The Chargers new Offensive Coordinator was officially introduced on Tuesday in El Segundo.

Mike McDaniel spoke to the media Tuesday for the first time since being officially named the Bolts offensive playcaller.

Here is the full transcript from McDaniel's press conference:

Opening statement:

"I'm not really an opening statement guy, but I will open with this statement. I'm fired up to be here, family is fired up to be here. Shoot from the hip with whatever questions you got."

What attracted you about this job?

"There was a lot that I found very attractive. I was very fortunate to have some opportunities. I think it started with Coach Harbaugh. Then to be a part of an organization that has a legacy, talking about Sid [Gillman] and Air Coryell, that's super attractive too. Got a quarterback who I've always admired. A lot of young players, great situation for me and my family to go to the next chapter, which we're very excited about."

You mentioned the quarterback. What has impressed you about Justin Herbert throughout his career so far?

"I think you have a competitive player that each and every year is trying to get better at his craft. I think he hasn't neared the ceiling of what he's capable of, he can make every throw. But as a competitor, you can tell he enjoys what the National Football League and franchise quarterback, all the burden that is the responsibility of touching the ball every play and need to be your best when your best is required. That's something that I'm always looking for in players in general, how they perform post-halftime. There's a lot that we can be capable of with him leading the charge. Extremely excited for that opportunity."

When you look at the offense, how do you see you being able to elevate him in the regular season and postseason?

"I think it's a really cool opportunity because I think the best offenses are catered to the players that they have, existing skillsets and evolve to what their talents are. I think we have a lot of young players at the skill positions particularly, got two great tackles coming back. I think with a skillset such as Justin's, you can do a lot of things on the ground and in the air that can really put defenses in a bind. I think there's a lot of tools in place, I think it's important to have a good offseason, which we plan to do, and I think what you're working with is something that will be unique to its own. I'm excited to see where the offense goes and how it evolves through the skillsets of these players. The biggest thing is we want to create a system of offense where guys can really feature their skillsets, evolve their game and be their best in December and January, which is the whole point when you're playing elimination games. Whether you're playing to get in the playoffs or you're in the playoffs, we're going to have an offense that evolves to the point that our most efficient self and our best self will be then, with these young players we have here."

What has this process been like for you? Going from when you left Miami and you thought about where you'd be next, was this at the top of the list? How did you get to this point?

"It was a very interesting process, it was unique to my career in that there was a lot of opportunities out there. I thought it was important to not get ahead of myself and to take each opportunity, fully digest it and I figured when I come to a place there would be a certain feeling attached to your gut, that you'd know, 'I don't want to leave this place and this opportunity.' It was a hectic week for sure, that first week after I left Miami. In that process, I think it was a week and a half in when I came here and I hadn't overthought it all. I really kept a clear mind that each opportunity. I had heard all the things that each organization had to say and assess each and every option then got here meeting Mr. Spanos and having time with Jim and Joe. It didn't take long for me to have feet on ground, to feel this is kind of what I was looking for. You just want to be a part of a hungry organization with like-minded football people that are doing anything and everything to win. For me, the opportunity to work with Coach Harbaugh, it was too good to pass up. It felt like I was extremely fortunate to be afforded this opportunity. It felt [like] something I could easily get behind in terms of ambition to go and attack the next thing. Those things, coupled with the spirited attitude of my daughter and my wife, made things pretty easy as a girl dad and a husband to have your family in a place where they can get behind too."

Have you spoken to Justin?

"Yes, about a week ago. It was good for me, you'd have to ask him if it was good for him. I'm pretty sure it went well. He was in high spirits and just excited about attacking something. You lose in the playoffs, in the first round, it's a lot of work that you feel kind of like you have an empty stomach. That hunger, I could hear it in his voice, he was excited to start a new chapter and to really attack the process of the offseason to be our best versions of ourselves come next fall. It was enthusiastic. I was in a room talking in a really loud inside voice out of passion and I think he recognized that. We were both geeked for the future and the possibilities that it brings."

That play that he had against [Miami], his pass to Ladd McConkey in Week 6, what did you think about it?

"I've been in the National Football League for 19 years. In that process you are fortunate to share the field with guys that can just, in an 11-on-11 game, they can really take over and really put the team on their back. That was the latest and greatest example of that, on the short end of the stick. I think that's what's so exciting about the horizon, what we have in store for ourselves moving forward. It's rare that you can come up with football plays that has an answer if the defense, gets paid too, and they make the perfect call. I think not replying too heavily on Justin's ability to do above and beyond, I think is critical to maximize those types of opportunities. It'll be one of the first things that we'll try to do, take a little off his plate so he is free to do that when his greatness is required. There's probably a plethora of examples, you guys can go in your rolodex, as far as plays he's made that you assume others can't. In those situations when you're on the sidelines and you're playing against it, it's a lonely feeling when there isn't a play call defensively that can take this guy's game away. So if you can't beat them, join them I guess."

You've observed Justin mostly from afar, outside of the conversation you were just speaking of. A big part of this process is going to be getting to know him, what he likes, what he doesn't like, how he operates. What are you most interested in learning about Justin as you get to know him?

"I think that's one of my favorite parts about starting anew. I try to take, in a similar fashion that I approached my last new job, where you let the tape take you to your own conclusions. You deep dive three, four, in his case four to five seasons of watching all his plays and patternizing things that he doesn't necessarily tell me. He can confirm verbally, but I like to draw conclusions from the tape itself as a student, kind of removed too much from anything but execution. Then you go through that and it's a reverse engineering problem-solving formula that you find ways to best suit some of the things he does best as you're learning a new offense. It's key to have a quarterback maintain confidence in his craft. You can find that by making sure that some of the best things he's had the most success with for years, making sure those are part of the install process, really problem-solving all sorts of verbiage, all sorts of things. It's really exciting because for instance, the concept of the RPO that we ran the most, Tua [Tagovailoa's] most run play in Miami, was a play that I'd never run previous that was part of that process that I think is important to meshing an offense to the skillsets of the players, particularly the best players. Which in this case, and what every offensive coach would like, is to have their best player be the quarterback because they touch the ball every play. It's an exciting time, I think the biggest thing is you have people with the appropriate intent attacking a problem, hungry at where our football can go and not satisfied of the past. That's the biggest thing, so I'm excited to get to work with all of that starting with this press conference."

You mentioned Coach Harbaugh a couple times. What have you admired about him from afar as a Head Coach and what's the last couple of days been like working with him up close?

"I think winning and adaptation, I would say are the two things that pop off. It's hard to have success in football, particularly the National Football League. I'm sure when you're leading a gigantic program, such as Coach Harbaugh did with Michigan, it feels the same as the National Football League. You have all these problems to solve and to have success over time that means there's an adaptability that I think is super important in life in general, but particularly the state that football is in and how you have to evolve to keep a competitive edge. I think I always admire being in the profession of coaching, you can see when players are better served with the time spent with a coach, when you can tell you made a difference in their lives, who they are as people, those things are why you get into coaching. There's only a certain amount of people that are actually able to execute that and capture that. Coach Harbaugh has done that over an extended period of time. Multiple times I've been on the losing side of it and been able to feel what his teams play like in 2011 versus what they play like in 2025. That consistency and commonality with those teams over that vastly different period of time I think speaks to who he is and his bottom lines and where his compass is and his direction and everything that he does, where it comes from. Selfishly, I think the end result is me being a better coach, better father and a better husband. I think those things work hand in hand to how you're executing professionally."

You talk about new voices that come into a locker room, what kind of a new voice do you want to be?

"The loudest, the loudest voice. You want to add value, you want to bring stuff out of people that maybe they are aware that they have inside of them, maybe sometimes they aren't. I like to come to work and impact people not with what I've done in the past or what I'm going to do in the future, I like to impact that day. I've always attacked life in that manner. I think people are inspired by that. Team sports, to be a part of somebody, each individual or the collective, they work hand in hand. To be a part of a journey where they get better and you're a part of that, that's what my appetite is and that's what I was very confident I can supremely capture here."

You mentioned you wanted to slow down the process of not pursuing head coaching opportunities. Was that difficult not to do? Do you want to be a head coach as soon as possible, or are you not thinking about that right now?

"I think absolutely, my end goal of being able to bring championships to an organization as a head coach, that's still in place. But I think it's super important in life to be where your feet are and attack whatever challenge. This was uncharted territory for me, where I had some options to assess and evaluate. In that process, you kind of learn and it forces you to see where you're at and what's most important to you. I wanted to be a part of a hungry, collective group of individuals to push forward, utilize what I have to offer and have a place get better because I can contribute to it. Within that, there is jobs that it wasn't easy, but when I was assessing this opportunity versus some potential head coaching opportunities, I think it spoke to what this opportunity really provided me because it wasn't that difficult once I got to meet the nucleus of the organization and put all the pieces together. I don't think my long vision has changed, but I very much are firmly where my feet are right now, which is offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers and being my very best at. Typically if you approach things that way, put your blinders on, put your noise-canceling headphones on the world, you end up liking the product that that creates. I'm focused on this, this is an unbelievable opportunity that I'm happy to go seize and work with a bunch of like-minded people to go win some more football games and really take advantage of all the human talent on the field and off the field that this organization has."

You've mentioned like-minded when talking about people in the organization and Jim. In your conversations so far, where does that overlap philosophically, schematically, in terms of football?

"He likes to run the ball and I am, by trade, I spent a good portion of my career being in charge of the run game and being the run game coordinator. I think you're always playing to your skillsets and each team that you're on has a different array of them. I think some of my run game prowess in the past has been different solutions for light boxes when you're adept to pass, to run the ball. That core foundational belief that football is inside out, prioritizing the line of scrimmage play and being able to win games when you have a lead with nine minutes to go in the game and you can keep the defense off the field. I think those types of things, that's where the like-minded football 101, core values of football kind of overlap. I think Jim appreciates the evolution of the game and different ways you can try to attack how people are defending you. That's always evolving and that hunger and thirst for that is something I've always had in my back pocket pushing me forward."

What do you think you learned about yourself in the way that Miami ended?

"You learn a ton. You have press conferences like this four times a week and they don't just have them when things are going good, then you have a locker room. I tried to put myself in the position of being a head coach well before I was a head coach and I was as prepared as I could be, but you can't prepare for all the things that come at you. For me, it's really exciting because you're still standing here, it didn't kill you and all the tough things that you have been through end up working in your favor as you move forward as a coach and as a man. Not all the things that you deal with as a head coach, particularly for my tenure in the last four years in Miami, it wasn't all rosy, but the results and what you get from them can be for you finding your best self as you move forward. I'm very, very grateful with all the players and the entire organization. I think it became clear in the whole process that that transition was for something greater that lies ahead, so I'll take all those lessons and apply them as I move forward in a very productive way."

The first two years [in Miami], the offense was moving, the last two years the offense regressed. What do you make of the final two years the way the offense performed and what did you learn from that?

"It facilitated itself when I had options moving on from my last job. Some of that was a driving force, those experiences. Football is a humbling game, and regardless of how good you are as a coach. 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. I think there's a lot of things that you're doing from a head coach perspective when you're calling plays as a playcaller that has to do with your offense, defense and special teams. I think it really narrowed my focus as an offensive coordinator, what are the things I need in place to make sure that the offense can continue to grow around different players and keep a competitive advantage over your opponents, your division rivals, the people in your conference and really all the people in the NFC. I think there's a lot that I learned that I'm super excited to apply in this job, this opportunity and this organization."

A big issue in 2025 was Herbert taking too many hits. How do you plan to rectify that and do you have someone in mind as OL coach?

"Yeah, working through that staff process right now. There's definitely targeted individuals that we're working through to work with. I think it's paramount, from a schematic perspective, that you're trying to make sure your quarterback is able to sustain a 16, 17-game season now. Within that, you're trying to make sure you have a coordinated execution to keep him upright and keep him from getting hit in order to have completions that are a little more low-cost where you can get the ball out quicker. Tying that to scheme, being very detailed with our blockers and where our launch point is at is something I've always prioritized when coming up with offense in general. You never stray from that. Over the course of my time in the National Football League, all those years were within the same system, and you're kind of evolving to your individual players, but a common denominator through all those is how to make sure your quarterback can be healthy and not be in vulnerable positions too often. He has an incredible ability to go off schedule but I think I'll be firmly coaching away from the off schedule stuff at the front end because he can always go back to that comfort zone as you're working on other things. I think a primary focus on how to have offense without putting them in a vulnerable position will be a starting point and we'll extrapolate from that."

Will there be staff changes on offense?

"We're still looking at that. It's early but going through each and every coach and making sure it's the right fit for where we are moving forward."

You mentioned wanting to take stuff off Justin's plate, what do you mean by that?

"There's a lot of incredible plays Justin has made, that he's firmly capable [of making]. 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 the roster would be capable of doing. Easier completions, kind of 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 them by low-cost, high-reward offense that he's firmly capable of doing but also maybe a lesser talent would be capable of doing as well."

What does that look like?

"It looks like the offense is working, honestly. And maybe the time for the ball to come out, the overall average, we're still going to pump the ball down the field and we have to use the cannon he has as an arm. But maybe heaving some quicker, ball-out passes at a higher frequency, you know? So much of the National Football League defense is post snap, they want to hide the picture from the quarterback pre snap, so to do that they give pre-snap space. You can take advantage of that space with quick throws and getting the ball in and out. The pass rush, one of the best blockers you can have is an open, eligible No. 1 [receiving option] in a quick amount of time. Even the best pass rushers, it takes time to beat offensive linemen and if you beat pass rush with a throw, it can frustrate opponents and get pass rushers to take chances and void gaps that Justin — he's also really fast — so if you void pass-rush lanes and abandon them early because of frustration and he's getting the ball out too quick, his skillsets afford you to make people pay in that way as well. So, I would say some quicker completions. We'll still pump the ball down the field, but having that at your disposal can really help a quarterback and really help pass protection."

How will your scheme change when you have a quarterback who can make any throw on the field?

"We shall see, right? Again, I think there's certain things you lean into. You don't lean into everything he's capable of, you try to focus and have some deliberate intentionality to how you approach getting the ball out of his hand quickly. I think, really, what are defenses trying to do? They are trying to defend space and minimize the amount of space you can defend. Being able to access players deeper down the field with a wide array of quarterback actions and movements increases the amount of space they have to defend, which overall should give your ball catchers, your receivers, your running backs, all eligibles, more space when they do catch something underneath. It will be exciting and I haven't gotten to that point, but we'll get to that point in the offseason where we're doing some max pros and launching it. I'll let you guys know so you can attend that practice and it will be fun."

What was Jim Harbaugh's biggest selling point to you?

"I think what was cool is that Jim wasn't trying to sell me anything. And I felt that. I think he recognized that he was excited about the prospect, if and only if it was a marriage that was consensual and not a hostage situation. I feel like us organically talking about what we were looking for and what was on the horizon, that was the biggest selling point because I didn't feel like he was selling me. He wanted it to fit and recognized that he wanted to lean in for the old Harbaugh handshake as soon as he could see that I was swooned on my own regard. I would say the not selling, authentic nature of our communication was probably the biggest [thing] for me."

How do you feel like your personalities are going to mesh?

"I feel like we're the same guy. He's just taller. I think that's the cool thing, like everybody else, is that we're excited for that. I think one thing we share is that Jim has never patterned himself after somebody and he's his own person. I would say that hopefully I would be described in a similar fashion. Who knows? I might be a 100 percent Dockers coach? The options are unlimited. He's already tried to get me on transitioned lenses but I've held off. I'm not 50 yet."

What excites you about the group of skill position players here in Ladd McConkey, Quentin Johnston, Omarion Hampton, etc."

"Well, first and foremost, they are all talented players that I was, in the draft process, kind of targeting on the other side of the country. Coupling that, you can tell they aspire to be great. What's more important than ever since I've been in the National Football League is you have to have a drive for maxing out your own abilities. There's a lot of people that are really, really quick trigger to pat you on the back and telling you how awesome you are. But to be great in this league, you have to have a relentless approach. Realistically, all the guys we've drafted here in the past two years, I see that patternized. I see it's more important than ever that there's a lot of access for people to get distracted and make money or chase things or opportunities in different directions. There's TikTok millionaires. I think young players that have a love for football and an affinity for football and are willing to put in the work to be great, they have a chance to separate themselves in 2026 and beyond. I see all the young players here fit that merit."

What excited you about Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt and the potential creativity you can have with them up front?

"I think you need good tackles just to set the depth of the pocket, just in general. There's no quicker way to find your looseness in protection than when quarterbacks have to step up super early. I think the two athletes we have allow for us to do some creative things in the run game that they are typically only able to do when you have certain types of athletes that can stay on the line of scrimmage and can pass pro in an upright position but then can go running down the field and block in space. I think guys that are able to block in space are rare. When they're tied with guys who are able to block the edge of the pocket, those combinations allow you to do all sorts of things from a blocking pattern standpoint as well as executing whatever launch point you need to."

Your previous offenses had a lot of speed in Miami. Is that going to be a point of emphasis personnel-wise here?

"I think you hit a great point. I think the measure of a coach, as I see it, is being able to adapt to your skillsets and leaning into them. Yeah, I think I've always appreciated speed but it's not the end-all, be-all. You're best served if speed is probably your second-best attribute to something else. There's a lot of track guys now, a lot of fast football players, and when you have the opportunity to get one of those guys, you jump on it. But I think there's a lot of different ways to threaten a defense, to expand the amount of space they have to cover. I've seen a lot of guys that aren't an Accutrak,10.1 [time in the] 100 guys that can play as fast as those guys on the football field. Speed is important but what's most important is to play fast. Some of my favorite players I've ever had are 4.6, 4.7 guys that play with their hair on fire. Speed is important but it's not the end all. I think you adapt to what your skills are and try to get the best football players. Then hope some of your football players have speed."

What excites you about joining a team with a different personnel grouping?

"Absolutely. It's one of the most exciting parts of it. When I came to Miami, I had come from San Francisco, we'd played against the most single-safety defense in the entire National Football League back in 2021. Fast forward to 2022 when I was in Miami and we faced the most two shell [safety looks]. On the front end, I thought it was so valuable, the lessons learned from Kyle Shanahan and Mike Shanahan on how to adapt to personnel. But as I've gone through my career, it's a great new cutting edge way to stay in front of schematic evolutions because you're solving different problems. For instance, I think Jet motion in Miami for receivers was supremely important because our best players happened to be smaller, 4.2 guys. If defenses re-routed us, that was going to be the answer to the test. So we came up with a Jet motion route tree. Solving different problems affords you different sorts of solutions. Ultimately, our Chargers offense will look different than any offense I've coached before or any offense in the league . I think that's important when you're trying to find competitive advantages in a league and a division with a lot of parity."

Does Justin Herbert compare to anybody you've coached before?

"Short answer: no. But all players are unique and all players have skills. I think it's important to really lean into those skills. I try not to compare players so much because it's a different puzzle. I think he has different skills, particularly all of his skills as a collaborative collection to who he is, is unique to any player I've coached. But I think any player has unique skills either that's on the surface that you can obviously see, or deep inside them, your job as a coach is to bring all of those things to the forefront and make them the best versions of themselves. I'm really excited because I think his best football is in front of him, not behind him."

How close do you feel the Chargers are to winning a championship?

"That sounds like more of a head coach question. Oh, there he is [while smiling and pointing at Harbaugh]. No, to me in this league, visions for several years out is a pipe dream. I think, specifically when you're afforded a franchise quarterback such as Justin Herbert, you always have a chance. But your mindset has to be to go after the trophy each and every year. I think teams of that mindset, from April on, end up getting themselves in a position where — there's some teams you guys might have been surprised about being in the championship games or going to the Super Bowl — but I think the people it doesn't surprise are the teams themselves. I know you have to have that mindset each and every year to go after that trophy and see how far your team can go. I think, by nature of who we have on this roster, we're going to be in the mix of teams going after it. I'm just excited to be a part of a solution towards that and ready to get to work."

Quarterback movement has been a big part of your offenses. How essential is that to your offensive philosophy?

"It's interesting. That's one of the first core pretenses of: make a defense defend something and then take advantage of their overplay. That's a systematic approach of how I look at offense. My first year in the league was with Jake Plummer in defense in 2005. The majority of our offense was breaking the pocket and getting his skillset out in the open space. I could say it was Ground Zero for how I see offenses. If they take the backside defensive end to close him on an outside zone play, and close him so he makes the tackle on the run, then he can't defend the keeper. That is core, I think being able to use the quarterback to keep a defense honest because all defenses are trying to do is try to guess a play they don't know. If you can take advantage of them over pursuing the run, that gives a quarterback with supreme arm talent a lot of space to make a throw down the field. That is integral to how I see football. The one thing I can state with certainty is that there will be a blend of run and pass and we will try to maximize the conflict we put defenses in in their responsibilities. We will use the fact that they don't know what the play is against them for sure."