Giants Emerge as Threat to Steal Chargers, Jim Harbaugh Coach After Recent Hires

Just when it looked like Jim Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers had settled on their coaching staff for next year…here come the New York Giants.

Those Giants are now sniffing around one of the Chargers’ top coaches, who almost got promoted to coordinator over the last week.

According to Jordan Schultz and others, the Giants will interview Chargers quarterback coach Shane Day for their vacant offensive coordinator position on Saturday.

Schultz added this: “Day is widely regarded as one of the top QB coaches in the NFL and has been instrumental in Justin Herbert’s career.”

Indeed. Day was on the short list of serious coordinator candidates for the Chargers and interviewed for the spot. It isn’t a stretch to suggest he would have been the in-house favorite.

Alas, it isn’t every offseason that a former head coach like Mike McDaniel becomes available and shows interest in a coordinator job with a team like the Chargers. For Harbaugh, it probably wasn't that tough a decision to make.

The Giants hired John Harbaugh to be their next head coach to really get this hiring cycle started. There were some early concerns that he might convince former Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter to join him in New York. Instead, Minter got John’s former job as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

Sources: The #Giants will interview #Chargers QBs coach Shane Day for their vacant OC position on Saturday.

Day is widely regarded as one of the top QB coaches in the NFL and has been instrumental in Justin Herbert’s career. He was a serious candidate for the Chargers’ OC job… pic.twitter.com/VUbBpYDDA0
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) January 30, 2026

The Chargers responded by getting McDaniel as offensive coordinator and going with Chris O’Leary as their new defensive coordinator. He was essentially an “in-house” candidate for the Chargers, having left for one season to act as a coordinator at the college level before returning now.

As for Day, he jumped to the NFL level back as far as 2007 and has largely been a positional coach. He was the passing game coordinator for the Chargers as well in 2021-2022 before a brief departure. Then, he returned with Jim Harbaugh in 2024.

For Day, the ascension to coordinator would finally be a jump. The Chargers would likely promote from within to keep some of the continuity going, provided McDaniel doesn’t have anyone in mind he wants to bring over from past stops.

While Day would be a loss, McDaniel installing his offense and working with Justin Herbert is, at least projection-wise, one heck of a consolation prize.

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