The Coaching Changes That Matter Most for 2026 Fantasy Football (06/30 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

Fantasy Football Today – Coaching Changes That Matter Most for 2026 Fantasy Football (06/30/2026)

Episode Theme & Purpose

The crew at Fantasy Football Today, hosted by Adam Aizer, with analysts Dave Richard and guest Heath Cummings, break down the most significant NFL coaching changes ahead of the 2026 season and their likely impact on fantasy football. Their analysis focuses on new play callers who could transform offensive schemes, in turn shaping key fantasy assets and draft strategies for this season.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Coaching Change #1: Mike McDaniel to the Chargers

[02:09]

• Background: McDaniel leaves the Dolphins to become the Chargers’ head coach and offensive architect, bringing his distinctive West Coast offense to L.A.
• Philosophy: Expect "lots of zone running, especially outside zone, timed up passing attack, playing at a snail's pace." (Dave Richard, 02:09)
• QB Impact: Focus will be on quick, easy completions for Justin Herbert—mirroring McDaniel’s approach in Miami with Tua Tagovailoa.
  • "McDaniel talked about this offseason… really focused on easier completions for Justin Herbert." (Dave Richard, 02:12)
  • While deep shots are possible, expect a high completion percentage and YAC opportunities for receivers, especially Quentin Johnston.
• Run Game: Strong zone run scheme should boost running back efficiency.
• Fantasy Angle: Chargers “becoming popular players in fantasy drafts” as a result of McDaniel’s creative approach and player-friendly system. (Dave Richard, 02:54)

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2. Coaching Change #2: Sean Manion to the Eagles

[03:07]

• Background: Former NFL backup QB Sean Manion takes over as Eagles OC, an unusual jump for someone with no history as a play caller or coordinator.
• Philosophy & Uncertainty:
  • "Simply the fact that Kevin Patullo's gone should mean we've got better organization and more creativity in this Philadelphia offense." (Dave Richard, 03:16)
  • Anticipation of more zone coverage from defenses; drafting Makai Lemon sees Philly gearing up to exploit that coverage.
• Player Impact:
  • Devonta Smith and Makai Lemon both excel against zone coverage.
  • Run game likely to rebound: Expect more RB carries, benefiting Saquon Barkley.
  • Short, timed throws for Jalen Hurts, though new demands are being placed on him with more snaps under center and more motion—a departure from Philly’s recent identity as a shotgun-heavy, low-motion offense.
• Risk:
  • "I could see this going really bad in Philadelphia because you're asking Jalen Hurts to do things he's never really done before." (Adam Aizer, 05:16)
  • Despite curiosity about the fit, optimism remains that Manion will adapt to Hurts’ strengths if necessary.
  • “If Manion is smart... he'll say, okay, scrap it. Let's go back to more shotgun... I think that's something Hurts has done a lot over his career anyway." (Heath Cummings, 05:55)

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3. Coaching Change #3: Declan Doyle to the Ravens

[07:22]

• Background: With John Harbaugh out, defensive-minded Jesse Minter is the HC and brings in Declan Doyle as OC—former Ben Johnson/Sean Payton disciple, known for tight end utilization and creativity.
• Philosophy:
  • Expect more creative play designs, especially with tight ends. “He’s going to be focusing on the offense as much as he possibly can." (Heath Cummings, 08:02)
  • Removal of fullback Patrick Ricard means more multi-tight end sets and opportunities for Mark Andrews.
  • “There should be excitement for Zay Flowers too.... if there’s more creativity in the offense and more of an openness to let Lamar throw.” (Heath Cummings, 08:20)
• Stat Nugget: Chicago (Doyle’s last stop) was 3rd in second-half scoring (13.7 PPG) but only 15th in the first half—attributed to Doyle’s halftime adjustments. (Adam Aizer/Dave Richard, 08:58)
• Fantasy Angle: Mark Andrews could have “one last real good fantasy season” and Zay Flowers’ target share could grow. Lamar Jackson remains an elite QB play, pending health.

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Rapid-Fire Coaching Roundup

Brian Daboll to the Titans

[09:44]

• "I'm a fan of Daboll's… his scheme is aggressive and although I don't like every component of the Tennessee offense, I think he has some good players for fantasy." (Heath Cummings, 09:50)
• Tate will see "good target volume"; Wandale Robinson is “a player I draft a ton of in full PPR.” (Heath Cummings, 09:58)
• Cummings expects both Tate and Wandale to be viable as No. 3 fantasy receivers.

Drew Petzing to the Lions

[10:40]

• Petzing’s offenses in Arizona consistently used multi–tight end sets (top 6 every year), with at least 33.1% target share to TEs.
• "I think Petzing will be great for Laporta." (Heath Cummings, 11:49)
• Sam LaPorta is the big winner, but potential negative impact on Jameson Williams’ fantasy consistency.
• Success for other Lions depends on Petzing keeping the O-line productive.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "There could be some real big fantasy impacts across the board [with McDaniel in L.A.] and it's why you're seeing Chargers become popular players in fantasy drafts." – Dave Richard (02:54)
• "If Manion is smart…he adapts. If Hertz struggles in camp, he'll say okay, scrap it. Let's go back to more shotgun." – Heath Cummings (05:55)
• "Chicago was in a bunch of games last year. So I think a lot of the halftime adjustments were good adjustments." – Heath Cummings (08:08)
• "I'm a fan of Daboll’s. I think that his scheme is aggressive…those are probably the only two players [Tate and Wandale] that I’m really excited about in Tennessee." – Heath Cummings (09:50)
• “Petzing will be great for Laporta, good for everybody else in the run game…” – Heath Cummings (11:49)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:28] Introduction to topic: NFL coaching changes & their fantasy impact
• [02:09] Chargers hire Mike McDaniel – West Coast offense, Justin Herbert’s outlook
• [03:07] Sean Manion to Eagles – impact on Hurts, Saquon, and the WRs
• [05:16] Concerns about Hurts’ fit in Manion’s new scheme
• [07:22] Ravens’ new OC Declan Doyle – Impact on Lamar, Andrews, and Zay Flowers
• [08:48] Chicago's halftime scoring/adjustment stat and implications
• [09:44] Rapid fire: Brian Daboll to Titans – WR targets
• [10:40] Drew Petzing to Lions – multi–TE sets, effect on LaPorta and Jameson Williams

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Conclusion

The Fantasy Football Today team highlights several coaching changes that could shake up the fantasy landscape in 2026 – notably, Mike McDaniel’s arrival in L.A., Sean Manion’s unproven but intriguing start in Philly, and Declan Doyle’s creativity in Baltimore. Listeners are encouraged to stay tuned to how these transitions play out during camp, as offensive philosophy shifts could create new fantasy stars—or disappointments—across numerous teams and positions.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Now let's get back to the show.

[C]

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[D]

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[C]

You what?

[D]

Yeah, Great price. I even have seven days to love it or return it. So there's no, no, no buyer's remorse. More like buyers rejoice.

[C]

I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it.

[D]

Buyers rejoice. Buy your car today on Carvana. Limitations and exclusions may apply.

[E]

See our seven day return [e-mail] a

[A]

lot of new play callers around the NFL.

[B]

Dave Richard has broken it all down. If you go to CBSSports.com fantasy you can see an article about all of them. But we're going to talk about some of the Most impactful for 2026 right now on FFT Express. Okay. So there are so many names. We'll try to get to kind of a rapid fire sess in a little bit. But Dave wants to talk about the top three. Top three in terms of, you know,

[A]

big changes going to be made, Fantasy impact going to be had. Right?

[B]

That's how we're looking here. Yeah.

[F]

Big changes plus potentially positive, big, positive changes for fantasy.

[B]

Let's do it.

[A]

All right.

[F]

So it's not necessarily how I have them ranked, although the first name we're going to talk about is the number one play caller that's changed and it's the one we've talked about a ton. It's Jamie's new best friend. It's Mike McDaniel going from the Dolphins to the Chargers. We know what he's all about west coast offense, lots of zone running, especially outside zone timed up passing attack, playing at a snail's pace. And one of the things that McDaniel talked about this offseason was not he was really focused on easier completions for Justin Herbert. And think back to what he was doing in Miami with tua. Was he asking Tua to make easy throws and get the ball out quick because he was trying to protect TUA or because it was kind of working. And maybe that's just the way that he wants to utilize Justin Herbert. And don't get me wrong, if I, I am sure that Herbert will have the green light to throw to Quentin Johnson if there's a one on one matchup or even if it's Makaki, whoever the hell it is. I'm sure that he's got the green light to make those downfield throws. But I'm wondering if we see those short targets continue with Justin Herbert, which will mean a higher completion percentage. If it's a schemed up, well oiled machine that that means the receivers will be in a position to add yards after the catch. It's something that Quentin Johnston has is trying to be good at and we know what the run game can contribute as well. So there could be some real big fantasy impacts across the board and it's why you're seeing Chargers become popular players in fantasy drafts. Number two, Sean Manion going to Philadelphia. And it's, it's a little strange to be this excited about a guy who was a literal backup quarterback two years ago and has never been a play caller, never even been an offensive coordinator and yet here he is with both of those roles in Philadelphia. But simply the fact that Kevin Patullo's gone should mean that we've got better organization and more creativity in this Philadelphia offense. I would expect there to be a lot more. I think they're going to see a lot of zone coverage because if you play man against Philly, you're going to get burned by Jalen Hurts on the ground. And drafting Makai Lemon to me was a signal to that they are anticipating that zone coverage and that they're willing to exploit that. We know Devonte Smith is good against zone coverage. Lemon was great against zone coverage in college. It's a different story in the NFL. We'll see how quickly he can adjust, but I think we're going to see a lot more of that same west coast stuff. Timed up throws, shorter throws, easier throws for Jalen hurts to make be it over the middle or closer to the sidelines and still a lot of running. I still think Philadelphia gets back to running. Last year they averaged almost, almost 22 running back runs per game. That's the second lowest total since Sirianni took over Philadelphia in 2024. Obviously Saquon was there. That number was almost 27 running back runs per game. I think they're going to land somewhere in the middle and you're going to see a lot of running back runs. That's good for Saquon, but also a lot of those shorter throws over the middle against zone coverage where Jalen Hurts is timed up with his pass catchers.

[A]

Yeah, this one I can't really see

[B]

how it goes bad for McDaniel in, in Los Angeles.

[A]

Right.

[B]

There's really good personnel and it's not like they were a bad offense last year, especially when they were healthy.

[A]

I could see this going really bad

[B]

in Philadelphia because you're asking Jalen Hurts to do things he's never really done before. They want to be under center more, they're going to do more motion. This is a team that's usually among the league leaders in shotgun rate and usually among the lowest in motion rate.

[A]

I don't know how that's going to

[B]

work with Jalen Hurts. I'm not sure he's a fit for, for Manions, for, for this.

[A]

I don't, I think it's gonna be

[B]

like a hybrid system. It's not going to be the Rams, but I don't know if he's a fit for what he wants to do. So I, I'm excited about the Chargers. I'm curious about the Eagles.

[A]

I'm excited.

[B]

I don't think can get much worse, but I also think, Dave, that there, it could get, it could be bad.

[F]

I, I, I think if Manion is smart and he does what most offensive coordinators do, it's, he adapts and he sees if Hertz struggles within camp, he'll say, okay, scrap it. Let's go back to more shotgun. What I don't think he'll do is scrap the concept of timing up his throws or asking Hertz to time up his throws and to make quick reads. First read isn't there. Second read isn't there. Okay, go ahead, take off. And I think that's something Hertz has done a lot of over his career anyway. So hopefully Manion can just adjust. You know, Jalen hurts his strengths and the entire offense's strengths with what concepts he wants to add in.

[B]

By the way, isn't it wild that 18 teams have new play calls.

[F]

It's ridiculous. It is completely ridiculous. It's never been this high.

[B]

I'm going to take a break and get to the third one on this list. When we come back.

[E]

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[B]

Okay, so we have discussed the Chargers with Mike McDaniel, the Eagles with Sean Manion who's third.

[F]

This is another interesting one in Baltimore because the John Harbaugh era is obviously over. It's Jesse Minter, defensive minded coach, hired Declan Doyle, who's a Ben Johnson disciple and a Sean Payton disciple to come in and be the new play caller there. They also gave up on the fullback. Remember Patrick Ricard was there for a while. He's no longer there. He went to New York, I believe, and that opens the door for more tight end usage. That's where Doyle kind of came up in the NFL, was utilizing tight ends. There's also been a lot of play design creativity. That's something that Sean Payton liked about Doyle, something Doyle has done. Doyle's role in Chicago last year was making halftime adjustments and so I wonder if that and Chicago was in a bunch of games last year. So I think a lot of the halftime adjustments were good adjustments. I'm wondering if, if he's able to be that sharp on the fly, focusing on the offense as much as he possibly can, which he's going to do. Obviously that could lead to good things for Baltimore as well. I, I think there's room for Mark Andrews to have one last real good fantasy season and it's because I think he'll be on the field a lot. We know that he's Lamar Jackson's guy. It's been that way over the course of the year or course of their careers together. I shouldn't say year. And, and there should be excitement for Zay Flowers too because if there's more creativity in the offense and more of an openness to let Lamar throw, then certainly the targets could go up for both Andrews and Zay Flowers.

[B]

I didn't know that whole thing about the halftime adjustments. The Chicago Bears in the first half of games, actually, I'll just because I have it up.

[A]

In the second half of games they

[B]

were third in scoring at 13.7.

[C]

Wow.

[B]

In the first half of games, they were 15th at 11.1 points per game.

[F]

So I think that settles it. Ben Johnson stinks and Declan Doyle is awesome. Okay, I'm joking. That's not what I'm saying about it.

[B]

But I just wonder, how can Lamar Jackson get any better? I mean, he was so good under Todd Monk and they were fourth, third, and then 11th in points under Monkin

[A]

and they were 11th only because Lamar

[B]

Jackson got hurt and wasn't himself coming back. Maybe it just means they flowers is better or something. But yeah, Lamar's gonna be. Lamar should be awesome.

[A]

All right. Any other player. You know what? I'll tell you what, I'll.

[B]

I'll. For the next two minutes, I'm gonna throw out a coordinator. You just give me like what do you think it could mean? Ready?

[F]

Sure.

[B]

Okay, let's go to Brian Dable, Titans.

[F]

I'm a fan of Dables. I, I think that his, his scheme is aggressive and although I don't like every component of the Tennessee offense, I think he has some good players for fantasy. I think Tate will have an opportunity to see good target volume right out of the gate, but I think Wandell Robinson is going to end up being one of the players I draft a ton of in full PPR because of the track record that he has with Dable. Dable drafted him. Dable's used him to the tune of eight targets per game each of the last two seasons. That includes Malik Neighbors breakout year in New York and it was before Jackson dark out there was with Daniel Jones for part of that year. Yes. I think that there's room for Tate and Wondale to be number three receivers for fantasy managers. Those are probably the only two players that I'm really excited about in Tennessee.

[B]

I will just do one more.

[F]

Drew Pets Lions talked about them a lot on Monday's FFT episode and we've talked about him a lot this entire off season. Give me five seconds to call up the exact numbers for Petsing and how he's used tight ends over the course of his career in Arizona.

[C]

All right.

[F]

At worst they were top six in multi tight end personnel sets each of his three years in Arizona. He his tight end saw at least a 33.1% target share annually in Arizona. And I, I mentioned this on the show. It's not like he was an amazing coordinator and play caller in Arizona. The Cardinals threw a lot last year because they were trailing in games. I think Petzon got hired to Detroit because of his usage of tight ends and because that's something the Lions want to see more of and so Sam Laporta should be the one who benefits the most. It makes me worry a little bit about Jameson Williams whose talent is through the roof but he's never been a consistently good fantasy receiver when laporte has been on the field. He's had flashes of course everybody has flashes but he's never been a must start fantasy receiver when Laporta has been totally healthy. Maybe there were there were obviously spurts in the second half of last year when both were good but laporta was banged off. Bottom line is that I think, I think Petsing will be great for laporta good for everybody else in the run game and certainly Petzing has to make sure that offensive line plays to expectations if not above expectations.

[B]

It's Dave Richard. I'm Adam Azer. We'll talk to you tomorrow on Fantasy Football. Today.

[A]

Paramount podcasts.