Joe Hortiz: I think Justin Herbert will "take off" in Mike McDaniel's offense

The Chargers landed one of the top assistant coaches available this offseason when they hired Mike McDaniel to be their offensive coordinator.

With four years of experience as a head coach and offensive play-caller under his belt, McDaniel is in a strong position to help elevate Los Angeles’ offense and quarterback Justin Herbert.

During an interview with PFT Live at the scouting combine on Tuesday, General Manager Joe Hortiz said he feels like Herbert will excel with McDaniel designing the offense.

“Through the interview process in our OC search, Mike talked about, this is why we did this in Miami because this is the personnel we had,” Hortiz said. "Mike is a coach that will literally create his scheme, create his offense based on the players we have. And it’s not, you go out and find this specific payer. His flexibility as an offensive coordinator and play-caller is one of the things that makes him great. And just knowing the offense, I think Justin’s going to take off in it.

“[Herbert’s] work ethic, and the effort, and everything he puts into it — he just continues to get better and better. Really excited for what he’s going to look like in this scheme. I’ve seen this scheme in action to a degree in Baltimore when we had Gary Kubiak. I saw Joe Flacco have, arguably, his best year with Gary. And just real excited for Justin and Mike to link up and see what happens.”

Herbert, who turns 28 in March, is entering his seventh pro season in 2026. He completed 66.4 percent of his passes for 3,727 yards with 26 touchdowns and 13 interceptions last season. He’s still looking for his first postseason victory, having completed 54.7 percent of his throws for 674 yards with two touchdowns, four interceptions, and one lost fumble in his three playoff games.