Chargers Coaches | Los Angeles Chargers - chargers.com

Sanjay Lal enters his third season as wide receivers coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in 2026, marking his 20th NFL season as a coach and his 31st year of coaching experience throughout all levels of football.

Sanjay Lal enters his third season as wide receivers coach of the Los Angeles Chargers in 2026, marking his 20th NFL season as a coach and his 31st year of coaching experience throughout all levels of football.

Lal continued to coach the wide receivers in 2025 for the Chargers, helping the group contribute to a top-15 offense and 11-win season. He tutored wide receivers Keenan Allen, Quentin Johnston and Ladd McConkey to be the NFL's only trio of receivers to each eclipse 50 catches, 700 yards and four touchdowns on the season. Allen returned to the Bolts to set the franchise receptions record (985) and eclipsed 1,000 career receptions in his 159th game, setting the all-time NFL mark for the fastest to reach that mark by more than 10 games. The veteran pass-catcher continued his excellence on third down, leading the NFL in third-down receptions (34) and receiving first downs on third down (29). Lal helped Johnston record his second-straight season with a team-best eight receiving scores, tied for the second-most in the AFC in 2025. He also coached McConkey continue the impressive start to his career by tying a franchise record for the most receptions within the first two seasons of a career (148). Lal helped coordinate the third-down attack, with the Bolts leading the AFC and ranking No. 3 in the NFL by converting 45.8 percent of attempts on third down.

In his first year with the Bolts in 2024, Lal coached McConkey to emerge as a premier receiving threat for quarterback Justin Herbert. McConkey set franchise rookie records with a team-high 82 catches and 1,149 receiving yards, while also hauling in seven touchdowns. The second-round pick (34th overall) in the 2024 NFL Draft averaged 14.0 yards per reception in 2024, the third-best receiving average among all NFL players with at least 80 catches on the season. McConkey set an NFL postseason rookie record in the team's AFC Wild Card matchup with 197 receiving yards, while his 86-yard touchdown grab in the game was the second-longest reception by a rookie in NFL postseason history.

Lal coached a receivers room that featured a league-high 11 different wide receivers to haul in passes in 2024. The group's 13.6-yard receiving average was good for the eighth-best average by a team's receiving corps in the NFL. He also helped develop Johnston to new heights in his second pro season, as the former first-round pick led the team with a career-high eight touchdown catches, while also setting career highs in receptions (55) and receiving yards (711).

Prior to his time with the Chargers, Lal spent the last two seasons (2022-23) as the offensive passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach for the Seattle Seahawks, where he helped orchestrate a passing offense that ranked No. 3 in the NFL in completion percentage (67.1) and red zone scoring (90.8 pct.) over that span. He helped quarterback Geno Smith earn Pro Bowl recognition each of those seasons along with Associated Press Comeback Player of the Year honors in 2022.

Lal oversaw a receivers group that featured DK Metcalf, who set the franchise record for the most receiving yards over the first five seasons of a career (5,332) along with being named to the Pro Bowl for the second time in his career in 2023. Lal also was instrumental to the development of Jaxon Smith-Njigba this past season, as the rookie totaled 63 receptions, the second-most ever by a rookie in franchise history. In 2022, Lal helped wide receiver Tyler Lockett register 84 catches for 1,033 yards and nine touchdowns, his fifth-straight season with at least eight touchdown grabs. That year, Metcalf set a career high with 90 receptions, good for the fourth-most in franchise history.

Before he returned to Seattle, where he served as a senior offensive assistant in 2020, Lal coached the wide receivers for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021. In his first season in the Pacific Northwest, Lal helped Lockett and Metcalf each top 1,000 yards to lead the Seahawks to an NFC West title. That year, Metcalf was a second-team AP All-Pro and recorded a franchise-record 1,303 yards and 10 touchdown grabs, while Lockett set a franchise record with 100 receptions.

Born in London, England, Lal lived in Iran, Kuwait and Mexico throughout his childhood before moving to Plano, Texas, for middle school and a year of high school and, ultimately, Northern California to finish his prep career. After graduating from Miramonte High School in Orinda, Calif., Lal walked on as a wide receiver at UCLA in 1989. He then transferred to the University of Washington, playing three seasons for the Huskies (1990-92), contributing to the program's National Championship victory in his first year and helping the squad appear in a pair of Rose Bowls, ultimately being inducted into Washington's Hall of Fame. Lal spent time as a professional player with the Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams and the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe.

Lal broke into the coaching ranks at his alma mater, Miramonte High School, working as the school's passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach from 1996-2002. He then spent the next four seasons in Northern California coaching at the college level, working on staff at Los Medanos College (2003), Saint Mary's College (2004) and the University of California (2004-06).

In his first experience as an NFL coach, Lal worked for the Oakland Raiders as assistant wide receivers/quality control coach from 2007-08 before being promoted to wide receivers coach from 2009-11. After his time in Oakland, he spent the next eight seasons as a wide receivers coach with four teams — the New York Jets (2012-14), Buffalo Bills (2015-16), Indianapolis Colts (2017) and Dallas Cowboys (2018-19), helping develop young receivers along the way.

During his final season with the Jets, Lal coached wide receiver Eric Decker to 962 yards and five touchdowns on 74 receptions (13.0 avg.), including a Week 17 performance that saw Decker record single-game career highs with 221 receiving yards and 10 catches. Lal stayed in the Empire State to coach wide receivers for the Buffalo Bills, helping Sammy Watkins eclipse 1,000 yards and catch nine touchdowns in his first season in Upstate New York. Following the Bills, Lal spent the 2017 season with the Indianapolis Colts, coaching a wide receivers room led by T.Y. Hilton, who was named to his fourth-straight Pro Bowl after recording 966 yards and four scores on 57 receptions (16.9 avg.).

Lal then went to the Lone Star state to coach receivers for the Dallas Cowboys from 2018-19, helping the squad to an NFC East title and appearance in the Divisional Playoffs during his first season with the team. Under his tutelage, Amari Cooper was named to the Pro Bowl twice and was twice named NFC Offensive Player of the Week in 2018 after being acquired by the Cowboys via trade. In his second season with Dallas, Lal led a wide receiver group that featured two 1,100-yard receivers in Cooper and Michael Gallup, the first Cowboys pair to do so since 2007. Cooper led Dallas with 79 catches for 1,189 yards and eight touchdowns, while Gallup became the third-youngest Cowboys receiver to hit the century mark in receiving yards in team history. Lal oversaw the third-down gameplan for the Cowboys, helping Dallas rank No. 10 in the NFL in 2018 and tied for second in 2019. Over his two-year tenure in Dallas, the Cowboys were the sixth-best third-down offense in the NFL, converting 43.0 percent of their opportunities.