{"id":914920,"date":"2026-06-10T07:03:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T07:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/914920\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T07:03:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T07:03:22","slug":"why-the-chargers-offensive-line-is-running-so-much-under-mike-mcdaniel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/914920\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Chargers Offensive Line is Running So Much Under Mike McDaniel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alt, a Pro Bowler in his second season, succinctly summed up the difference between Mike McDaniel\u2019s scheme<\/a> and previous one he has played in.<\/p>\n

In other systems, Alt said, offensive linemen usually take one or two steps in the run game before blocking their defender.<\/p>\n

But with McDaniel’s wide-zone ground scheme, it could be as many seven or eight steps as offensive linemen try to continually open up running lanes.<\/p>\n

Strange is perhaps the most familiar player in this system considering he was in Miami last year with both McDaniel and Barry.<\/p>\n

Strange, who has settled in at right guard with the Bolts, said he’s given his new teammates some pointers as they have learned the offense in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

“Ask any of the O-lineman, Butch is very relentless, which is a good thing,” Strange said. “There’s no room for complacency to enter our room because he’s always on us.<\/p>\n

“But what Joe said is exactly correct. In a lot of schemes, especially backside, you might just take a step or two and get a guy,” Strange added. “But in this one, you gotta be prepared to run. Run.”<\/p>\n

McDaniel said this offseason that the goal is to “dictate the terms” on offense, meaning a dominant ground game that opens up opportunities for Justin Herbert in the passing game.<\/p>\n

With outside zone, it takes a collective effort as all five linemen move one way in cohesion as a running back trails behind them. When a hole opens, the running back plants his foot in the ground and explodes through it.<\/p>\n

But a successful play requires linemen to learn how to run, especially if they’ve never been in the scheme before.<\/p>\n

Barry spent the first portion of the offseason program showing his group plays from McDaniel’s offenses in San Francisco and Miami.<\/p>\n

“You can tell the guys run off the ball,” said guard Kayode Awosika.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alt, a Pro Bowler in his second season, succinctly summed up the difference between Mike McDaniel\u2019s scheme and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":914921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[98782,37,29050,241,7,34,38,5661,1014,262,2444,2443,4836,6,1526],"class_list":["post-914920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-chargers","tag-2026-offseason-editorial","tag-app-homepage","tag-butch-barry","tag-chargers","tag-football","tag-homepage-cp","tag-homepage-headlines","tag-joe-alt","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleschargers","tag-mike-mcdaniel","tag-nfl","tag-rashawn-slater"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116724538043937285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}