The Miami Dolphins are just over a week away from the start of a pivotal offseason — one that will feature several major decisions for the future of the organization. One such decision centers around head coach Mike McDaniel. What will the Dolphins ultimately do with a head coach who is nearing completion of his fourth season with Miami and teetering on the fringes of his worst record to date? McDaniel currently boasts a 34-32 record with the Dolphins and, upon completion of this season, will have coached the third most games of any head coach in franchise history, passing Jimmy Johnson.

McDaniel, despite the angst of a frustrated fanbase, has his redeeming qualities. But his resume has enough holes to make this decision complicated. What will ownership do? Perhaps the rest of the league’s coaching cycle can help. Who are the other NFL head coaches who may be hitting the market and how many of them would be an attractive alternative to McDaniel? Conveniently enough, the Dolphins have the perfect excuse to slow-play their decision and find out if any of those other best options hit the market.

NFL’s coaching hot seats could help make Miami’s decision around Mike McDaniel easier

Coaches already fired in 2025

Brian Daboll – New York Giants

Nothing on Daboll’s resume suggests he’d be a more attractive option than Mike McDaniel. Daboll had an overachieving rookie season in New York with a bad roster and won a Wild Card game — only to watch his win total reduce in each of the next three seasons. An offensive coach, the only time he’s been a coordinator or play caller with a top-10 offense over the last decade and a half has been with Josh Allen as his quarterback.

Appeal versus McDaniel: 2/10 (Hard no, gets credit for a playoff win)

Brian Callahan – Tennessee Titans

Callahan comes off the Zac Taylor coaching tree, which is notoriously known for it’s advanced scheme philosophy of “Let Joe Burrow cook”. Spoiler alert: the Titans didn’t have Joe Burrow. They didn’t have Ja’Marr Chase, and they didn’t have Tee Higgins. What they did have was a coach that was in way over his head.

Appeal versus McDaniel: 0/10 (Absolutely not in any universe)

Other coaches on the hot seat in 2025

Jonathan Gannon – Arizona Cardinals

Gannon has been in Arizona for three seasons. His teams have posted three losing seasons and a .306 win percentage. Arizona’s offseason plan was to pour all their resources into Gannon’s specialty — the defensive side of the football. His reward? A worse unit in essentially every major statistical defensive category. He’s earned his place on the hot seat and, as a result, is not someone Miami should be enamored with versus Mike McDaniel.

Appeal versus McDaniel: 1/10 (Would feel like a major downgrade)

Raheem Morris – Atlanta Falcons

Morris finds himself on this last for two reasons — his team’s quarterback play has not lived up to the investment and the team needs to get bigger in the trenches on defense. So much focus was given to Atlanta’s pass rush woes that the Falcons feel like they overcorrected and now teams are able to bully them at times (RE: Miami’s game earlier this season). Offensively, Kirk Cousins is a shell of himself and rookie Michael Penix Jr. was always an ambitious play. It hasn’t worked yet. Morris is also a re-tread coach who is doing some nice things on defense but his supporting cast and quarterback aren’t where they need to be. I’d be surprised (but not shocked) if the Falcons let him go without tweaking his coaching staff first.

Appeal versus McDaniel: 3.5/10 (Has more head coaching experience, defense performs to reputation but has one winning season in six years)

Pete Carroll – Las Vegas Raiders

Carroll’s reputation is stellar. He’s in his first season with Las Vegas but that team feels like something of a rudderless ship right now. The team is clearly outgunned in the way of talent and let a lot of defensive talent out the door in 2025 via free agency. The team’s ambitious offensive coordinator hire, Chip Kelly, is already fired. They’re playing this weekend for the No. 1 pick in the draft. Carroll’s work in Seattle transcends all that — he’s a 172-133-1 record as an NFL head coach. But he’s 74 years old; what’s the future here?

Appeal versus McDaniel: 4/10 (Long-term experience, championship pedigree, esteemed program/culture builder but is the NFL’s oldest head coach; short-term option)

Kevin Stefanski – Cleveland Browns

Stefanski has twice won the Associated Press award for Coach of the Year in Cleveland. He’s posted a 43-56 record with the Browns, has two 11-win seasons, won a playoff game in 2020, is just 43 years old, and operated an impactful NFL offense while enduring a meddlesome owner who prompted the team to trade the farm for QB Deshaun Watson and give him a fully guaranteed contract. Unsurprisingly, the wheels have fallen off the bus in Cleveland since. Through Stefanski’s first four seasons, he was 37-30 with a playoff win under his belt. He’s 6-26 since as the rot of the Watson contract and limited draft resources has settled in.

He’s a Brad Childress disciple who has made a home run hire at defensive coordinator in Jim Schwartz. There’s a lot to like here, especially if you’re willing to accept the struggles in 2024 and 2025 for what they are.

Appeal versus McDaniel: 7/10 (More head coaching experience, has found ways to prosper with backup quarterbacks (Flacco during 2023 season), good offensive scheme, similarly young with long-term future, has had success amid dysfunction)

Zac Taylor – Cincinnati Bengals

Zac Taylor is the opposite coach as Kevin Stefanski. He’s had a quarterback and not much else. That said, he does have an AFC Championship banner, two deep playoff runs, four straight winning seasons from 2021-2024 and several top-10 offenses to his credit. But we’ve seen what things look like in Cincinnati without Joe Burrow and if you’re selling Taylor to a fanbase that is coming without him in tow, good luck to you.

Appeal versus McDaniel: 4.5/10 (More accomplished postseason resume, similar statistical success offensively but in a much less creative way, success reliant on dominant skill players)

Todd Bowles – Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Bowles already has a head coaching record in Miami. He’s 2-1 as the interim head coach from the 2011 season. His stint in New York with the Jets shortly thereafter is generally uninspiring and he was handed the keys to the castle by Bruce Arians upon Arians’ retirement from the team after the 2021 season. Bowles inherited a team with Tom Brady at quarterback and a 24-9 regular season record in the prior two seasons (plus a Super Bowl win!).

What he’s done since is post the exact same head coaching record in Tampa Bay as Mike McDaniel has in Miami (34-32). His Bucs clash in Miami with the Dolphins this weekend in a showcase of coaches on the hot seat. Bowles is 62, has a 60-73 record overall, and has held serve over a team that’s steadily regressed in his area of specialty — the defense.

Appeal versus McDaniel: 5/10 (He’s probably much better served to be a coordinator than a head coach based on the full body of work. Would be the definition of ‘meh’)

John Harbaugh – Baltimore Ravens

So this one is interesting. Harbaugh, like Bowles, is a long in the tooth veteran head coach. But his success mirrors that of Carroll — he’s 179-112 as a head coach, has a Lombardi Trophy to his name, and has held serve over one of the most consistent organizations in the league. Unlike Carroll, Harbaugh’s success is not far removed at all; he won 35 games plus two playoff wins from 2022-2024.

Yes, he’s 63 years old, so you’d need to vet his interest in long-term coaching. I don’t think we should be thumbing our nose at him as an option though, given that the Dolphins haven’t had a head coach keep the job for more than four years since Dave Wannstedt. Maybe things have gotten stale in Baltimore. It happens. But if Harbaugh ends up on the market, he’d be everything that every head coach Stephen Ross has hired hasn’t been — and perhaps that would be exactly what the doctor ordered for a team seeking legitimacy and stability.

Appeal versus McDaniel: 8.5/10 (Experienced. Successful. Stable. A massive lexicon of connections, successful assistant hires, and more)

The Dolphins’ perfect excuse to see who hits the market

John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski would be the two head coaches who move the needle on the head coaching market versus what the Dolphins already have in Mike McDaniel. Part of making personnel changes is have a corresponding move or plan. McDaniel has enough positive qualities that I believe it would be a mistake to make a move just for the sake of making one. The Dolphins will have an executive hire to pursue when the regular season ends, first and foremost. Their general manager interview process bakes in a natural excuse for the Dolphins to be patient in the immediate aftermath of the regular season before ultimately making a decision on Mike McDaniel if they wanted to slow-play their hand. Miami can’t wait until February, per se, but it’s not like they need to make a decision on Monday after their Week 18 contest against the Patriots, either.

Ross’ Dolphins have never hired a previously experienced head coach. If they’re going to make a change at this juncture, experience should be a part of the calculus and the wish list in some capacity. Miami just needs to know there’s enough attractive, experienced candidates to go around if it’s indeed going to be high up on their list of desires.

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