Chargers players heap high praise on Mike McDaniel ahead of season

Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel will be orchestrating a scheme for both new and familiar faces.

Alec Ingold, former Dolphins fullback, is one of those familiar faces McDaniel can utilize in 2026. The Chargers signed Ingold to a two-year, $7.5 million contract.

McDaniel and Ingold spent four seasons together in Miami, with the fullback earning Pro Bowl honors in 2023 after a strong performance. That season, Ingold posted a career-high in yards for a season with a total of 119.

The under-the-radar pickup heaped high praise for McDaniel, who is poised to create a high-powered, explosive offense for the Bolts.

"The smartest person in the room doesn't always have to prove he's the smartest person in the room, like huge vocabulary words," Ingold said. "Being able to articulate very complex systems and processes to a very minute level, detailed, understandable and digestible way.

"I think that's true intelligence and I feel like that's where he shines, being able to break things down so you understand it and you understand the why behind it so you're connected with the whole team."

One of the new faces set to work with McDaniel for the first time is center Tyler Biadasz, who the Chargers signed to a three-year, $30 million deal. He expressed eagerness to work under McDaniel.

"Right now, we met for about two hours," Biadasz said. "I think the style of play, playing against the familiar style, I think the biggest part was the system of it and how you can own leverages, the run game and play action and how it sets up the pass and correlate to it.

"The identity piece of owning the line of scrimmage and really putting your foot down and, 'We're going to play this style of football.' I'm excited for that."

McDaniel could have taken a head coaching job in the offseason. Instead, he chose to join the Chargers as the offensive coordinator.

The 2026 season could showcase a better version of the Chargers and McDaniel will certainly be a factor as to why.