The Los Angeles Chargers hired Brandon Staley as the 17th head coach in franchise history, becoming the first Bolts head coach with a defensive background in over a decade. One of the most progressive minds in football, Staley brought an aggressive approach to the Chargers, leading the Bolts to a pair of winning seasons and a playoff berth in his first two years with the team. In those two seasons, Staley coached seven players to be selected to a combined eight Pro Bowls.
Staley led the Bolts in 2022 to a 10-7 regular-season record and a postseason appearance, the team's first since 2018. He coached a pair of Chargers defenders to a Pro Bowl selection — safety Derwin James Jr., and outside linebacker Khalil Mack, both of who earned their second all-star nods under Staley.
The offense rank third in passing offense (269.6 net passing yards per game) and No. 9 in total offense (359.3 total net yards per game) in the NFL in 2022. The unit set a single-season NFL record by featuring six players with at least 500 receiving yards and three touchdown grabs. Quarterback Justin Herbert continued to set records, as no player has more completions (1,316), passing yards (14,089) or total touchdowns (102) over the first three seasons of a career. Herbert is also the only quarterback in NFL history to begin a career with three consecutive seasons of 4,000-plus passing yards and the second player ever to throw 25 touchdowns in each of their first three years, joining Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning. Meanwhile, the offense also featured running back Austin Ekeler, who led the NFL for the second-straight season with 18 scrimmage touchdowns and set single-season career highs with 1,637 yards from scrimmage, 13 rushing touchdowns, 915 rushing yards and 107 receptions. His 107 catches led all running backs ranked tied for No. 5 in the NFL in 2022, and were tied for the second-most by a running back in a single season in NFL history.
Down the stretch, the Bolts defense was among the NFL's best, ending the regular season as the No. 3 unit in total defense (284.8 total net yards per game) and fourth-ranked passing defense (153.0 net passing yards per game) over the final five weeks. Los Angeles had the best third-and-short defense in the NFL, allowing conversions just 48.6 percent of the time on third-and-one or third-and-two situations. The group featured Mack, who led the team with eight sacks, and James, who was named AFC Defensive Player of the Month for November by becoming the only defensive back in the last 30 years to have at least 30 tackles, multiple sacks, an interception and a forced fumble in a single November.
Special teams saw a turnaround in 2022, leading the NFL by allowing just 3.1 yards per punt return, the best average allowed by the Chargers in 50 years. The Bolts were also the AFC's top kicking unit, making 31-of-33 field goals (93.9 pct.) despite deploying three different kickers on the year. The team's 93.9 field goal percentage ranked No. 2 in the NFL in 2022 and led the AFC. Three Los Angeles specialists won Special Teams Player of the Week — kicker Dustin Hopkins, kicker Cameron Dicker and punter JK Scott. The Bolts were the first known team to have two different kickers win the weekly honor in the same season. Dicker was also named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Month for December/January, becoming the third Charger to earn an AFC Player of the Month award in their rookie season.
In Staley's first season at the helm in 2021, Los Angeles offense set single-season team records for first downs (401), passing touchdowns (38) and fewest fumbles (10). The offensive unit also scored 181 fourth-quarter points, good for the second-most in a season in NFL history, and led the NFL with 22 fourth-down conversions and seven two-point conversions. Staley called a defense that led the NFL with 11 strip-sacks and paced the AFC with 19 forced fumbles. Six Chargers were selected to the Pro Bowl, including five that were tabbed as starters.
On offense, Herbert was named to his first all-star game as the AFC starting quarterback after setting numerous single-season franchise records, including completions (443), passing yards (5,014), passing touchdowns (38) and games with 300-plus passing yards (nine). He led the AFC in 2021 in each of those categories and was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week three times. Meanwhile, center Corey Linsley and rookie tackle Rashawn Slater were also Pro Bowl starters and earned second-team All-Pro honors from The Associated Press.
The 2021 season also featured wide receiver Keenan Allen being named to his fifth-straight Pro Bowl after the California product recorded his fifth-straight season with at least 95 catches, good for the second-longest streak in NFL history. Fellow wide receiver Mike Williams registered five go-ahead touchdowns in the fourth quarter or overtime, the most by any player in a single season in NFL history. Ekeler tied for the league lead with 20 touchdowns, scoring nine of his touchdowns in primetime games to tie Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith (1995) for the second-most by any player in a single season in NFL history, training only Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss' 11 in 2007 with New England.
On the defensive side of the ball, outside linebacker Joey Bosa was named to his fourth Pro Bowl after leading the NFL with seven strip-sacks in 2021. In the secondary, James returned from missing the 2020 season due to injury to be named an all-star after totaling 118 tackles, two interceptions, two sacks and three forced fumbles — becoming the first defensive back in at least 20 years to total 100 tackles after missing the entire previous season due to injury.
Staley coached four Pro Bowlers before joining the Chargers, some of the most dominant defensive NFL players in recent memory — Mack in 2018, Von Miller in 2019 and Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey in 2020. Three of those players (Mack, Donald and Ramsey) were also recognized as AP first-team All-Pro selections.
As one of the most progressive defensive minds in football, Staley overhauled a Rams defense to become the best defense in football in 2020. The unit ranked No. 1 in total defense, passing defense and scoring defense while finishing as the third-best rushing defense. The Rams defensive unit improved by more than four points per game in scoring defense from 2019 to post the best single-season average allowed by the team in nearly two decades.
Staley brought innovation on defense from college to the NFL, serving as outside linebackers coach in Chicago (2017-18) and Denver (2019). He served on Vic Fangio's staff in Denver after following the former defensive coordinator from Chicago. The 2019 Broncos defense led the NFL in red zone scoring, allowing a touchdown on just 39.1 percent of red zone drives — the second-lowest allowed by any NFL defense in the last five seasons. In his two years with Chicago, the Bears led the NFL in takeaways (58) while tying for No. 2 with 92 sacks. Staley was part of a staff in 2018 that coached the top-ranked scoring defense in football (17.7 points per game).
Prior to coaching in the NFL, Staley spent three seasons (2013, '15-16) at John Carroll as defensive coordinator/secondary coach and the 2014 season as defensive coordinator/linebackers at James Madison. In his final season as a collegiate coach, Staley earned National Coordinator of the Year honors for Division III by leading the John Carroll unit to rank third in the nation in total defense (218.0 yards per game) and fourth in scoring defense (12.6 points per game).
Before his stints at John Carroll and James Madison, Staley was a graduate assistant in 2012 at Tennessee. Staley held his first coordinator job as associate head coach/defensive coordinator at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College from 2010-11. Over those two seasons, he helped develop Cordarrelle Patterson, Markus Golden and De'Vondre Campbell into NFL Draft picks.
Staley began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Northern Illinois (2006-08) before coaching the defensive line and special teams in 2009 at the University of St. Thomas. He played quarterback at the University of Dayton, serving as a team captain and was a two-year starter from 2003-04, helping the Flyers post a 16-5 record as the starter. He ended his playing career at Mercyhurst College, playing there in 2005 with his twin brother, Jason. A native of Perry, Ohio, Staley and his wife, Amy, have three sons — Colin, Will and Grant.
