2026.
The Chargers have interviewed a third member of their coaching staff for their defensive coordinator vacancy.
The team announced that they completed an interview with defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale. Outside linebackers coach Dylan Roney and safeties coach Adam Fuller have also interviewed for the vacancy created by Jesse Minter’s departure to become the Ravens’ head coach.
Clinkscale has been with the Chargers since Jim Harbaugh was hired in 2024 and he spent the previous three seasons on Harbaugh’s Michigan staff. He coached at several other colleges before being hired at Michigan.
Rams assistant head coach/defensive passing game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant and former Ravens defensive coordinator Zach Orr have also interviewed for the position.
The Chargers have interviewed another member of their current coaching staff for their defensive coordinator vacancy.
The team announced the completion of an interview with safeties coach Adam Fuller on Monday afternoon. They interviewed outside linebackers coach Dylan Roney earlier in the day.
Fuller just completed his first season with the Chargers. It was also his first season as an NFL assistant.
Fuller spent five seasons as the defensive coordinator at Florida State before joining Jim Harbaugh’s staff in Los Angeles. He also spent a year as Memphis’ defensive coordinator and was both an assistant head coach and defensive coordinator during six seasons at Marshall.
The Chargers continued their search for a new defensive coordinator by meeting with one of their current coaches.
The team announced that they interviewed outside linebackers coach Dylan Roney on Monday. They have an opening at the coordinator spot because Jesse Minter left the team to become the head coach of the Ravens.
Roney joined Jim Harbaugh’s staff at Michigan in 2021 as a graduate assistant and remained at the school through their national title win in 2023. He moved to the Chargers with Harbaugh and Minter as a defensive assistant and took on his current role in 2025.
The Chargers have also interviewed Aubrey Pleasant, Zach Orr, and Dennard Wilson for the job, but Wilson is out of the running after agreeing to run the defense for John Harbaugh with the Giants.
Defensive lineman Teair Tart won’t be leaving the Chargers as a free agent this offseason.
Kris Rhim of ESPN.com reports that Tart has agreed to a three-year extension with the AFC West club. The deal is reportedly worth up to $37.5 million.
Tart signed with the Chargers in August 2024 and re-signed with the team in 2025. He started all 18 games that the Chargers played during the 2025 regular season and playoffs.
Tart had 36 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery in those appearances. He also appeared in every game for the Chargers in 2024 and made 47 appearances for the Texans and Titans earlier in his career.
The Chargers have made it official: Mike McDaniel is their new offensive coordinator.
While McDaniel has been expected to become Los Angeles’ offensive coordinator since the middle of last week, the team had yet to confirm the news as McDaniel was still up for head coaching jobs.
But after withdrawing from consideration for Buffalo’s job, it became clear that McDaniel was going to put pen to paper with the Chargers.
McDaniel, 42, had been head coach of the Dolphins, accumulating a 35-33 regular-season record with an 0-2 postseason record before he was fired earlier this month.
While Miami finished at No. 1 in yards and No. 2 in points scored in 2023, the club fell to No. 26 and No. 25 in those same categories in 2025.
After working with the No. 5 overall pick of the 2020 draft in Tua Tagovailoa, McDaniel will now call plays for the No. 6 overall pick of that same draft, Justin Herbert.
