Dolphins Saturday Mailbag: Ross, McDaniel, Aikman, and More

Part 1 of a supersized Week 18 Miami Dolphins On SI mailbag:

From John Flora:

What are the pros and cons to a win on Sunday?

Hey John, the only advantage to finishing out the season with a loss is that it will help the draft position, though some fans might tell you it would raise the possibility of owner Stephen Ross wanting to make a coaching change. As for positives, the individual performances could bring some optimism (particularly for young players) moving into the offseason.

From Lloyd Heilbrunn:

How many of the guys on the Offensive & Defensive lines for the Canes, would start for the Dolphins?

Hey Lloyd, the University of Miami is absolutely loaded on the trenches, and off the top of my head I’d say the three obvious guys — Bain, Mesidor and Mauigoa — and I don’t mention the LT Bell because the Dolphins already have a stud at left tackle with Patrick Paul.

From Wade Tripp:

What are your thoughts on bringing in Troy as a consultant in the GM search?

Hey Wade, I’m for trying something different to try to have better luck in the hiring process, and I really don’t see a major downside to it.

From KeithB:

So Stephen the heathen Ross has hired outside help before. Carl Peterson and Mike Tannenbaum come to mind. Why does he do this? Have many successful owners have done this? He seems lost. In year 17.

Hey, Keith, you’re going to blame Ross for seeking outside help to try to make the best decision possible? Really? Isn’t a sign of growth the ability to learn from your mistakes? This is also something that’s very common throughout sports. I have zero issue with it.

From Dave Campbell:

Greetings Alain and Happy New Year ! Unfortunately, same ole year for Dolphins fans and 2026 looks bleak. If Miami loses to the Patriots & even if they play a close game, how does Boss Ross bring back a coach with a 2nd consecutive losing season AND double-digit losses!? Fan apathy will grow like wildfire. If he does and when Miami inevitably loses a game at home, I will probably hear the screaming here in Key West. I've been talking about HC continuity for longest time but feels like rerun time. Bring back coach with losing record only to fire early to mid season, interim coach does pretty good but Ross hires someone else. No franchise QB, GM /HC uncertainty and Cap hell. At least we have the All Dolphins and Dolphins Collective and Dolphins on SI.COM (for free) to look forward to.

Hey Dave, thanks as always for the kind words, and I would tell you that Ross’ justification for bringing back McDaniel would be the team’s ability to turn things around (to a certain degree) after slow starts the past two seasons, along with the idea of what McDaniel could come up with on offense with a different quarterback. I do know that’s not nearly enough for a lot of fans, but that’s what I would see as the justification.

From Ed Helinski:

If you had an opportunity to give this Dolphins season a movie title, what would it be?

Hey Ed, how about “No Country for Old Men” (because the Dolphins used a lot of young players) or “Groundhog Day” (because, well, you know).

From CT:

How late can the Dolphins add their permanent GM and declared head coach before it’s a liability for draft diligence and decisions?

There’s not really a specific deadline for that, but ideally, it gets done sooner rather than later. Combine time would be a good target date.

From Jayco:

Why has the owner of this team not answered questions from the media and general public for the last six years?

Hey Jayco, that is an excellent question. I can’t even remember the last time Ross did a media session outside of press conferences to announce head coach changes. There used to be a time when Ross would sit down with the media on the first day of training camp, but those days are long gone. The Brian Flores lawsuit probably didn’t help matters, either.

From Rancidlunchmeat:

What is the relationship between Troy Aikman and the Dolphins organization or Ross? Does that relationship give us indications as to who is safe inside the building?

I’m not aware of any relationship between Aikman and Ross or the Dolphins, though maybe the connection there is former Dolphins and Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson. And I wouldn’t think Aikman’s arrival automatically means that anybody is safe or unsafe.

From Bubba:

Happy New Year Poup, What makes McD a good or great OC? I DON’T see it and some fans probably agree. What are we missing? 4 years and still calling in plays late, doesn’t run the ball and when he does run it and it’s effective, he quickly abandons it. TO call b4 game started, etc.

Hey Bubba, think about the numerous there have been national analysts who are former players or coaches (Orlovsky, Gruden come to mind) who marvel at some of the play concepts that come from McDaniel. He’s not the perfect head coach, but I don’t think there’s much questioning his ability to design plays or call a game. We’re also quickly forgetting what he did with that offense in 2022 and 2023 because of the issues of the past two seasons.

From Jeff:

Hello Alain, Management Staff/Front Office: Poor management of key positions, contract stacking issues carryover, and lack of commitment to quality internal talent. Quarterback: minimal ability to audible at LoS and adjust accordingly, lack of deep ball or power throw into tight windows (time to throw like Marino did), and very limited clutch performances. Coach: Inability to simplify anything or remove dead strategy, poor at adjusting to the opponents strategy (since end of 2023), and minimal clutch performances. This team feels like the issue of 1,000 paper cuts for as long as I can remember and it's not just one person or department. Right now we have 3 major issues. I've seen good players step in and do poorly in our building and I've seen good players uplifting everyone around them (Calais). Is the only way to "fix it" to clean house? Realistically speaking, how do we end up with the QB to play Miami Dolphins (i.e. Dan Marino) football? I appreciate it, as always, and happy holidays! P.S. I am not speaking this out of frustration or anger, I am just legitimately trying to look at the high level mechanics of each situation. It's tough.

Hey Jeff, can we set the bar for quarterback play at something other than Marino? That would be one. Should the Dolphins clean house? There absolutely is an argument to be made for that, but also remember that Stephen Ross isn’t getting any younger, and he may want to be looking at something other than a complete overhaul.

From Jorge Boyd:

Hi Alain, New England is a very good team this year, good coaching, good offense, good defense, do you think the Dolphins can use their winning formula of stopping the run and running the ball against them Patriots?

Hey Jorge, don’t forget about getting turnovers on defense. That’s been a big part of it. Can they do it? Sure, if everything falls into place, but there’s a reason the Dolphins are 7-9 and the Patriots are 13-3 (besides New England’s weak schedule), so I have a hard time seeing the Dolphins win this game. They also could be without several key players.

From Rob:

Sounds like the hiring of Aikman would piss Marino off. Isn’t Marino part of that process? Any additional insight on that Aikman/Dolphins relationship?

Hey Rob, I’d have to think the Dolphins gave Marino a heads up that this move was coming, with the explanation that it’s always better to have more input than less input for major decisions, and having somebody from outside the organization with a fresh perspective is a good thing. As for the Aikman-Dolphins relationship, as I mentioned earlier, I think Jimmy Johnson is the person who’s the connection.

From Mark Malbeck:

Hi Alain happy new year, I believe Tua thought about retiring after some of his concussions and it was reported by someone this season that he is more focused on family this year rather than affect his salary for 2026 and beyond?

Hey Mark, Tua is a father and mentioned unwinding after games by playing with his children, but I don’t know that it makes him less focused on football. As for the idea of retirement, Tua would walk away from a $39 million guaranteed salary in 2026, and you just don’t see a lot of players doing that. His retirement (by his own choosing and not medically related) could create some cap relief, but exactly how much is unclear because it would depend on whether the Dolphins would want to go after certain bonuses in his contract.

From Prince-Bishop Militantly Aardvark:

Hi Alain. Lots of attention to McDaniel's being fired - or not. Less attention has been paid to the move to redo the player selection/acquisition pipeline by firing Engroff and Hunt. Is this part of a more fundamental shakeup with bigger implications for the future?

Hey PBMA, yeah, the firings of Engroff and Hunt were part of an overhaul that included the addition of Champ Kelly as senior personnel executive and eventually interim GM when the Dolphins moved on from Chris Grier. And now we’re looking at the likelihood of a new GM to work in conjunction with cap guru Brandon Shore and the head coach.

From Bitcoin Riot:

Why are they doing this ridiculous song and dance with the two kickers?

There really was no song and dance because it’s been Riley Patterson the whole year. The Dolphins designated Jason Sanders to return from IR when they made the move with him at the cuts to 53, but his hip injury proved more significant than initially believed, and then Patterson simply did a bang-up job that created no need to rush Sanders back, particularly with the team record. There was no harm and no cost in having Sanders practice down the stretch, but also no real reason to make a switch that late, given how well Patterson was performing.

From Luis Rodriguez:

Hi Poup. Happy New Year! Do you think if Finz won a fluke playoff game in 2022 and everything played out exactly the same as it has, McD would still be viewed the same or would that fluke win have bought him more slack/credibility?

Hey Luis, that’s a good question, and I do think just having that “W” in the playoffs absolutely would make a difference. And it’s not like the Dolphins were that far from pulling off what would have been a major upset in that 2022 playoff game against Buffalo because they had the ball around midfield trailing by only three late in the game.

From Colin Crabb:

Happy new year Alain. Can you find multiple positives about this season? How impressed are you with Weaver considering the start we had? Thanks for your work.

Hey Colin, first off, thanks. Sure, I can find multiple positives, as there are every season, and for me those would include switching formulas later in the season, the performances of Achane, Brooks, Brewer and Paul, the development of the rookie class, and the team’s refusal to quit after another bad start. And I do like Weaver, and he was in a tough spot, having to play so many young players this season and having to replace the entire secondary. I’d say he did a very good job.

From Ofilio Arguello:

I’m torn on McD. The fact is, he has failed in the first 4 years as the MIA coach. But I’m a believer failure makes you stronger. Any signs that you see McD is stronger from recent failures.

Hey Ofilio, if I’m going to be honest, I don’t see a lot of changes in the way McDaniel operates, and there’s something to be said for consistency in that regard.

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