Chargers offensive line undergoing seismic schematic shift under Mike McDaniel, Butch Barry

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Butch Barry’s persistent encouragement has been the soundtrack of the Los Angeles Chargers’ spring practices. The team’s new offensive line coach prefers two simple words when urging on his players, according to tackle Joe Alt.

“’Go,’” Alt said, “and ‘run.’”

Two offensive linemen align across from a teammate who holds a large pad. Barry yells out to indicate the snap of the ball. The linemen surge diagonally, either left or right. And they keep sprinting all the way until they are close to the sideline. Barry, through the entire drill, is screaming his orders.

Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!

Run! Run! Run! Run!

Barry is attempting to build a mentality that makes up the foundation of new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s scheme. If Barry builds this mentality successfully, then the scheme will come to life, as it did when Barry was McDaniel’s offensive line coach from 2023 to ’25 with the Miami Dolphins.

This new Chargers system is rooted in the outside zone run blocking scheme. In its simplest form, outside zone refers to all offensive linemen blocking laterally in one direction. The running back follows that lateral path and reads the blocks. When it is executed successfully, the back makes one cut upfield and hits an open hole.

In these spring drills, Barry is teaching the technique of this blocking scheme. He is also teaching the fundamental philosophy of how the Chargers are going to play up front on offense.

Last month, McDaniel called it “a certain style of ball that is convicted, that dictates the terms.”

On Monday, Barry said, “To play the brand of football, the style of football we want, we’ve got to be urgent.”

Cole Strange, whom the Chargers signed in free agency to be their starting right guard, offered a very simple explanation of the philosophy. Strange started 14 games for the Dolphins last year, playing for McDaniel and Barry.

“Run off the ball,” Strange said.

That, Strange said, is the “starting point” for everything the Chargers will be trying to do along the offensive line, especially in the run game.

Strange is the only player in the Chargers’ offensive line room with direct experience in McDaniel’s scheme. All the other offensive linemen are learning these new techniques for the first time. That includes the Chargers’ star tackle duo, Rashawn Slater on the left side and Alt on the right.

Strange said some of the techniques can be counterintuitive. For instance, offensive linemen are typically taught to avoid leaning forward and getting their shoulders over their toes. As Strange said, in those instances, “It’s very easy for a defender to swim you, and then you’re on your face.” In this scheme, however, forward lean is a coaching point from Barry.

“You just kind of force yourself to do it,” Strange said. “It’s awkward.”

The Chargers are making a seismic transition. Former offensive coordinator Greg Roman preferred gap blocking schemes. In those concepts, he was matching individual blockers on individual defenders and attempting to attack specific holes, or gaps. In an outside zone scheme, the five men on the offensive line are blocking as a unit in one direction or the other. The cumulative force creates movement, and the running back must read that defensive flow to find the crease.

“It works because everyone’s doing it,” Strange said of the forward lean. “If everyone’s not doing it, then it won’t work.”

Barry believes in being “proactive” as opposed to “reactionary.” That mentality applies to all phases of the system. Offenses will always have more information than defenses. The offense knows the play call. The defense does not. The broad philosophy of McDaniel’s scheme is to take full advantage of this knowledge gap. On the offensive line, that means firing off the ball and forcing the defensive front to react to that speed and quickness.

“It’s an attack-first, swing-first mentality,” said guard Kayode Awosika, who signed with the Chargers in free agency.

The coaches put it a different way, according to Awosika: “Conviction over perfection.”

Mistakes are tolerable as long as they are made at full speed. Awosika, who is entering his sixth NFL season, said veterans sometimes want to “see more and add more detail” to their games as they get more experience. That approach, however, can lead to a player “being hesitant or seeing a lot and seeing nothing,” according to Awosika.

This coaching staff? “They’re about going,” Awosika said.

Strength in mentality and strength in numbers. The Chargers are starting to cultivate this chemistry.

They are now in their final week of organized team activities. Players have been on the field working with Barry since May 4. During OTAs, the Chargers are allowed to hold 11-on-11 periods. The contact is still minimal. But five-man units have been getting snaps together.

The first offensive line grouping on the field has remained the same throughout OTAs: LT Slater, LG Awosika, C Tyler Biadasz, RG Strange, RT Alt.

Like Strange and Awosika, Biadasz was a free-agent addition. In total, 10 of the Chargers’ 17 offensive linemen are new to the roster in 2026, including second-round pick Jake Slaughter. Slaughter has been rotating with Awosika at left guard with the first-team offense.

The turnover is a sign of the different skill set necessary to play in this scheme. Short-area quickness, athleticism and range are non-negotiable.

As Strange said Monday, “You gotta just be prepared to run.”

He paused for a moment and then repeated that final word: “Run.”

Alt and Slater both seem quite excited about the shift in the scheme.

“The rule is just get off and just go destroy everything in your path,” Slater said. “So honestly, it’s just fun to block. Doesn’t take too much thinking.”

Added Alt: “It’s a very freeing offense to play in. From the beginning, you’ve got your assignments and your technique, but from there, it is turn and sprint and run as hard as you can. You’re able to play fast, play physical and kind of unleash and not really think as much as I have in the past. It’s really just, ‘Go!’ And I think that’s a lot of fun for an offensive lineman.”

When asked what has stood out about Barry, Alt said, “The intensity.”

“It’s every single day, and it’s for you,” Alt added.

“Butch is just very relentless,” Strange said.

Barry said his intensity comes from his passion for wanting to “impact people’s lives.”

It’s the tough coaching that can be heard from across the field, 100 yards away.

If everything goes according to plan, it’s the coaching that will lift an offense, protect quarterback Justin Herbert and push the Chargers to a place they have not been in close to a decade.

“I’ve been here since 2021 and still haven’t had a playoff win,” Slater said. “I just know what we have. I know what we’re capable of. It’s time for us to go get it.”