The Miami Dolphins now have their head coach, but as is the case with any regime change, questions now circulate about how to shape the roster to match his vision.
Mike McDaniel, the former offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, signed on the dotted line Tuesday to make his promotion to Miami official. The young offensive-minded head coach will have a lot of work to do to address an offense that has largely taken a back seat to the defense when it comes to schematic emphasis over the past three seasons under Brian Flores.
McDaniel also walks into a situation vastly different from what he left in San Francisco.
The 49ers thrived with a top-end offensive line and the fifth-best rushing attack, according to Football Outsiders’ defense-adjusted value over average (DVOA) statistic. Its offense also benefited from all-pro weapons in George Kittle and Deebo Samuel over the past few seasons that helped elevate a middling quarterback in Jimmy Garoppolo.
Miami has the middle quarterback – at least at this point in Tua Tagovailoa’s career – but nothing else about this offense really stacks up against McDaniel’s old job.
Even still, here are the five players the young coach should seriously consider building around:
Jaylen Waddle – Miami Dolphins 2021 first round pick
No, it’s not revolutionary to say that a team should build around the wide receiver who just broke the record for most receptions in a rookie season.
However, Jaylen Waddle’s potential has got to be the most enticing piece McDaniel inherits in Miami.
Perhaps most surprising about Waddle’s first year was his versatility. Largely pegged as the top deep threat in the 2021 draft class, he ultimately did most of his work close to the line of scrimmage his rookie season. According to Next Gen Stats, Waddle’s average air yards per target (6.8) ranked 20th lowest out of 127 pass catchers with at least 45 targets.
His workload was unexpected but largely proved effective. Waddle had the seventh-highest rate of catching a first down when running a route on third down across the entire league, per Pro Football Focus’ Timo Riske.
Before I say the next thing I want to make it clear that Waddle is not Deebo Samuel, and I don’t mean to imply that’s the case. What I will call out, however, is the fact that Waddle has already shown some ability to be positionally versatile. The receiver logged 11 total snaps from the backfield in 2021, per Pro Football Focus (PFF). While that’s a far cry from Samuel’s 116 backfield snaps, it shows that Waddle can be a skeleton key-style player, not too dissimilar from some of McDaniel’s experiments on the west coast.
Related: Find out who Sportsnaut has the Miami Dolphins selecting 29th in our 2022 NFL Mock Draft
Mike Gesicki
The first-year coach has a big decision he’ll have to make early in his tenure: Does he ask the Miami Dolphins’ general manager Chris Grier to franchise tag and/or extend tight end Mike Gesicki.
It’s easy to say, “Well, McDaniel had an elite tight end in San Francisco, so he’ll want to keep Miami’s star tight end, too.” In reality, Kittle and Gesicki are practically playing different positions – a case Gesicki’s agent is likely to make during contract negotiations.
Gesicki lined up as an in-line tight end on 99 of 827 offensive snaps in 2021, per PFF. Kittle, meanwhile, was in-line on 735 of his 1009 total snaps.
I don’t believe that’s a knock against Gesicki though, because as a pure pass catcher, he’s still a worthwhile piece of this offense worth featuring. Not just for his eye-popping one-handed catches, but for how Tagovailoa seemingly trusts him deeper downfield. He caught five of seven targets at least 20 yards downfield last season for 148 total yards, which was second on the team behind DeVante Parker.
Liam Eichenberg
This addition is perhaps more out of necessity than anything else, but either way, it would behoove McDaniel to find a way to either develop or hide Miami’s left tackle Liam Eichenberg in his second season.
Eichenberg had a rough rookie year, to put it mildly.
The second-round pick from Notre Dame allowed 62 quarterback pressures in his first year, second-worst among rookie offensive linemen, according to PFF. He also allowed the second-most sacks and the most quarterback hurries among rookies.
Offensive tackle is a position that sees gradual improvement year-to-year. Miami is going to need that considering how heavily the team has already invested in the offensive line through the draft. And with holes remaining at right tackle and center, Eichenberg is going to need to step up, because the Dolphins can’t afford to bring on three high-impact linemen through free agency.
Related: Top NFL free agents of 2023 – Lamar Jackson, and Deebo Samuel lead the charge
Yet-to-be-named rookie running back
It’s about time for the Miami Dolphins to stop relying on free agency and the seventh round of the draft to fill its running back room.
That’s not to say the team should go burn a first-round selection on a back this offseason. However, it’s likely McDaniel has an ideal running back in mind for this team considering his experience as a run game coordinator for much of his coaching career.
The 2022 draft class doesn’t promise to be deep in really any position, but there’s still value to be found at running back in the second and third rounds. Kenneth Walker III of Michigan State, Breece Hall of Iowa State and Isaiah Spiller of Texas A&M seem to rank atop most lists of running back prospects. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of the three make their way to South Beach by the start of the 2022 season.
Raheem Mostert is another name to keep an eye on.
The 49ers running back is a free agent this offseason. While the 30-year-old rusher is not someone McDaniel is likely to build around long term, a reunion could be in order to help get his scheme off the ground sooner rather than later.
Related: 3 moves the Miami Dolphins should make after hiring Mike McDaniel