(Image credit Tony Avelar/The Denver Post)
Written by: Nicholas Mullick
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-mullick-354076184
The Miami Dolphins made one of the most questionable moves during Black Monday firing Brian Flores. One of the major questions asked excluding why they would make the move is who will the Dolphins hire to replace him? Well, the NFL world and Dolphins fans finally got their answer as news came out that Mike McDaniel has been hired as the head coach for the Miami Dolphins.
As always I take a look at the coaching experience with Mike McDaniel. Mike McDaniel started his NFL Journey as an intern with the Denver Broncos in 2005. The Houston Texans later would hire McDaniel as an offensive assistant in 2006-2008. McDaniel would go for an opportunity in the UFL Sacramento Mountain Lions as a running back coach from 2009-2010. McDaniel would return to the NFL as a part of the Washington Football Team as an offensive assistant in 2011-2012. The Redskins would later promote McDaniel as a Wide receiver coach in 2013. He would also be the Wide Receiver coach for the Cleveland Browns in 2014. In 2015-2016 he would spend time with the Atlanta Falcons as an offensive assistant. Then He went with Kyle Shanahan with the 49ers as the run game coordinator from 2017-2020. He then got promoted as the offensive coordinator for the 2021 NFL season. So as a result Mike McDaniel has 15 years of NFL coaching experience.
Let's get this out of the way obviously as no matter what coach the Miami Dolphins hired it was going to be an immediate downgrade from Brian Flores. I am still annoyed that the Miami Dolphins decided to fire Brian Flores when the person that should have been fired was GM Chris Grier who I am still shocked was not let go during Black Monday. Brian Flores did a fantastic job with what he was given and should get another job in the NFL. On a side note, it looks like Brian Flores will not be coaching next year as a result of the lawsuit with the NFL and if his allegations regarding the Miami Dolphins are true then the punishment could fall upon the organization.
So now that is out of the way I knew the Dolphins were going to hire Mike McDaniel the moment the 49ers hired Anthony Lynn to take over as the offensive coordinator. To be honest, though, I am not a big fan of this hiring but I can see why the Dolphins decided to hire him. Especially as he is an offensive-minded coach to help with the development of QB Tua Tagovailoa. They have to nail this as this could be very telling on if Tua Tagovailoa will be the guy at QB. He needs to have a strong season in 2022. McDaniel could help out with that looking at how well the 49ers did. Especially with how strong the run game has been for the 49ers it is impressive how strong it has been the past few years. Especially with the emergence of RB Elijah Mitchell and the 49ers really have something in Mitchell and McDaniel has been a big reason for his successful season. Plus he could handle a locker room well as many players on the 49ers seemed to show support of the Dolphins hiring him and gave praise to how great of a person he was. He could be strong in player development, improve the running game, and management of the locker room.
There are problems with hiring Mike McDaniel. First is that he only had one year where he was the offensive coordinator. The lack of experience as the OC doesn't concern me but what does is that he was not even calling the plays during his time in San Francisco. Also, another concern is that McDaniel was not the best in developing the passing game for the 49ers. Granted Jimmy Garoppollo is not awful but McDaniel is more of a benefit developing the run game than he is developing the passing game. Maybe I might be concerned as well because I am still annoyed Brian Flores is no longer the head coach for this team.
However, despite me not being a big fan of the Miami Dolphins moving on from Brian Flores at Head Coach. I want to say congratulations to Mr. McDaniel for acquiring the position as the head coach for the Miami Dolphins. Hopefully, he proves my concerns wrong and has success with the Miami Dolphins organization.