Dave Hyde: Do Dolphins really want Mike McDaniel back?

Dave Hyde, South Florida Sun Sentinel on Dec 23, 2025

Published in Football

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MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — How good of a head coach is Mike McDaniel? Not how good is he as an offensive theorist or drawing up plays.

How strong is his leadership gene? How sturdy is his built culture? Does he successfully manage stars, develop young players, build a good coaching staff, manage a game and serve as de facto general manager if needed?

That’s what Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross has to decide. The answers are right there in front of Ross if he cares to look at them.

McDaniel’s record is 34-32. He has no playoff wins. He solved quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, which was good, but then overvalued him in a manner that financially cripples the team next season and leaves them without a quarterback.

Surely, McDaniel learned that the culture of comfort he espoused doesn’t work after being run over by the likes of Jalen Ramsey and Tyreek Hill being perpetually late to practices last season. But has he learned enough?

In Cincinnati’s 45-21 win on Sunday, a perplexing narrative continued as the Bengals outscored the Dolphins 21-0 in the third quarter. The Dolphins now been outscored by a league-worst margin of 113-27 in the third quarter this season. Is it coaching adjustments? Players? Exactly what?

“I could go through all the things that we’ve tried to do, and they’ve been unsuccessful,” McDaniel said of the third-quarter problems. “It’s not like it hasn’t been on our radar. … It’s not good enough. You have to be able to come out from half time and adjust. And we aren’t executing that at all.

“So, back to the drawing board and all things are on the table for that.”

This isn’t some new problem, either. McDaniel’s teams are 4-23 when trailing at halftime the past four years. Does that speak to something more than adjustments? The culture? Toughness? Leadership? What’s the constant problem here?

That’s what Ross has to answer in deciding if McDaniel should return. Or not. He can just bring McDaniel back like he did with Joe Philbin for no other reason than he wanted to do so.

The Dolphins under Ross don’t seem to value bottom-line scores or records. They value the “process.” That’s the word that keeps getting repeated inside the Dolphins this season.

The “process,” is why then-general manager Chris Grier was fired before the trade deadline. It wasn’t his years of bad drafts, dumb contracts or lack of vision. It was the “process,” of not finding out what possible trades were out there that finally did him in, a source said.

Developing a team or culture or style of play involves a certain process. Everyone gets that. But at some points that has to translate into wins and losses. Or maybe not with this franchise.

Hours before Sunday’s latest embarrassment, the NFL Network, which is the public-relations wing of the league on matters like this, reported McDaniel is “expected to be back” next season.

That’s the Dolphins floating more than a trial balloon. They’re telling everyone Ross expects McDaniel to come back. It goes beyond just his job, too, considering any prospective general manager would be inheriting him. The pool would be limited to those who know and like McDaniel.

So, the Dolphins probably won’t look at the five, best-run teams in the NFL and see if an assistant general manager is ready to be their general manager. Philadelphia, Seattle, the Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots are those teams.

Wouldn’t you talk to some of the talent bred inside championship organizations and see if anyone can bring the winning ways here? Doesn’t this franchise need to a fresh slate with Grier gone, Tua going and another rebuild on its way?

But if McDaniel returns that means interim general manager Champ Kelly probably does, too. It’s not like this is a top job with an inherited coach, no quarterback and in salary-cap hell. But let’s be fair here, too: Not much is known about Kelly. He sounds like a straight-shooter with some good ideas. Maybe they just hired an unknown like the Florida Panthers did in Bill Zito.

Still, you really have to trust the “process,” if McDaniel and Kelly lead season. That’s because you can’t trust the records. McDaniel hasn’t won. And Kelly? Since promoted to Chicago’s front office in 2015 and moving to the Raiders in 2022, he hasn’t been inside a team that won a playoff game.

Maybe some holiday season there will be good cheer around the Dolphins. Maybe some year soon all their bold ideas of “process,” will bear winning teams.

But two games from another bad season’s ending, they look as lost as ever. So lost, in fact, they don’t even seem to realize they are.

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