Mike McDaniel Channels Ron Burgundy While Praising Chargers’ San Diego Training Camp Stop
Mike McDaniel found the perfect movie reference for a trip to San Diego. Speaking with reporters Wednesday during the Los Angeles Chargers’ training camp swing through the team’s former home city, the first-year offensive coordinator borrowed a line from Will Ferrell’s “Anchorman” to sum up his mood.
“Ron Burgundy wasn’t lying, this place is sweet,” McDaniel said, referencing the fictional KVWN Channel 4 news anchor who mans the San Diego airwaves in the “Anchorman” films, according to a post from reporter Fabian Ramirez.
Chargers OC Mike McDaniel, “Ron Burgundy wasn’t lying, this place is sweet.”
— Fernando Ramirez (@RealFRamirez) August 5, 2026
The Chargers relocated from San Diego to Los Angeles in 2017, but the franchise still returns south for a handful of camp practices each summer. This year’s stop came at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium.
McDaniel’s First Camp Running the Chargers Offense
McDaniel is in his first season as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator, not the head coach — that job still belongs to Jim Harbaugh, who’s entering his third year in Los Angeles. McDaniel takes over play-calling duties from Greg Roman, who ran the Chargers offense in 2024 and 2025 before Harbaugh fired him following a 16-3 wild-card loss to the New England Patriots in January. Roman has since landed with the New York Giants as a senior offensive assistant, reuniting with head coach John Harbaugh — Jim’s brother — for whom Roman previously coordinated the Ravens’ offense from 2019 to 2022.
McDaniel arrives in Los Angeles after four seasons as the Miami Dolphins’ head coach, a tenure the team ended on Jan. 8, 2026. He went 35-33 with Miami and led the franchise to back-to-back playoff appearances in his first two years, in 2022 and 2023, but both trips ended in wild-card losses. Miami slid to consecutive losing seasons after that, finishing 8-9 in 2024 and 7-10 in 2025, and owner Stephen Ross moved on from McDaniel days after the season wrapped.
Before Miami, McDaniel spent five seasons on Kyle Shanahan’s staff with the San Francisco 49ers, including a run as the team’s offensive coordinator in 2021. That West Coast history is part of what made the Chargers job appealing — McDaniel gets to coach in California again, and he inherits a quarterback with real arm talent in Justin Herbert.
What the Move Means for Justin Herbert
Herbert is entering his seventh NFL season, and the numbers tell a clear story about where his passing game has stalled. He topped 4,000 yards in three straight seasons to open his career, capped by a 5,014-yard, 38-touchdown season in 2021 — the fewest yards ever needed to reach the 5,000-yard mark. Since then, the production has cooled: 3,134 yards in an injury-shortened 2023, 3,870 in 2024, and 3,727 in 2025.
| Season | Passing Yards | TD | INT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5,014 | 38 | 15 |
| 2023 | 3,134 | 20 | 7 |
| 2024 | 3,870 | 23 | 3 |
| 2025 | 3,727 | 26 | 13 |
McDaniel’s track record points toward change. In Miami, he coached Tua Tagovailoa to a league-leading 4,624 passing yards in 2023 by building an offense around pre-snap motion, quick-strike passing and manufactured space for receivers — concepts he’s already installing with the Chargers. The plan is to get the ball out of Herbert’s hands faster and let route combinations, not just arm strength, generate the big plays.
Whether that translates on the field is the real story of Chargers camp this summer. But for one Wednesday afternoon in San Diego, McDaniel was just happy to be back in Southern California — with a little help from Ron Burgundy.
