Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel knows he needs a stronger presence in the run game to adjust to coverages opposing defenses gave his offense in 2024.
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It’s said across different sports that they are games of adjustments.
In 2024, although due in part to
quarterback Tua Tagovailoa missing six games, the
Miami Dolphins faced pitfalls from opposing defenses adjusting to the Dolphins offense of the previous two seasons. Variations of two-high shell coverages contained the wide receiver tandem of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle.
It has led some analysts to label coach Mike McDaniel’s offense as being figured out last year.
“This offense is not the same,” ESPN’s Booger McFarland
said recently on “NFL Live.” “And we can blame Tua and his availability, or lack thereof; we can blame the offensive line; but I’m going to start at the top with Mike McDaniel. Because we gave him a lot of the credit when this offense hit the seam — boy genius. He came out, and he was new and he was innovative.
“Well, now that the league has started to catch up to you, Coach McDaniel, what exactly are you going to do? This offense hasn’t been the same. … Can they get the ball to Waddle and to Tyreek Hill and to the weapons on the offense? But make no mistake, it’s not just Tua. Mike McDaniel has to become more innovative as a play caller and as a head coach.”
McDaniel assessed that notion Thursday as the team wrapped up its three-day mandatory minicamp, leading into several weeks off before the start of training camp
“I think one of the things that was very clear is that defenses had spent their time figuring out how to make us perform in all facets,” said McDaniel, emphasizing that his Dolphins must reclaim some semblance of a consistent run game.
Miami ranked No. 28 in rushing yards per attempt in 2024 after leading the NFL in that category in 2023.
We were at doing any sort of pass game, I think that they’ve showed us that we will have to earn our way out of that. And you can, easily, as a group.
“If you’re trying to do it just with passing, it’s going to be difficult, close to impossible. It’s got to be a totality. And I think, really, it speaks to what we preach every day, in terms of balance and run affecting pass and vice-versa. The point was kind of proven last year. So, it’s up to us to really lean into our overall philosophical beliefs anyway.”
The Dolphins have exhibited an emphasis in improving the run game around speedy tailback De’Von Achane. Their
top free agent signing was guard James Daniels. They traded up in the second round to draft another guard, Jonah Savaiinaea. They brought in big, physical running backs both in free agent Alexander Mattison and in late draft pick Ollie Gordon, while also working to develop second-year tailback Jaylen Wright.
When it came to the passing game, the fewer targets for Hill and Waddle led to passes going the way of Achane out of the backfield and tight end Jonnu Smith, who was the team’s lone Pro Bowl selection last season.
Smith now, of course,
held out of minicamp as he looks for a bigger payday, although his preference is to get it in Miami, and he’s the subject of trade talks.
What if he’s no longer on this roster before the season starts and the team doesn’t have a similar option in the middle capable of 88 receptions for 884 yards and eight touchdowns?
According to McDaniel, that next option doesn’t necessarily have to come from the tight end.
“To have a threat of any sort at all five eligibles, I think you have to make defenses pay if they’re going to ignore one of those or overplay and leaving people light in another degree,” he said.
“I don’t really approach it as X, Y or Z. You need to have pass-game threats and those can come in the form of halfback, tight end, third receiver.
“You can be a blocking tight end that is very adept at breaking tackles and get a lot of production that pass-catching tight ends do, but you’re not stretching the field,” McDaniel said. “So how do you adjust with that? You need to threaten people in multiple ways, and if you don’t, they will make you pay in one way, shape, or form.”
Injuries, change-ups
McDaniel said right tackle Austin Jackson is fine after he had Tuesday’s minicamp session cut short and was an observer on the side of
Wednesday drills.
Any injury he may have sustained is not related to his season-ending knee injury last season, per McDaniel.
— The Dolphins’ final scheduled practice of minicamp was altered to a walkthrough Thursday. They wrapped up Wednesday’s practice with a wet ball drill where players were forced to collect a fumble surrounded by teammates while heavy water was being sprayed onto the corner of the field they used. The only thing was, it was only the rookies who had to go through this drill, while veterans watched, many of them amused.
“That was the kind of bonding experience that you have to get guys used to your foundational principles of loose ball, fumble recovery at all positions, and you may or may not have a really wet day in practice in the offseason,” McDaniel said. “So if you don’t and if it’s just sprinkling or not super wet, you can save it for the last day, have some rookies have some fun diving in water, 300-pound slip-and-slides, if you will, but also incorporating football. So that was kind of something that they were constructively veterans doing with rookies that was fun.”
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