The author sure does contradict himself.It’s a paid article so linking as much as I can:
Chris Perkins: A step-by-step guide to a Dolphins culture change
The Dolphins’ entire culture – play-calling, locker room mentality, on-field attitude, personnel acquisition – must lean more toward aggression and physicality.www.sun-sentinel.com
Front office
The Dolphins’ front office values stats and hype over playoff advancement. That lays the groundwork for bad culture, and it must change.
When the Florida Panthers and Miami Heat, who have each played for the championship in recent years, made early-round playoff exits (Panthers in 2022, Heat in 2025) they were frustrated and and angry.
When the Dolphins made back-to-back early-round playoff exits they handed out contract extensions.
The contract extensions awarded by Grier and McDaniel in 2024 proved the Dolphins value statistical achievements such as having the league’s No. 1 offense or quarterback Tua Tagovailoa leading the league in passer rating over big-picture achievements such as winning a playoff game.
The front office was fooled by good numbers against bad teams.
Now they’re in salary cap hell, and further from a Super Bowl than they’ve been in the Grier-McDaniel era.
The Dolphins’ front office must send a message that playoff advancement is more important than numbers.
This culture change must start at the top.
Player empowerment
The Great Experiment has failed and must end.
The Great Experiment is what I call McDaniel relying on player empowerment, a system that features players saying this team isn’t run by the coaches, rather it’s run as a co-op between coaches and players.
That’s not a winning culture.
The best teams are led by the coaches.
You listen to players.
You respect players.
But coaches run the show.
This is one reason ex-defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was a bad fit with the Dolphins. He didn’t want to share leadership with the defensive backs.
I favor Fangio’s way over McDaniel’s way, just as I favored ex-coach Brian Flores’ tough love way over McDaniel’s participation trophy way.
Fangio and Flores foster a winning culture.
Dolphins coaches need to take control of the team and run the show the way the best teams in the league are run.
Locker room is devoid of dawgs
Grier and McDaniel are the nicest GM/coach combination I’ve ever covered. Both are truly nice guys. The problem is they exclusively acquire nice guys.
That’s not necessarily a bad culture, but it certainly hasn’t been a winning culture. It must change.
The Dolphins, because of Grier and McDaniel, have very few dawgs. They have no one that will get angry and rip your head off, so to speak.
This team needs more aggression, more of an edge.
McDaniel, to his credit, uses an “up with people” attitude in an attempt to build better men, not just better football players.
As a result, this is the most stress-free, chill, laidback locker room I’ve ever encountered.
It’s not the NFL-like, or like any pro sport.
Granted, this is one of the best locker rooms I’ve ever covered.
But it has no edge. No one on this team scares you for any reason. And I’m certain they don’t scare opponents.
Every Dolphins team I covered prior to the McDaniel era had one or two high-quality players, especially on the offensive and defensive lines, that made you a bit hesitant to approach them with a tough question, especially after a loss, because he might snap. Tim Bowens. Daryl Gardner. Randy Starks. Paul Soliai. Mike Pouncey. Richie Incognito. Reshad Jones. Jarvis Landry.
Most of the dawgs of the McDaniel era — linebackers Elandon Roberts and David Long Jr., safety DeShon Elliott, cornerbacks Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard, guard Robert Hunt, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins, to name a few — are gone for one reason or another.
Few of them have been replaced by dawgs.
This team needs a new mentality. This team needs more dawgs.
Playcalling and physicality
McDaniel, as the offensive playcaller, gets the blame here. McDaniel emphasizes speed and agility, not muscle and physicality.
That’s not necessarily bad culture, but it’s a culture that must change.
The Dolphins’ offense is built for 7-on-7 football or flag football. Tackle football requires aggression and toughness.
The Dolphins’ entire culture — play-calling, locker room mentality, on-field attitude, personnel acquisition — must lean more toward being tougher.
One of the best ways for an offense to establish physicality is by running the ball over and through the defense and crushing their spirit.
The Dolphins have never done that under McDaniel.
The Dolphins have never been equipped to do that under McDaniel.
This team must adopt an aggressive mentality on offense through both personnel and play-calling.
If the Dolphins make these culture changes, they’re on their way to a better future.
If not, they might be on their way to a search for new leadership.
He claims that you need “dawgs” (I agree) if you want a tough culture… but then says the culture starts with the HC. Speed and toughness aren’t mutually exclusive, BTW.
