McDaniel on the hot seat

[Finsup1981]

He was the top coach listed out of the top 10, but my question is what do you guys need to see from him in order to want to give him one more shot? If we just make the playoffs and get crushed hes gotta go, I want at least a division title and first round bye, even if we lose the home game after that buys him another year. The only other scenario is if we make the playoffs and win a game. Other than that, I want him gone.

Whats the baseline for eveyrone else for giving him another shot? I really want Grier gone regardless unless we win the Super Bowl hes had enough lives, McDaniel im still more open to.

10 NFL head coaches on the hot seat entering the 2025 season​

2S219TE Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel walks onto the field during an NFL football game against the New York Jets Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

• Mike McDaniel's tenure in Miami is at an inflection point: The offensive guru has brought better play but still has no playoff wins to show for it.

Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins​

When the Dolphins hired McDaniel before the 2022 season, they sought an innovative head coach who could help the franchise finally break a decades-long playoff win drought. While the first element of that has come true — Miami ranks ninth in offensive success rate and 13th in EPA per play during McDaniel’s tenure — the results haven’t followed.

McDaniel has amassed a 28-23 mark in South Beach, but his two trips to the playoffs have yielded zero wins, with the most recent appearance a 19-point loss to the Chiefs. Questions about Miami’s play down the stretch (7-13 record from Week 13 onward) and in cold weather have continued to loom.

The Dolphins still boast legitimate young talent on their roster in Tua Tagovailoa (70.2 PFF passing grade), Chop Robinson (78.7 PFF pass-rushing grade), Jaylen Waddle (71.5 PFF receiving grade) and more, but the state of the team is in flux. Jalen Ramsey (76.9 PFF overall grade) is the last man standing in a depleted secondary and seems likely to be dealt; Tyreek Hill (77.3 PFF receiving grade) and Jonnu Smith (84.0 PFF receiving grade) may also not have much longer with the team; and Bradley Chubb (88.8 PFF overall grade) missed all of 2024.

If a new-look Miami squad makes the playoffs for the second time in three seasons, it would increase McDaniel’s odds of sticking around in 2025. But unless the former 49ers offensive coordinator can finally win a game in late January, his days with the organization seem numbered.

10 NFL head coaches on the hot seat entering the 2025 season

Certain head coaches enter pivotal seasons looking to finally prove themselves, while others need to get over the hump for the first time in a long time.

www.pff.com

 

[coalesce]

I want McDaniel to show that he can beat good teams or at least consistently keep up with the good teams, not just punch down on bad teams. I want him to show flexibility in his game plans. I don’t want him to think that just because he designed a play that anyone can run it successfully. I want him to have a solid Plan B if/when Tua misses games. I want him to sit players who don’t adhere to the team rules.

Essentially, I want an adult running the show.

 

[MARINO1384]

Massive speculation at best. He should be probably but he’s not. He’s here with Tua until 2026 pretty much no matter what. That’s the only logical take anyone should have given the contract we gave Tua which ties him here until 2026 and the overall lack of urgency to build a complete unit for this year.

 

[WestLondonDolphin]

Nothing about the way the team has approached the offseason or the Draft suggests McDaniel is on the hot seat.

And I think that’s a good thing. I see no value in hiring a very young HC and then getting rid of him at the first sign of adversity. I’ve no desire to start from scratch.

I would expect that if Tua plays 12+ games then we make the playoffs and after that who knows … hopefully we get better injury luck than the past two seasons.

Personally, I think a lot of the culture complaints are overstated and gossip … but I won’t be sorry to see Ramsey off the team this year and Hill after next season.

And I’m looking forward to watching a much younger and much more physical team on both sides of the ball.

 

[Supervox]

I'm not going to give up on him so soon.
But, either his play-calling has to massively improve or he needs to put his ego aside and hand responsibility off to Frank Smith.
His demeanour and presence needs some adjustment as well. Trying to be 'one of the guys' and not kicking ass when required, is never going to lead to becoming a successful HC. He may be one of the new breed of young HCs who have their own ideas regarding player/team behaviour and mindset; and yes, it's nice to be liked - but, it's far better to be respected (even if you're hated) for doing a good job!

 

[Tuaffinity and Beyond]

He isn’t going anywhere. In fact if he gets to the hot seat option tell him he has to hire an OC to call the plays or he is gone. See how that goes for 2 seasons and then let him go if it doesn’t get better.

 

[zechs]

Yeh.. I don't see this convey belt philosophy that alot of fans have working, I feel alot of issues we had were due to trenches, I feel Mcdaniels was tryin to use work arounds for that.
If issues persist when we have a proven Oline then sure by all means he aint working ..BUT we havent had that.

I have stated before and will again, people who wanna harp on bout change coach change qb we win... errrr wrong answer, it will consistently be the same issues until foundation of construction of this team is properly fixed, until thats done there is no point changing a coach or qb cause it won't change the outcome. as said if those foundations are solid and thennn your still not gettin results you have grounds to blame it on the aformentioned positisions buttt we are not even close to having these issues fixed. so changing Coach just resets the timer and in 3 years we are having this exact same conversation..

definition of insanity... doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

 

[hoops]

Anyone who takes that gig as long as Grier is there is gonna be on the hot seat.

He’s setting ya up for failure and to take the blame

 

[MARINO1384]

I'm not going to give up on him so soon.
But, either his play-calling has to massively improve or he needs to put his ego aside and hand responsibility off to Frank Smith.
His demeanour and presence needs some adjustment as well. Trying to be 'one of the guys' and not kicking ass when required, is never going to lead to becoming a successful HC. He may be one of the new breed of young HCs who have their own ideas regarding player/team behaviour and mindset; and yes, it's nice to be liked - but, it's far better to be respected (even if you're hated) for doing a good job!

Yeah that would be my biggest gripe with him is his fascination on needing to be the play caller. I know he has other flaws but the easiest change that would be most beneficial is if he helped developed the original game plan but let someone else call it. He can step in at certain points to override if need be in crucial parts of the game but I think it’s too much for him to handle in game and he appears unable to be able to switch game plans mid game which leads to bad calls or plays coming in late.

 

[Atila]

Mike McDaniel is overhated on this forum.

Definitely not perfect and has a lot of flaws but the fact that he gets even 1/2 or 1/3 of the hate Grier gets is flat out wrong.

Dude takes a team of back up AND injured OL to two straight playoff appearances.

His teams are consistently the most injured in the NFL and it’s not because of soft practices as we now know the injury rate for our team has been the same under both Flores and McDaniel and above average under both tenures.

Get rid of the GM first and foremost. Then you can see what you have in the coach.

 

[hoops]

Although I will say Mcd has done a great job of putting his head on a pike front and center with his shitty personnel eye and in game clock and situational management.

They are all awful.

 

[Mello Yello]

...and in reality McDaniel is probably safe.

I think the primary mission from day-1 was rescuing Tua from being a bust...and yes, we have to use that word because that's where things stood coming out of '21. Tua was probably a year from being replaced and few, if any, around the NFL had much faith that Tua could be a real NFL QB.

Having gotten the best out of Tua, McDaniel has effectively given Dolphins Leadership a leg to stand on. Tua is now an "NFL-leading passer" and a "Pro Bowler." He's someone who even garnered MVP consider for a moment. That's incredible production from someone the NFL was on the verge of labeling a massive disappointment.

This is important because we must acknowledge that Mike McDaniel turned the narrative from '...we tanked for and drafted a bust' into something more like, '...Tua failed us because he couldn't stay healthy but wow, what could have been!'

...so if nothing else, Mike McDaniel saved the Dolphins from continuing down the path of being a laughing stock. And don't talk to me about Flores' 9-8 record in '21 because we all know what that record was built on...a 1-7 start which ruined the season before it began paired with a string of wins at the end against literally the worst teams in the NFL all led by horrid QBs like Zack Wilson, Ian Book, Tim Boyle, Mike Glennon, Cam Newton, Mac Jones, etc.


The second objective was to revitalize the offense which looking at the productivity #'s from '22 and '23 appears to be another win for McDaniel, especially given where the unit had been under the prior regime in '20 and '21 which saw the Dolphins offense rank near the bottom of the NFL.


The third objective at the time of McDaniel's hiring was to rescue and/or build-up as many of the floundering offensive prospects as possible which at the time included: Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt, Liam Eichenberg, Robert Jones and and even Jaylen Waddle. Given how much 2nd-contract $$$ has been awarded to those players over the last couple years, it's obvious McDaniel's effect did far more good than bad here. Virtually all of those players had their best seasons under McDaniel with several players playing notably better football than had been seen prior.


The fourth objective was to the optimize around Tyreek Hill who was acquired a month after McDaniel was hired. We have to assume this eventual move was not considered by McDaniel at the time of his hiring thus the implication is that Tyreek's production was the result of McDaniel's quick reaction to this change.


We don't have to call it the fifth objective but somewhere in all this was the desire to find a HC who would work with Dolphins Leadership as well as those he'd face during the course of his day-to-day operations: coaches, players, media, etc. Having witnessed the disaster of Brian Flores there was obvious need for improvement here and by all accounts McDaniel has the respect of his fellow coaches, the front office, the media and his players save for a few people in particular who we don't particular admire.


Moreover, the icing on the cake seems to lean in McDaniel's favor, as well. There are several additional notables in his corner:

(1) He's given career seasons to journeyman veterans like Raheem Mostert and Jonnu Smith who no one thought much of when they came aboard. He's presently got every Dolphins fan clamoring about what a weapon De'Von Achane is, too. Assumptions like this are sometimes easy to miss, but it's thanks to Mike McDaniel and his efforts that the Dolphins seem so adept at maximizing the (often limited) players that they have.

(2) He evolves his offense every year which has yet to really fail. In his "worst" season (last year) he still got a bunch done. His QB was still super productive and several players still had outstanding seasons. It's been the QB injuries which have held the team back in terms of the W/L record. Had Tua stayed healthy last year we'd been looking at 3-straight Playoff appearances. Upholding that kind of standard says a lot to Ownership.

(3) His demeanor and overall approach is undoubtedly something quite marketable when the team is winning. This was demonstrated throughout the highlight periods of '22 and '23 when the national media loved him. It's important to remember that what we're currently living through is the bad. This isn't the norm. It's the crappy time during which you're having to rebuild the team.


For me to want to replace McDaniel would require evidence that he's a major part of the problem rather than a major contributor to what has been working thus far. So far, McDaniel's influence seems overwhelmingly positive. Most everyone under him seems to flourish which says a lot considering he's been tasked with primarily being the OC-in-charge.

I'm sure he'll evolve into more of a HC in time.

Again...this is the cost of tanking. You aren't going straight to the top. You're going to first prove you can be a 2nd-class team again which I think the Dolphins largely have. Taking the next step is going to require everyone to evolve again. Acting like we should've already won the Super Bowl is just kind of dumb.

 

[hoops]

Yeah he’s safe alright

 

[daryl]

Ross is tired of resetting and rehiring. He’ll just let Grier and McDaniel do their thing regardless of the results until he (Ross) sells or meets his demise.

 

[PhinFan1968]

I want McDaniel to show that he can beat good teams or at least consistently keep up with the good teams, not just punch down on bad teams. I want him to show flexibility in his game plans. I don’t want him to think that just because he designed a play that anyone can run it successfully. I want him to have a solid Plan B if/when Tua misses games. I want him to sit players who don’t adhere to the team rules.

Essentially, I want an adult running the show.

Contrary to popular belief, it IS possible to be a hard-ass coach and still be somewhat of a buddy with the players....you just have to establish that line. McD doesn't understand that kinda stuff.