Exploring the (Likely) Reasons the Dolphins Have Kept McDaniel

The Miami Dolphins appear as though they'll be moving forward with Mike McDaniel as their head coach for a fifth season in 2026.

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel runs off the field following a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Hard Rock Stadium in the team's 2025 home finale. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

After weeks of speculation, it certainly does appear as though Mike McDaniel will be back as Miami Dolphins head coach in 2026 for a fifth season.

There has been no official declaration from the team, but then again, there doesn't need to be one since McDaniel is under contract for the next three years, with the extension he signed in September 2024 about to kick in.

It's a decision that absolutely has angered a portion of Miami fans, who keep waiting for that elusive playoff win and have no reason to think the team is any closer to that goal after missing the playoffs in 2025 for a second consecutive season.

There's also the possibility, however remote it appears, that the Dolphins' search for a new GM ends with a candidate who convinces owner Stephen Ross that a head-coaching change absolutely needs to be made and McDaniel doesn't return next season after all.

But as McDaniel said Monday, it's everybody's understanding that he remains head coach of the Miami Dolphins until he's told otherwise.

As we chronicled before, McDaniel is in line to become only the fifth of 21 head coaches with a losing record in both his third and fourth years with a franchise to be brought back for a fifth year. He would join Dan Reeves, Steve Mariucci, Jeff Fisher and David Shula, the son of Dolphins legend Don Shula.

Of those four coaches, only Mariucci and Shula were in their first head coach job, and Mariucci had a playoff win in each of his first two years with the San Francisco 49ers, while Shula had a losing record in his first two years (along with the third and fourth), but he also had the family name in his corner.

The bottom line is that McDaniel returning for a fifth season isn't the norm after back-to-back losing seasons.

WHY McDANIEL HAS REMAINED

So why is Ross not making a move with McDaniel, as he did with GM Chris Grier when he dismissed him after the Dolphins fell to 2-7 with their Week 9 loss against the Baltimore Ravens?

Since Ross hasn't said anything on the record about McDaniel or the head coach position since his statement after the 2024 season finale, we'll have to speak on his behalf as to what we think the likely reasons would be.

Ross likes McDaniel

Well, that much is obvious, and McDaniel is a likable man who, indeed, is quirky but also genuine.

Also, don't forget that Ross once said, more than a decade ago, as he was embarking on the coaching search that led to the hiring of Joe Philbin, that he was looking for a "young Don Shula." And it could be that Ross still sees that kind of potential with McDaniel with the right personnel.

McDaniel maximized his talent

This is an important factor here, and it goes along with the firing of Grier.

As we evaluate McDaniel's four years on the job, we have to ponder how the Dolphins coming up short of a playoff win (but not of the playoffs) in 2022 and 2023 and then having a losing record in 2024 and 2025 falls on the coaching and how much on the personnel.

We can say what we want about the team coming up short against quality opposition in 2023, but the fact remains the Dolphins were 11-6, which represented their highest win total since 2008, the last time the team won the AFC East title and the year before Ross took over as majority owner.

That was a very good Dolphins roster, and it's easy to suggest that maybe the Dolphins could have made some noise in the playoffs if not for a rash of injuries on defense in the final weeks of the regular season. And at that time, we don't recall many folks questioning McDaniel's ability to coach.

So should what happened the past two seasons — when Tua Tagovailoa missed six starts one year, then badly regressed the next — be pinned on McDaniel?

What might he do with a different QB?

That brings us to the next point, and it's one that probably is going to irk some folks, but is it possible that Ross and the Dolphins front office believe in McDaniel enough that they want to see what he can do with a different quarterback?

Remember that McDaniel was hired in part — maybe even in large part — to maximize Tagovailoa's ability after he had two pretty forgettable seasons under head coach Brian Flores and three different offensive coordinators (Chan Gailey in 2020, and George Godsey and Eric Studesville as co-coordinators in 2021).

Considering that Tagovailoa led the NFL in passer rating in 2022 and then in passing yards in 2023, it's difficult to argue that McDaniel didn't succeed in that assignment.

In the process, though, McDaniel created a Tua-uber-specific offensive scheme, and that's when issues arose when injuries and regression entered the picture.

If the Dolphins indeed move on from Tagovailoa, as expected, what could McDaniel come up with offensively in terms of scheme and play designs with a different quarterback with a different skill set?

It's an intriguing question, and maybe one that has Ross thinking that's worth another look.

The team didn't quit

Lastly, and this one is obvious, is that McDaniel never lost the team despite the poor starts of the past two seasons.

The Dolphins went 6-3 in the final nine games after starting 2-6 in 2024, and this season went 5-3 after starting 2-7.

The final record wasn't good enough in either season, but the fact the team didn't quit on McDaniel or tune him out says something about his ability to connect with players.

In the final analysis, those would be the justifications for bringing McDaniel back for a fifth season because we refuse to believe that somebody as rich as Ross would worry about having to pay McDaniel to not coach for the next three years because of the extension he gave him in 2024.

At some point, it might be that Ross will reveal his reasons for bringing back his head coach for a fifth season, but those look like the answers from here.