Coaching Matters: 2022 Los Angeles Chargers Coaching Staff Preview

July 11, 2022

Eli Grabanski breaks down the 2022 Los Angeles Chargers' coaching staff in search of buy-lows, fantasy football sleepers, and risers based on play-calling and historical data.

After every NFL season, NFL teams take the time to evaluate not only the players but also the coaching staff and front office as well. While many teams choose to retain the same head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator, a few other teams opt to go in a new direction with their coaching staff.

One team that will retain most of its core coaching staff this season is the Los Angeles Chargers. The team will be bringing back a majority of its key coaches for the 2022-23 season: head coach Brandon Staley, offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, and defensive coordinator Renaldo Hill.

This article will look at the potential impact this coaching staff will have on the players and try to pinpoint the Chargers players' fantasy values in it.

The Baseline

To get a better understanding of the value the Chargers coaches help bring to this team, we can look at the NFL league averages in each of the past two years in a variety of statistical categories and then compare them to the averages achieved by the Chargers' coaches. Here are 'The Baseline' NFL league averages over the past couple of years:

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Defense Impact

2022 Offense

2022 Offensive Coordinator: Joe Lombardi

The grandson of legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, Joe Lombardi has been the Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator since 2021 and coaching in the NFL since 2006. Prior to joining the Chargers, he was the New Orleans Saints quarterbacks coach (2009-2013, 2016-2020). Lombardi also had a 23-game stretch where he was the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator (2014-2015) before he was fired and replaced with Jim Bob Cooter. Below are some statistics from Lombardi's career as offensive coordinator.

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Joe Lombardi Takeaways & Expectations

During his time with the Detroit Lions, Lombardi ran a very pass-happy offense that averaged 39.35 passing attempts per game. This was again the case with the Los Angeles Chargers, with the team averaging 39.65 passing attempts, 294.94 passing yards, and 2.24 passing touchdowns per game during the 2021 season. This high level of passing usage is phenomenal news if you are rostering Justin Herbert in your fantasy leagues as it raises both his floor and ceiling.

When examining a quarterback's fantasy upside, it's also important to look at the amount of rushing work that they may receive since it can provide a major boost to their fantasy production.

In Detroit with Matthew Stafford as his starting quarterback, Lombardi saw his quarterback room average just 2.48 carries per game. It was a slightly different story last year with Justin Herbert behind center, as the Chargers quarterback room averaged 3.82 carries per game. Overall, once again Herbert will have a ton of upside in Lombardi's system and should be one of the best fantasy quarterbacks that you can roster for the 2022 NFL season.

Moving onto the running back room, Joe Lombardi's profile is a little more of a mixed bag. Over the course of 40 games that Lombardi's been an NFL offensive play-caller, his running back room has averaged 19.90 carries, 77.90 rushing yards, and 0.65 rushing touchdowns per game on the ground - all of which are below-average.

In fact, Lombardi not feeding his running backs on the ground was one of the big reasons that he got fired after just 23 games as the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator back in 2015. With Lombardi as the team's play-caller, the Chargers clearly won't be running the ball as much as other NFL teams.

But besides the amount of volume (carries) on the ground that Lombardi has historically provided, we also need to consider how that volume has been distributed over the course of his career - is Lombardi generally rolling with a bell-cow or a running back by committee approach on the ground?

While Joe Lombardi does not give his running back room as a ton of carries, he does seem to consistently give around 60% of the team's tailback carries to the lead back. This distribution on the ground is encouraging if you plan on rostering Austin Ekeler, but the other backs on the team will firmly be viewed as just handcuffs for the 2022 season.

The final aspect we should look at regarding Joe Lombardi's running backs is how much he has traditionally utilized them as pass-catchers. Over the course of his career, Lombardi's running back room has averaged an insane 9.18 targets per game - one of the best marks in the league among active play-callers.

Ekeler's receiving upside will remain one of the highest in the NFL among running backs as long as Joe Lombardi is his play-caller. Overall, Ekeler is in line to have a very nice fantasy season if he stays healthy and he should be drafted as an RB1 going into the 2022 season.

Jumping to the wide receiver position, Lombardi has provided his wide receivers with 22.48 targets per game over the course of his 40-game career as an offensive coordinator.

This usage is very encouraging to see. In Lombardi's offense, Keenan Allen and Mike Williams will once again be utilized frequently in the passing game and have an opportunity to put up big fantasy numbers. Both are excellent targets in your fantasy draft(s) since their 2022 ADPs (average draft position) are currently a bit lower than where they finished in 2021 and they are still in a great situation.

Lastly, Lombardi's historical usage of tight ends has been a little below average. Over the course of his career as an offensive coordinator, Lombardi's tight end room has averaged 6.48 targets per game.

The Chargers' tight-end usage under Lombardi was a little better in 2021, but the team still had a hard time making any of their tight ends anything more than streaming material. With the Chargers' current roster, it's unlikely that Lombardi significantly changes his strategy in utilizing the tight end position. Gerald Everett will likely have some flashes here and there, but you should probably look elsewhere for a tight end if you don't want to be streaming in 2022.

Fantasy Relevant Players: Justin Herbert, Chase Daniel, Easton Stick, Austin Ekeler, Isaiah Spiller, Joshua Kelley, Larry Rountree III, Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Jalen Guyton, Gerald Everett, Joshua Palmer, DeAndre Carter, Jason Moore, and Donald Parham Jr.

2022 Defense

2022 Head Coach: Brandon Staley

Brandon Staley had a meteoric rise in the coaching ranks to become the Chargers' head coach. In 2016, he was the defensive coordinator at Division III college John Carroll. Then in 2017, he made the jump to the NFL, spending time as the Chicago Bears (2017-2018) and the Denver Broncos (2019) as an outside linebackers coach. Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay noticed the great job that Staley was doing, and brought him in to be the team's defensive coordinator in 2020. Staley did a phenomenal job with the Rams as the team boasted one of the best defenses in the league and the Los Angeles Chargers decided that they would like Staley to be the team's next head coach. Staley did a solid job in his first year as a head coach, but his defense left something to be desired in Year One. While the defense should be better in 2022, let's take a look at some statistics from Brandon Staley's career in a defensive coordinator or head coaching role to get a better understanding of the potential of the 2022 Chargers defense.

2021 Defensive Coordinator: Renaldo Hill

The 2021 season was the first time that Renaldo Hill has served as a defensive coordinator at the NFL level. Prior to becoming the Chargers' defensive coordinator, Hill worked as an assistant defensive backs coach for the Miami Dolphins (2018) and as a defensive backs coach for the Denver Broncos (2019-2020).

Other Notable Assistants

Special Teams Coordinator: Ryan Ficken - One of the only changes to the Chargers coaching staff will be at special teams coordinator, with the team going from Derius Swinton II to Ryan Ficken. Ficken spent his entire NFL coaching career (2007-Present) with the Minnesota Vikings in a variety of roles prior to becoming the Los Angeles Chargers special teams coordinator. His most recent role was as the Vikings' special teams coordinator (2021).

QB Coach: Shane Day - Shane Day joined the Los Angeles Chargers coaching staff in 2021. He's previously been a quarterbacks coach for the Chicago Bears (2010-2011) and San Francisco 49ers (2019-2020). He's also coached for the Washington Redskins (2014-2015) as an assistant offensive line coach and for the Miami Dolphins as a tight ends coach (2016-2018).

RB Coach: Derrick Foster - Derrick Foster is entering his second year with the Los Angeles Chargers. He previously spent three years at the University of Iowa as a running backs coach.

WR Coach: Chris Beatty - Chris Beatty joined the Chargers in 2021 as a wide receivers coach. At the college level, he was the wide receivers coach for Vanderbilt (2011), Wisconsin (2013-2014), Maryland (2016-2018), and Pittsburgh (2019-2020).

TE Coach: Kevin Koger - Kevin Koger is in his second season as the Los Angeles Chargers tight ends coach. He was previously the Green Bay Packers' offensive quality control coach (2019-2020).

OL Coach: Brendan Nugent - The Chargers hired Brendan Nugent to be the new offensive line coach after the previous offensive line coach, Frank Smith, was hired to be the Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator in 2022. Nugent has been coaching in the NFL since 2013 and most recently served as the New Orleans Saints' offensive line coach (2021).

DL Coach: Jay Rodgers - The Los Angeles Chargers decided to have their defensive line coach and outside linebackers coach swap positions for the 2022 season, so now Jay Rodgers will serve as the team's defensive line coach and Giff Smith will serve as the outside linebackers coach. Prior to joining Los Angeles Chargers coaching staff in 2021, Jay Rodgers spent time with the Denver Broncos (2009-2014) in a variety of roles, including as a defensive line coach (2012-2014) as well as serving as the Chicago Bears defensive line coach from 2015-2020.

LB Coach: Michael Wilhoite - Michael Wilhoite joined the Los Angeles Chargers as a linebackers coach in 2021. As a coach, he's spent time with the New Orleans Saints as a special teams assistant (2019) and defensive assistant (2020). He also played linebacker in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers (2011-2016) and the Seattle Seahawks (2017).

OLB Coach: Giff Smith - The Los Angeles Chargers decided to have their defensive line coach and outside linebackers coach swap positions for the 2022 season, so now Giff Smith will serve as the team's outside linebackers coach while Jay Rodgers will serve as the team's defensive line coach. Giff Smith was one of the only coaches to remain from the previous coaching regime and was the Los Angeles Chargers' defensive line coach from 2016 to 2021. This will be the first year that he serves as an outside linebackers coach at any level.

Secondary Coach: Derrick Ansley - Derrick Ansley will be entering his second year as a part of the Los Angeles Chargers coaching staff in 2022. At the NFL level, he's been a defensive backs coach for the Oakland Raiders (2018) and at the college level he's worked at Alabama (2010-2011, 2016-2017), Tennessee (2012, 2019-2020), and Kentucky (2013-2015).

Enjoy this series? Be sure to check out all of the other 'Coaching Matters' team previews!

AFC North: Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals

AFC South: Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts

AFC West: Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos

Follow Eli Grabanski on Twitter: @3li_handles

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