Getting the Dolphins’ GM hire right is only half the battle for Stephen Ross as Miami braces for an even bigger challenge if Mike McDaniel sticks around

We have some clues for what the front office could look like if Mike McDaniel sticks around thanks to Albert Breer.

Kyle Crabbs — NFL National Writer

Nov 20, 2025 1:44 PM EST

The Miami Dolphins know they’re going to have at least one major decision to make this offseason. That centers around the team’s general manager position, which is open for the first time since 2016. Miami has a chance to make their first external hire at the position since Dennis Hickey, who lasted briefly in the role after the Dolphins struck out on several other coveted options.

But the decision Miami is facing this offseason isn’t just about who to hire. It’s about how to structure the front office. Getting a highly talented individual to hold court in a power position is great. But if the rest of the collective running Miami into the future is imbalanced or out of whack, even the best of executives is going to be swimming upstream to achieve the ultimate success. And that’s where NFL insider Albert Breer may have left us a breadcrumb on how this whole thing could potentially shake out for Miami — with clues that tie back to the trade deadline.

The Dolphins’ front office changes must stick the landing in structure, not just in the GM hire

“The Dolphins are working on replacing Grier, and where the GM search leads owner Stephen Ross will obviously impact (Mike) McDaniel’s future. Cap chief Brandon Shore could factor into all this, too, in that more teams (Lions, Rams) have empowered people in his role and gone to a sort of three-headed model to lead football operations.

If Shore and McDaniel are on the same page, and the team acquits itself well down the stretch, might it make the most sense to drop a GM into that setup to lead scouting, be that the current interim (Champ Kelly) or someone else? Or would Ross simply favor someone, through the process of interviewing GM candidates, who would keep McDaniel?

There are a lot of layers to this one.”

— MMQB’s Albert Breer on the potential power structure in Miami

“A lot of layers” is code for complicated. It has the potential to be less complicated if the Dolphins flop down the stretch, which would likely coax team owner Stephen Ross to dismiss Mike McDaniel and open the door for sweeping changes that would feature dismissals across the board. But if McDaniel keeps his team winning, it could prompt Stephen Ross to choose not to throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water and instead look for the right piece to accentuate his hand-picked cornerstone in McDaniel. (Again, this is contingent on winning probably at least four of the final six games on the schedule.)

That’s risky business. It’s worked elsewhere before, but it’s complicated and invokes those layers that Breer mentioned.

Would a three-headed football operation featuring Mike McDaniel, executive Brandon Shore, and a new general manager all individually answer to Stephen Ross? Ideally not. If that power structure is the chosen path, Miami would ideally have an in-house presence with a management and football background to serve as a vice president of football operations title (or something similar) to oversee things and ensure the owner gets the proper summation of the issues and plans for personnel and team-building.

Of course, it is worth noting that the more overhead a general manager position has, alongside more rigid pillars around it in the form of a sitting head coach, and potentially an incumbent quarterback on a second-contract, the less attractive the job has the potential to be perceived to candidates. Should Miami go for a structure that features McDaniel, Shore, and a general manager collaborating together, as they did at the trade deadline (with interim GM Champ Kelly), I don’t think the hiring can be considered done without someone atop of that triumvirate.

The more simple answer here would be to wipe the slate clean and bring people in that are all collectively hired at the same time with the same vision and bought into the same ideals — and you’d know this because they’re all arriving and incentivized to work together. For organizational alignment, this it generally considered “the way” to go.

Stephen Ross continues to give Mike McDaniel his chance to win his way into the future. But if he does, the Dolphins had better have a plan for properly balancing out their power dynamics atop the food chain.

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Kyle Crabbs