Mike McDaniel has been on the hot seat since the end of the 2024 campaign. While we recently heard that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross was willing to be patient with his head coach, it sounds like that patience may quickly be wearing thin. According to Tony Pauline of Sportskeeda.com, frustrations are mounting following another Dolphins loss, this time to the Panthers on Sunday. The head coach himself admitted after the game that his owner isn’t happy with the team’s performance, and it doesn’t sound like McDaniel has much longer to right the ship.
A source told Pauline that Ross will likely give it two or three more games before pulling the trigger on a firing. That same source indicated before the season that McDaniel may only have a couple of months to fight for his job. It’s uncertain what the coach could exactly do to keep his gig, but it’s assumed that he’ll have to secure at least a couple of wins in upcoming matchups with the Chargers, Browns, and Falcons.
There’s been plenty of speculation surrounding McDaniel’s job security since the end of the 2024 season. While the 42-year-old represents one of the franchise’s most successful hires, the situation also took a turn for the worse in 2024. While the team still managed to finish 8-9, there were plenty of reports about disfunction within the locker room, with sources criticizing the coach’s willingness to let the likes of Jalen Ramsey and Tyreek Hill “walk all over” him. As a result, McDaniel was deemed a candidate to be the first canned coach of the 2025 campaign.
If the Dolphins do eventually move off McDaniel, Pauline says it’s assumed the organization will pursue more of a “disciplinarian” type of head coach, with the source describing a veteran in the “Dan Quinn mold.” Interestingly, one name that’s popped up is former AFC East foe Rex Ryan. The former Jets head coach pushed for that same gig this offseason but wasn’t hired, and he’s remained in his current role as an ESPN analyst.
Ryan would certainly fit the team’s desire for a veteran head coach, although he wouldn’t necessarily fit their desire for a disciplinarian. According to sources, the team would still be receptive to a defensive-minded coach like Ryan, as long as he was paired with a talented offensive coordinator who could maximize Tua Tagovailoa‘s production.
General manager Chris Grier has also found himself on the hot seat, and while Ross gave the executive a vote of confidence following the 2024 season, the public declaration was a clear warning in and of itself. A source told Pauline that there’s no guarantee that McDaniel and Grier are a package deal. In other words, just because the head coach may be sent packing, it doesn’t necessarily mean the GM will be out of a job.
If they don’t fire Grier, there’s no point in firing McDaniel.
Seems like the team needs a pretty full reset, but Grier has earned his pink slip more than McDaniel.
They have talent, but can’t win games. Waller looks great. MacDaniel can’t control the locker room. Hill, Ramsey, and who knows how many other players are out of control. They had a nice finesse offense working for awhile, but not anymore. Letting a backup RB run all over the field was embarrassing last week against a team that isn’t strong and full of injuries. I’d love to know why Fangio left too. Teams play like their HC, the Dolphins play soft. I called this over the summer. MacDaniel isn’t making it to the end of the season. That game vs Dallas when Tua threw the INT on what should’ve been the game winning drive killed their season. They were better off with Flores.
lol yes you know all about their locker room.
Defending MacDaniel as much as you have isn’t looking that good, is it?
So the source is the GM?
It’s only been 24 years since the last playoff win, what’s another 24?
The ultimate worst case scenario would be to even consider that windbag Ryan
Jets luck would be Rex head coaching Miami and having greater success than Aaron Glenn.
No NFL club is hiring an ESPN talking head who didn’t make it through a second full season in Buffalo.
A guy who wears capris shouldn’t be coaching men? The soccer capri sweats were bad enough then he comes out wearing his wife’s capris. Apologies to any of you who wear capris. You need to leave football and go to soccer. I am serious real men don’t wear women’s pants.