The Los Angeles Chargers went outside the organization to fill their open offensive coordinator position by hiring Kellen Moore earlier this offseason, but have decided to keep things in-house as they address their defensive coordinator spot. The club officially announced on Monday that it has promoted Derrick Ansley to be its DC going forward into 2023.
Ansley, 41, has been the defensive backs coach for the Chargers since 2021 and does have coordinator experience going back to his coaching days at the University of Tennessee from 2019 to 2020. He initially broke into the NFL back in 2018 as the defensive backs coach of the then-Oakland Raiders.
He now will lead an offense that was a top-10 unit in DVOA against the pass in 2022, struggled against the run (29th). As a club, L.A. surrendered 145.8 yards on the ground last season, which ranked fifth-most in the league. However, they did give up just 200.4 passing yards per game, which was seventh-best. The Chargers defense also gave up 22.6 points per game, so there is some work to be done as Ansley now takes over.
Ansley's ascension to DC comes in the aftermath of the Chargers mutually agreeing to part ways with former coordiantor Renaldo Hill. He accepted a job as the pass-game coordinator for the Miami Dolphins under Vic Fangio. Hill worked for Fangio for two seasons when he was the head coach of the Denver Broncos. Out of respect for Fangio, whom Brandon Staley coached under for three seasons between Chicago and Denver, the Chargers head coach allowed Hill to depart L.A. for Miami, according to ESPN.
Hill had served as the Chargers defensive coordinator for the past two seasons, which coincided with Staley getting the head-coaching job. The 44-year-old joins a staff under head coach Mike McDaniel who just hired Fangio and is looking to build off a 2022 season where the team reached the postseason as a seventh seed. Last year, the defense ranked 25th in DVOA against the pass.
On top of Ansley becoming DC in Los Angeles, the Chargers announced that Tom Donatell is the passing game coordinator/secondary coach, Doug Nussmeier is the quarterbacks coach and Jeff Howard is the linebackers coach.
