2026 NFL Coaching Changes: What Fantasy Owners Need To Know (Episode 991 with Evan Silva, Adam Levitan, John Daigle)

**Adam Levitan** (0:15)
Hello, and welcome to episode 991 of the official establishtherun.com podcast. My name is Adam Levitan. I am one of the co-founders here at ETR, as always joined by fellow co-founder Evan Silva.
And it is time for one of our most impactful topics of the off-season, coaching changes. To discuss this, we are joined by our own season-long bro, John Daigle. How's it going today?

**John Daigle** (0:41)
For those watching the video, to be clear, since you and Silva already messed it up in the background chatter, this is a Johnny Manziel jersey, the one true Browns quarterback. Get it right.

**Adam Levitan** (0:52)
Okay. Johnny Manziel jersey for Daigle today. Silva, how's it going?

**Evan Silva** (0:57)
It's going great. Nice Deshaun Watson jersey, Daigle. Damn it. It looks good on you.

**Adam Levitan** (1:05)
On today's show, we are going to discuss the impact of 2026 NFL coaching changes. This season, we are expecting roughly 19 new play callers in the NFL. That has to be some kind of record. It's important because unlike other sports such as NBA or baseball, coaching in the NFL really does have an outsized impact on player performance. Schemes matter more, play calling matters more. Coaches just have a more direct influence on who gets the ball and where. And so figuring out what all 19 of these coaching changes mean, I think is a very important piece of the puzzle.
Before we get into it here today, reminder our NFL Early Bird bundle product is now live. Combines DraftKit Pro, AKA Silva's Top 150, all our ETR ranks, tons more, combines that with our in-season product, AKA all our projections, premium shows, Silva's matchups, tons more. For details on that Early Bird bundle, head to the subscribe tab on establishtherun.com.
All right.
Let's get into it here. We're going to go from 1 to 19 in order of what I thought was most interesting to least interesting. We'll start here with number 1 Most interesting to me is the Chargers. Mike McDaniel is in, new offensive coordinator and play caller replaces Greg Roman. This is just such a drastic change. Not that Mike McDaniel doesn't run the ball because he very much does, but Greg Roman is like old school football boomer who chews glass, and McDaniel is the young bro with the Lululemon joggers and the Johnny Versus sunglasses. Just going from an old school style to a modern, advanced, creative, talent maximizing offense, is going to be a big change for the Chargers. Evan, what do you think about Mike McDaniel here, taking over the reins of Justin Herbert?

**Evan Silva** (3:12)
Also, one thing that Brandon Thorne has harped on is how good Mike McDaniel is at maximizing the offensive line that he deals with. I was talking with Brandon recently, and he thought, you remember the Protector of the Year Award, it was new to the NFL, especially Joe Tooney wound up winning it.
Brandon Thorne actually thought that Aaron Brewer, the Dolphins undersized center who was originally undrafted, should have actually been the Protector of the Year in large part because of the way that Mike McDaniel utilized him. Obviously, we know that Rashaan Slater and Joe Alt are coming back for the Chargers, but the interior of their offensive line is going to get a whole lot better. Schematically, they're going to be so much better with Mike McDaniel as the OC, so excited for Justin Herbert this year, high percentage stuff, getting the ball in the hands of playmakers who can do stuff with it after the catch. Lad McConkey is an ideal Mike McDaniel style of wide receiver. So those are the guys that I'm in particular excited. And Keaton Mitchell, I mean, also, and I think that Omar and Hampton could wind up scoring a bunch of touchdowns. I think this offense has a chance to be prolific with Mike McDaniel at the helm, Richon Slater and Joe Allback.

**Adam Levitan** (4:30)
Yeah, and when I think of yards after catch, I mean, Quentin Johnston in college was good yards after catch. He has not shown that as much in the NFL. I think Mike McDaniel gives him a chance to do that as well. I'll talk about the prices on these guys in a second here, Daigle, but thoughts on Mike McDaniel taking over the Chargers.

**John Daigle** (4:48)
Zooming out really quickly for everyone, what this annual episode and really fantasy football during the offseason has become is targeting the Gary Kubiak, Mike Shanahan coaching trees.
The league has averaged seven yards per attempt, for example, over the last decade. That's really the bar we're going for here. Until last year when Brock Purdy was injured, Kyle Shanahan had produced a quarterback who averaged at least eight yards per throw since 2015 with Matt Ryan. Mike McDaniel left Shanahan to join the Dolphins in 2022