Bills just threw huge head-coaching twist into Mike McDaniel's hiring with Chargers

Billy Heyen

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Bills just threw huge head-coaching twist into Mike McDaniel's hiring with Chargers image

Mike McDaniel has agreed to be the offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Chargers.

Except the Buffalo Bills have decided to throw a wrench into that plan as they search for their next head coach to replace Sean McDermott.

The Bills are interviewing McDaniel on Friday, according to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer. He reports that McDaniel would take the head-coaching job in Buffalo over the Chargers' OC job, if it came to that.

McDaniel knows the Bills well, of course, having been the head coach of the Miami Dolphins before being fired at the end of the 2025 regular season.

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Bills Mafia likely has all sorts of feelings about McDaniel, who certainly has a more eccentric personality than most NFL coaches.

But the thing that must be appealing about McDaniel is his offensive mind.

The Bills have only had the defensive-minded McDermott paired with superstar QB Josh Allen for his entire career.

This coaching search is definitely trending toward offense. Buffalo wants to see if it can finally reach a Super Bowl with Allen by pairing him with a head coach whose brain thinks offense first.

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The end to McDaniel's tenure with the Dolphins wasn't great, but this was a guy who had Tua Tagovailoa lead the entire NFL in passing yards just a few seasons ago. He clearly knows how to get the most out of his players.

With Allen, the whole world of offensive football would be opened up to McDaniel. 

Clearly, there are a lot of candidates at this point. But if Bills fans want to immediately write off McDaniel, that may not be right. He wouldn't have taken this interview after already being hired elsewhere if he didn't feel like he had a real chance.

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Staff Writer