We are a few weeks removed from Brandon Staley being selected as the 17th coach in Chargers history, and in that time, he has put it together with his primary coaching staff for the upcoming 2021 season.
Staley has put a great staff together for the Chargers, and it will be exciting to see what they can do once the football season starts up again. He has an experienced group of coaches around him, with several years of experience in the NFL, which is a wise decision for Staley.
Even though he may be one of the next genius coaches of the NFL, he still lacks overall experience in football, so it will be important for him to utilize the veteran assistant coaches that he hired.
Offensive Coordinator, Joe Lombardi
Lombardi was selected as the Chargers’ new offensive coordinator after spending several years as the quarterbacks’ coach for the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions as their offensive coordinator. He is the grandson of the great Vince Lombardi and will hopefully help lead Just Herbert to hoist a Lombardi trophy in Sofi Stadium this time next year.
Lombardi has a long coaching history in the NFL, but he is best known for coaching Drew Brees through their Super Bowl season and over the last four seasons. He plans to implement a similar system to what the Saints have used over the past couple of years and build the offense around Justin Herbert. Staley has a solid plan for the new offense, which is one reason he was hired, and Lombardi is going to be part of that plan.
Defensive Coordinator, Renaldo Hill
Hill is a former NFL player who logged over ten years in the NFL as a defensive back and has spent the last two seasons as the defensive back coach for the Denver Broncos. Hill and Staley coached together while Staley was the linebacker coach and Hill was the defensive back coach. Since Staley is a former defensive coordinator, he will likely be calling plays for the defense with assistance from Hill. Hill will probably be the defensive coordinator and the defensive back coach as well, and he will most likely overlook the secondary in the new Staley-ran defense.
The Broncos’ secondary over the years has been a focal point of their defense. This hire should bring some good chemistry with current Charger cornerback Chris Harris Jr. and could also be a draw for free agent Justin Simmons. He is one of the big names in the upcoming free-agent market if Tom Telesco decides to try and pair him with Derwin James in the secondary.
Special Teams Coach, Derius Swinton II
The Swinton hire might not be the flashiest hire of this cycle, but he might be even more important than the other two coordinator hires. It has been no secret that the Chargers have had one of the worst special team units in the NFL over the last decade, and it was even worse last season, and it ultimately cost the Chargers several games. Former coordinator George Stewart was let go in the middle of last season after the special teams ranked as one of the worst special teams’ units since DVOA was tracked back in the early 2000s. Part of that was coaching, and the other side was general manager Tom Telesco letting a lot of key special teams’ players leave in free agency after the 2019 season and not replacing them.
Swinton has over ten years of coaching experience in the NFL; it is easy to see that coach Staley is insulating himself with coaching staff with several years of experience, which is a good sign considering Staley’s main knock was that he had only been coaching at the NFL level for four seasons.
Swinton was the Special Teams Coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals last season and has been with several other teams in the same position over his coaching years. Hopefully, he should revamp the Chargers below-average special teams, which will ultimately help the Chargers win more games in the future.
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