Five Things to Know About Chargers' New Offensive Line Coach Butch Barry

Butch Barry has been a long time coach in the trenches and he has been able to draw the best out of a lot of players.

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The Los Angeles Chargers reportedly have found their new offensive line coach to replace Mike Devlin who was relieved of duties alongside offensive coordinator Greg Roman. New offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel has brought a familiar face from Miami with him to Los Angeles in longtime offensive line coach Butch Barry.

Butch Barry has been with the Dolphins alongside McDaniel for the past three seasons. Barry has been a long-time offensive line coach in both the NFL and with college programs.

Five keys to know about Butch Barry

Butch Barry and Mike McDaniel

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Mike McDaniel has worked with offensive line coach Butch Barry for five out of the past six seasons. Barry was hired by the San Francisco 49ers before the 2021 season where he served as assistant offensive line coach. Mike McDaniel was the 49ers offensive coordinator for the 2021 season.

McDaniel was hired by the Miami Dolphins after the 2021 season and Barry was hired by the Denver Broncos as offensive line coach under head coach Nathaniel Hackett for the 2022 season. Barry joined McDaniel in Miami the following season as the Broncos faced a disastrous 2022 season leading to Hackett, Barry and other members of the coaching staff to be fired before the conclusion of the season.

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Butch Barry coaching history

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Butch Barry broke into the coaching ranks at Central Michigan in 2002 as a graduate assistant. He coached at various programs, mainly in Michigan, before returning to Central Michigan in 2010 to become the tight ends coach for three seasons and offensive line coach in 2014.

Barry broke into the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an assistant offensive line coach in 2015 and held that position until his departure for the Miami Hurricanes for the 2019 season to be the offensive line coach in Miami. Barry spent the 2020 covid season with the Green Bay Packers before being hired by the San Francisco 49ers in 2021 where he originally worked with Mike McDaniel. He spent one year in Denver in 2022 before joining McDaniel in Miami for 2023 through 2025.

Butch Barry and the Miami Dolphins offensive line

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The Miami Dolphins had the 29th-rated offensive line according to PFF's final 2025 rankings. The Chargers came in one spot below at 30th. Initially, this may look like a terrible stat for fans of the Chargers and Justin Herbert's life after he was hit at historic rates in 2025.

The PFF ratings are not focused on the performance of the offensive lines; this rating focuses on the quality of the offensive lines. In short the Dolphins and Chargers had similar talent to work with along the offensive line.

The difference lies in the performance.

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The Chargers and Dolphins faced similar problems in terms of available talent. The drastic difference between the two groups in performance is a credit to both the scheme and gameplan from Mike McDaniel and implementation and coaching from Barry.

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Problems with the Denver Broncos

Butch Barry's time with the Broncos will undoubtedly resurface and be scrutinized as the media and fans get to know Barry and his history. Barry was relieved of his duties with the Broncos shortly after the organization fired Nathaniel Hackett.

Reports shortly after came out regarding Barry's perception in the building and there were rumors that players hated him and cheered his dismissal. When a franchise has a bad season, there are always axes to grind somewhere in the building. Pro Football Network broke down the performance of Barry's Dolphins offensive lines and his relationship with the players that drew a stark contrast to what was said of his time with the Broncos.

Butch Barry and his relationship with players

Dolphins offensive tackle Austin Jackson described working with Butch Barry specifically after he was having a rough time in a pre-season game in Barry's first season on the job.

"Butch heard me out, and he helped me out with what I needed to do to get better, and he didn’t do it on his time, meaning I had to go to him outside of his meeting time, and it was a one-on-one deal. But he just put a lot of effort into me," Jackson said. “There’s been times where you don’t have anyone who’s willing to meet you there with the extra effort. But he’s always been there and he’s serious about his job. Very serious, and that benefited me.”

The Dolphins offensive line has been vocal in their love and praise for coach Barry. He attended Pilates classes with tackle Patrick Paul. Offensive lineman Larry Borom simply said, “He cares about his players. And he cares about how we do things.”

Barry himself mentions that when working with the players that relationships are key. "To do these hard things, you want to be connected,” Barry said, “I also think it’s important as coaches they see us go through something hard with them.”

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