Chargers hiring Kellen Moore as their new OC

COSTA MESA, Calif. — The Los Angeles Chargers have agreed to terms with Kellen Moore to be their new offensive coordinator, the team announced Monday.

The move comes less than 24 hours after the Dallas Cowboys released a statement that said Moore and the team had reached a “mutual decision to part ways” following an end-of-season review process.

In L.A., Moore is replacing offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, who was fired after a 10-7 season that ended in a historic meltdown loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the wild-card round.

Moore, 33, will take over an offense led by quarterback Justin Herbert, who last season passed Andrew Luck to tally the most passing yards through a player’s first three NFL seasons. Moore also inherits receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams and running back Austin Ekeler, who last season led the NFL with 18 touchdowns.

Moore goes from coaching Dak Prescott, who led the league in interception rate (3.8%) this season, to Herbert, who had the seventh-lowest interception rate (1.4%) in the NFL, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

At the outset of the search for a new offensive coordinator, coach Brandon Staley said he would look for leadership and a system that resembled the ones deployed by Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay and San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan.

“The offenses that I think are the most challenging to defend … are the ones that put a lot of pressure on you every snap, in terms of marrying the run game to the pass game, putting a lot of pressure on you with personnel groupings, pace, motion, and being able to get the explosions consistently,” Staley said.

The Chargers’ offense ranked 10th last season, scoring an average of 22.47 points per game. But they struggled to consistently run the football, averaging only 89.6 yards per game, which ranked 30th.

Moore spent four seasons as coordinator for the Cowboys, with his offense ranking in the top four in points per game (27.7), yards per game (391) and third-down conversion percentage (44%).

With the Chargers, he’s anticipated to deploy a more balanced offensive attack than the Bolts relied on under Lombardi.

Last season, the Chargers called a designed pass on 68% of plays, the second-highest rate in the NFL behind only the Buccaneers (68.1%). The Cowboys called a designed pass on 54.6% of their plays in 2022, the sixth-lowest rate in the league.

“In terms of the passing game, that’s what we’ve been able to do at a high level for the last two years, throw the football,” Staley said before Moore’s hiring. “But to be more explosive, you have to be able to run the football more consistently to put more pressure on people.”

The Cowboys under Moore ranked 11th in rate of explosive plays (10.1%), qualified as a 10-yard run or 20-yard pass play, while the Chargers the last two seasons under Lombardi ranked 30th (8.1%).

The Chargers also interviewed Rams passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach Zac Robinson, Rams senior offensive assistant Greg Olsen, Rams assistant head coach/tight ends coach Thomas Brown and Minnesota Vikings assistant quarterbacks coach Jerrod Johnson for the position.

It’s unclear whether Moore will make further changes to the Chargers’ offensive staff. A vacancy remains at quarterbacks coach after Shane Day also was fired after the season.

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