While the Miami Dolphins firing head coach Brian Flores came as a surprise, team owner Stephen Ross surely had the potential replacement options in mind when he pulled the plug.
The list of top NFL coaching candidates is impressive, featuring names like Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Buffalo Bills play-caller Brian Daboll along with defensive coordinators with head-coaching experience (Vance Joseph, Dan Quinn and Todd Bowles).
However, a very different candidate is squarely on the radar in the Miami Dolphins coaching search.
Miami is the only team with a vacant head coaching spot to interview San Francisco 49ers’ offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel. The 38-year-old Yale University alumnus is a largely unknown commodity and was a surprise interview candidate at the time. His name doesn’t carry quite the same gravitas or familiarity as Kellen Moore, who has spent the last three seasons as Dallas’ offensive coordinator.
And yet, after knowing virtually nothing about McDaniel two weeks ago, there are now three reasons why I believe he should be the next Dolphins coach.
Miami Dolphins need offensive innovation
Flores is a great coach and he elevated Miami’s defense during his three seasons in South Florida. Similarly, Quinn, Joseph and Bowles did the same at their respective teams. They improved their units and helped key players develop, important qualities for a coach.
But that system hasn’t worked in Miami. An above-average defense pushed this team to mediocrity the last two seasons, but it hit its ceiling because of a dull and lackluster offense. Miami cycled through six offensive coordinators in five years and is coming off a season as the 22nd-ranked team in weighted offensive defense-adjusted value over average (DVOA), according to Football Outsiders.
Related: Miami Dolphins player blasts QB Tua Tagovailoa
Miami needs an offensive play-caller that can conceivably take this team into perennial contention. Teams like the Packers, Rams, Chiefs and 49ers are in the playoffs every season because of their schematic consistency and creativity. Additionally, an offensive-minded head coach can’t be poached from another team, which is the situation Buffalo may find itself in soon.
McDaniel may be the answer in Miami to that uncertainty.
He served as an offensive assistant to Kyle Shanahan with the Atlanta Falcons (2015-’16), helping the team to a Super Bowl appearance. McDaniel then followed him to San Francisco, spending the next four years as the team’s run game coordinator.
This season he took the role of offensive coordinator. Consequently, San Francisco was back to being one of the most dominant offenses in the league, ranking fourth in weighted DVOA, per Football Outsiders.
Is it him, or is it all Shanahan? We won’t know, but the Packers similarly didn’t know when they rolled the dice on Matt LaFleur, and that seemed to work out pretty well.
Mike McDaniel can implement the Shanahan system
There’s a reason that so many of the young offensive play-callers receiving interviews are Mike Shanahan disciples: The system works.
So, if it’s worked for the Rams, Packers and Bengals in recent years, might as well give it a shot down here in Miami.
McDaniel knows the system after spending seven seasons studying it and coaching it. He’s been by his side for so long there’s no doubt that substantial parts of the system as it is now have been molded by his vision.
Here in Miami, the circumstances are different, but not drastically so.
Jimmy Garoppolo may actually be the best analogue for Tua Tagovailoa at this point in both their careers. Neither passer’s first instinct is to push the ball downfield, they both have a penchant for putting the ball in harm’s way and they are clearly capable of executing a quick passing attack that incorporates plenty of play action. A scheme that works with the quarterback’s strengths and weaknesses is another reason McDaniel fits.
San Francisco’s offensive line seems leaps and bounds better than Miami’s, but McDaniel has been able to paint over some offensive line woes on his own team in 2021.
The 49ers finished eighth in expected points added (EPA) per rush and fifth in rushing DVOA during the regular season, per RBSDM and Football Outsiders. Meanwhile, the team’s offensive line was 18th in run block win rate, according to ESPN Analytics. For comparison, Miami finished ninth in this category, but dead last in pass block win rate.
This is all to say that Miami’s weakness doesn’t preclude McDaniel from succeeding with an offensive scheme similar to what he’s been coordinating in San Francisco. That scheme may, however, be what’s needed to lift Miami’s offense from lackluster and unimaginative to something of envy for other defensive-minded head coaches around the league.
Related: If you’re a fan of the Dolphins, check out #FinUp rumors, rankings, and news here.
Injecting energy, confidence into a locker room
I’m not here to say the hard-nosed Bill Belichick way of coaching doesn’t work. It worked in Miami under Flores, even if it reportedly rubbed some players and front office executives the wrong way at times. We have also seen it backfire with Matt Patricia and Joe Judge.
What I will say, is that McDaniel’s seemingly laid-back demeanor fits well in a place like Miami.
Clips of McDaniel’s press conferences have gone semi-viral around NFL Twitter in recent weeks, showing the coach answering questions casually, dropping the so-called “coach speak” so many head coaches deploy while around NFL writers. Instead, he’ll make hip-hop references or explain the team’s offensive philosophy in layman’s terms, oftentimes cracking jokes with reporters.
It may seem trite, but this all helps lead to the type of 180-degree turn this team needs right now.
McDaniel isn’t the only head coaching candidate that can help lighten the mood after a season that ended one game short of the playoffs for the second year in a row. But combine his personality with his resume and background, and Miami could be one hire away from finding its coach for the next few decades.