The Los Angeles Chargers 2024 season offers several games against first-time head coaches, which means they will be wading through uncharted territory several times. Lets take a look at these new coaching staffs and where they come from to shed some light on what the Chargers can expect in these six games.
New Coaches The Los Angeles Chargers Will Face in 2024
Week 1/ Week 18 – Antonio Pierce – Las Vegas Raiders
The Chargers already have some familiarity with the Antonio Pierce-led Las Vegas Raiders. Two weeks after he was named interim head coach, Pierce and his team hung 63 points on the Chargers resulting in the firing of Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco.
Now the Chargers and Raiders will bookend the season by playing against one another in the first and las week of the season. Sort of a “This is how it started, This is how it’s going” meme for two teams embarking on new eras.
Pierce made his jump to the NFL when he was hired by Josh McDaniel ahead of the 2022 season. Before that, he was defensive coordinator for the Arizona State Sun Devils. Pierce brought Patrick Graham back as defensive coordinator. After Pierce took over in November, the Raiders’ defense was the second-best in the league by EPA per play. Graham comes from the Bill Belichick coaching tree.
Pierce hired former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator, Luke Getsy to run his offense. Getsy worked for many years under Matt LaFleur in Green Bay as quarterbacks coach.
Week 2 – Dave Canales – Carolina Panthers
Dave Canales was most recently the offensive coordinator for the sneaky good 2023 Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense. He now takes over the 4th worst offense from 2023. Before his one season as OC in Tampa, Canales had worked within the Seattle Seahawks organization since 2010 as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator.
Canales retained Ejiro Evero as defensive coordinator. Evero’s defense finished the 2023 season 17th in EPA per play.
Week 10 – Brian Callahan – Tennessee Titans
Brian Callahan’s name rocketed up the head coaching candidate boards after the Bengals offense didn’t drop off once Joe Burrow was lost for the season in Week 11. Under Jake Browning, the Bengals had the fourth-best success rate in football.
Callahan brought on Dennard Wilson as defensive coordinator. Wilson is also a first-time DC. He worked for the Baltimore Ravens last season and for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021 and 2022. The Bengals offense has been the 7th best by EPA/play in the league.
Week 13 – Raheem Morris – Atlanta Falcons
Raheem Morris isn’t technically a first-time head coach. He was the Atlanta Falcon’s interim head coach in 2020 and in 2009 he was hired as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But, as that was more than 10 years ago, this feels more like a first-time head coaching opportunity for Morris.
Morris brought Zac Robinson and Jimmy Lake with him from the Los Angeles Rams to serve as his offensive and defensive coordinator.
Morris won a Super Bowl with the Rams in his first season as defensive coordinator. In his three seasons as Rams DC, the defenses ranked 14th in the league in EPA/play.
Week 17 – Jerod Mayo – New England Patriots
Jerod Mayo had been inside linebackers coach for the New England Patriots since 2019, his only coaching experience. He also played for the franchise from 2008-2015. Mayo was promoted to head coach after the team and Bill Belichick parted ways.
Mayo hired former Cleveland Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt to lead his offense. He also hired longtime Patriots defensive coach DeMarcus Covington as defensive coordinator.