One NFL insider still isn’t quite ready to fully buy the assumption Dolphins fans are making after the team’s recent in-season revival
The job status of Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has cooled off. At least for now. After two months of scorching hot speculation amid an 0-3 and 1-6 start, Miami has won three of their last four going into the bye week and breathed life into their season. Will that reprieve be fleeting? Or […]
The job status of Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has cooled off. At least for now. After two months of scorching hot speculation amid an 0-3 and 1-6 start, Miami has won three of their last four going into the bye week and breathed life into their season.
Will that reprieve be fleeting? Or will McDaniel’s efforts continue to push this team back into contention? Dolphins fans appear to have fully resigned to the idea that team owner Stephen Ross’s fondness for McDaniel is going to win out in the end, especially now that Miami’s finding their competitive stride. One NFL insider readily acknowledges that McDaniel has a chance of storming all the way back. But he’s not quite ready to say it’s the most probable outcome, despite the popular belief among Miami’s fanbase entering the bye week.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler thinks Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel can save his job, but he’s not sure it is ‘likely’
“I do (get the sense Mike McDaniel can salvage his job). I wouldn’t call it likely, but in my mind, there’s a plausible scenario where he sticks in Miami. The team is coming off back-to-back wins and the vibe seems to be good. The Dolphins are responding to McDaniel more than they are tuning him out, which players will do when the message grows stale. And as one NFL executive put it in a conversation recently: If you’re looking for an offense-minded candidate, McDaniel is still better than most from this cycle’s pool, which is considered weaker. So, while cleaning house feels entirely possible, McDaniel is at least making things interesting.”
— ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler on Miami’s head coaching situation
The Dolphins will have a chance to storm all the way back to .500 over the next month of the season. It would be a surreal repeat of the 2024 season, in which Miami started the year 2-6 before climbing back to 8-8 and playing for an outside chance at a playoff berth against the Jets to close the season. That game went about as wrong as it possibly could, with Tua Tagovailoa missing the action for a hip injury and WR Tyreek Hill removing himself from the game shortly after halftime before not-so-passively suggesting he may want a trade.
Miami has their bye week this weekend, followed by the New Orleans Saints and a trip to New Jersey to play the Jets. A win in both games would put Miami at 6-7 headed into a Monday Night Football showcase against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Win that one? You may well see Mike McDaniel indeed sustain enough momentum to keep his job. Many Dolphins fans have started assumed that his retention is inevitable. But Fowler’s words here should carry some weight. Him being resistant to calling it “likely” that McDaniel is back means that there’s much more work to be done for this football team to get their coach all the way out of the woods. In order for it to feel like a safe assumption, the Dolphins will probably need to finish at least equal to what they did last year — which would mean an 8-9 record or better. Less than that? There will be some painfully stressful hours spent around the facility once the season comes to a close before final judgements are made.
Jeremy Fowler thinks Mike McDaniel has a chance. But if you’re assuming it’s a slam dunk, it may be time to pump the brakes as the final six games play themselves out.