Dolphins Have Made Their Decision At Head Coach

Dolphins Have Made Their Decision At Head Coach

All right, let’s talk Miami Dolphins. This is a team that obviously has been playing better football as of late, but there are still large questions looming when it comes to the future of this Miami squad. Obviously, the general manager is going to change, but head coach questions remained, and we’ve got some data and some reporting on that front specifically that points to the fact that Dolphins may have already made their decision when it comes to their head coaching position. We’ll get into the details with that in just one second, but first, I’m Nick. That is Andrew, and this is Saturday Morning Inspection. All right, the Miami Dolphins because they’ve been playing better football on the field and winning some games, you know, the stress, the immediate stress on head coach Mike McDaniel has been relieved somewhat. But I think all of us really expect and all reporting seems to indicate that Mike McDaniel will not return as the Dolphins head coach in 2026. But that looms the largest question right now is when will the Dolphins make that move? Well, we’ve got some reporting when you look at the betting markets, the the fiscal betting markets in terms of the poly market and the couch uh sites, those platforms that allow people to physically put their money where their mouth is in terms of what’s going to happen when it comes to pretty much everything and specifically NFL deals. Now, anyone who’s not familiar with those two platforms, you have to understand these two those two groups right there, they are ahead of the curve because that’s where real p real people put real money and real insiders allegedly will put bets on certain things when they have that specific kind of information. For example, Poly Market is really good at predicting elections. They were the first to predict 2024. all the elections that have followed on a global national scale. They’re really good at it because they get that inside information because if you’re going to put million dollars on something, you’re only going to do it if you have really good details and really good specifics that no one else does. So, with that in mind, when we look at the poly market and look at what is the next or who is the next head coach to be fired, in fact, let’s go ahead and pull up the graphic right here. You’ll notice that Mike McDaniel only has a 17% chance to be the next head coach fired. Raheem Morris number one at 38%. Mike Kofka number two at 36%. Jonathan Ganon next at 21 before McDaniel at 17 just ahead of Shawn McDermott and Zack Taylor and Pete Carroll rounding out the top percent getters for the head coaching position when it comes to the neck guys to be let go. Now what does this tell us? It tells us that Mike McDaniel is not going to be fired this season most likely. And I think this is the decisions the Dolphins have clearly already made. They have decided, and I think this is a change over the past few weeks, that Mike McDaniels, the guy to lead the ship the rest of the season to evaluate their players. So that way, an opposing uh the next GM, excuse me, and the next head coach that that GM will hire, will be able to evaluate this Dolphin squad against their opposition the rest of the way in a sort of stable environment. Cuz one of the problems that can happen when you bring in an interim head coach is that that you change the strategy. You can play a little funky, right? It becomes that interim coach magic. you know, teams can run, you know, they run more fake punts. They get a little tricky with things. It becomes harder to evaluate players. They keep Mike McDaniel in place so that way the next regime, the next GM, the next head coach can effectively evaluate the roster as a whole. And they let Mike McDaniel play out this entire season as a head coach. I think it’s the right move to make. And when you look at the numbers, it’s clearly a decision that that’s what the Miami Dolphins have decided. In fact, if you go into the next graphic mice, also courtesy of Poly Market, this is the odds Mike McDaniel was going to get fired during the season in terms of being the next coach, you can see it oscillated. It bumped its way all the way up to about 40%. It has basically been on a steep decline ever since and it’s really kind of flatlined to below 20% over the past week or so. So, basically at this point, no one really believes except for a small minority that Mike McDaniel is going to be the next head coach fired. He will be here for the long haul to finish out the season. And like I said a second ago, I think it’s the right move to make. I think this is a Dolphins team that has talent. They’ve got some young guys. I like their defensive line. Kenneth Grant playing better. Phillips is a steal. Zeke Bigger is coming out of nowhere to have a great game against Washington. How about on offense? A chain waddle, of course, we know. Uh Patrick Paul is a beast. Brewers really good. Can Jonah Sabay play better? Olly Goran’s a young talent. Malik Washington coming into the picture, right? They’ve got some guys, right? They really really do. I I still like Chop Robinson as a as a young defensive end, young playmaker. I think they’ve got talent and I think if you’re the next GM of the Miami Dolphins, whoever they hire, it’s going to be really critical for them to get the right head coach for that talent. And the Dolphins leadership, I think correctly, and I think this is one thing Ross has gotten 100% right, understands that finding the right GM and coach combination is the most important thing for this team. Their prior decision was to go, we need to find the right coach combination for Tua. They went McDaniel to help Tua. And that’s not necessarily a bad idea, but when you have organizational issues, mainly due to Chris Greer and his flaws as a general manager and his team’s flaws, you’re never going to be able to overcome them. Now, I’m not saying tour or Mike McDaniel with a good organization would have won championships, but it’s just a tough hill to climb when at the top of your top of your franchise with your general manager group and his team, they aren’t topnotch. So, Ross is going to want to bring in a top-notch team to start this thing from the top down. But in order to do that, they need to have the evaluation structure in place. And that’s exactly what they’re getting by keeping Mike McDaniel in to be the uh the head coach for the rest of the year for the Miami Dolphins. Now, some of you out there may say, “Listen, this is just Poly Market. This is just one site. This just one platform. Is this just a single data point?” That’s not the case. In fact, M, if you don’t mind, let’s go to our third graphic here, courtesy of Kshi, and they say pretty much the exact same thing. This is their odds of the next coach to be fired. Again, this is real people putting real money. This isn’t just, you know, a sports book setting odds trying to get some action. These numbers move with the dollars in real time. And currently the way it sits, Raheem Morris, the next head coach, to be fired most likely by a big margin. Then then Jonathan Genon, then Pete Carol, then Kevin Stfansky, then Zack Taylor, Aaron Glenn, Shawn McDerman, and Mike McDaniel, according to Cali, all the way down at 7%. So you can see based on the two platforms, if you average it out, Mike McDaniel has like the 13th% chance to be the next head coach fired. there’s anywhere between four to seven coaches that are going to be fired before him or are more likely to be fired. So, the reality is he’s going to finish out the season as next head coach, but the fact that he’s even on this list and consistently on this list guarantees also that he will be fired, that he will be relieved, which I think which we all understand is going to happen. And I think he understands that as well. But it allows the Dolphins to play out the season, allows the Dolphins and the players, the rookies and veterans to try and work things out among each other, figure out who can play, who can’t, so that way the next coach, the next GM can come in and really do a good job setting this organization back in the right direction. Cuz like I said a second ago, they’ve got some good players. They’re not like a championship roster by any by any measure. I’m I’m not saying they’re like, you know, Super Bowl ready tomorrow, but they’ve got guys. They’ve got a good mix of youth. They’ve got a good mix of veterans, right? They’ve got playmakers. They’ve got, you know, enough opportunistic guys at key positions that I think they could be a really talented team. They’ve got some depth, right? Running back position, wide receiver position. They’re not super topheavy across the board. Now, listen, obviously they got some cap issues and some contract issues to work out, but that’s more the reason why it’s really important for the Dolphins to go through this season to fairly evaluate every single player on this roster. If you fire Mike McDaniel during the season, you don’t get that chance. That’s why they’re sticking with them. And that’s why every single platform, whether it’s Poly Market, whether it’s Koshi, whether it’s reporting and rumors and innuendo, they’re all pointing in one single direction. The Dolphins have made their decision when it comes to their head coach. Mike McDaniel will not be back in 2026, but he also will not be fired during the 2025 regular season, and I think that’s a smart move. All right, M. I’m curious what your thoughts are on all of this. But first, Dolphins fans, Finn Nation, in the comment section below. Listen, we’ve talked about the Miami Dolphins in terms of who they should go after for their next head coach. But let me ask you this. Who do you want to be the next general manager for the Miami Dolphins? Who do you want to lead the franchise? I actually think that’s more important in some ways. Chris Greer and his team did not put a did not create an environment that I think set McDaniel and Tua up for a lot of success. I think McDaniel and Tua bear a good chunk of the blame as they should. But I think we can all agree you win championships, you win playoff games because of organizations and Chris Greer was a big part of the problem. With that in mind, who do you want to be the next man leading this franchise from a GM perspective? Put him in the comment section below. But M over to you now. Give us your thoughts on all things Miami. Yeah, Nick. I think there’s two things that you said that were vitally important and another thing that I want to bring up as well. The first one being that I think the marriage between the coach and the GM is very important. And let’s like you said, it’s much less important than, you know, the marriage between the quarterback and the coach or something like that. You have to have two guys on the same page of how they want to build the team, what’s the best moves for the team going forward. Not it has to be a fullon collaboration. I think the best example of a team that’s got this right recently is the Los Angeles Chargers with Harbaugh and Ortiz. just two guys that I think have worked together, made a lot of good decisions on that roster and just gotten some really good young playmakers that, you know, they’re they’re getting the playmakers for the coach who like these are the guys. This is a style of player I want. This is what I want on this team. Then they go out and make that happen. We’ve seen that with their young titan Gadson. We’ve seen that with the young running back and Vidal. uh they’ve just got some good guys coming on the scene looking really strong and that’s because there’s good collaboration and talk between the two positions on that team. Now I think the biggest mistake you can be would to be to fire one and then be like all right GM let’s just go find a good GM and then you it’s not working out with that coach we fire the coach let’s just go find another coach. I think the wholesale you know fire sale of the front office is the best decision here. So, I I think that’s really important for the Dolphins uh to go ahead and do that, but do it at the right time. I do also think keeping McDaniel to the end of the season is not a bad decision for the Dolphins either because if you know anything about Mike McDaniel, it’s that he is a very player friendly coach. The players like him a lot. Not necessarily getting the best results at times through a lot of stuff, but players seem to like him. Specifically, there’s recently another story came out about Jack Jones, the quarterback who came from the Raiders over to the Dolphins having good season with them, but just he talks about how he loves Mike McDaniel, gave him a chance, he, you know, appreciates that, all that kind of stuff. So, this is a guy who can really get the players to play for him so you’ll get the best out of them when evaluating down the stretch. Like you said, I think we need to see all the talent on this roster and and who can come out and make some good stuff happen because that’s going to be the key is the new coach, new GM pairing of this Dolphins team. They’re going to have to get good draft picks, which the Dolphins, they’ve hit on some draft picks over the last few years, but there’s also been some misses as well. But more importantly, you’re going to have to be able to hit on your uh free agency or trade selections as well, which they have had some. One guy that we love that they were went out and grabbed a few years ago was Brewer, Aaron Brewer at the center position, a guy playing really good football. But another one, and this is probably controversial, is what exactly has Tyreek Hill added to the team? They went out, they spent a Kings ransom on him. They really haven’t gotten any results from him. He wasn’t the game changer that they thought he was going to be as far as to take them on deep playoff runs. It’s just not a team. There’s bigger problems than that. So, was it he’s a good player? Yeah, of course he’s a good player. He’s a great player. But is he the guy that you need to go spend all of that draft capital and dollars on to go get? Was that the missing piece for this team? Probably not. you probably could have used all of those picks that you trade Kyrie Kill for to build this roster a little bit wider, a little more sturdy, a little more depth on it. So now that you know he’s not even playing for the team right now, it it feels like, you know, there’s there’s a lot of misses that have happened on this roster building construction. So I think getting GM getting coach right is a good decision. I think Mike McDaniel staying throughout the season trying to evaluate the players they do have. He’s going to, you know, give the players familiarity, a guy that they like, a guy that, you know, is friendly with the players, a true definition of a player’s coach. So, I really like the plan going forward. I’m excited to see who they go and grab because I do think that you are correct and the coach is important, but getting the GM position right is even more important nowadays, especially with the, you know, salary cap and everything involved with these teams nowadays. You got to have someone who can navigate those waters. I don’t think the Dolphins have done a great job of everything uh entailing in that lately. So, I think a new fresh start for this Dolphins team is going to be the best thing available. Yeah, you bring up a great point. The fact that players like McDaniel, it’s not like the Dolphins have given up, right? If they given up on their head coach, obviously makes sense to fire him, but the fact that they they’re still bought in, they’re still competing, it creates that environment. You can evaluate those guys like I mentioned. But I want to talk here about Chris Grizz just to put a bow on this is tenure, right? He he took over as the GM for the Dolphins in 2016. His head coach was Adam Gase, right? Who was the quarterback whisperer, the guy that, you know, unleashed Peyton Manning, right, at the end of his career, comes to the Miami Dolphins and, you know, 10 and six, six and 10, 79. Okay, maybe he’s not the quarterback whisperer. They let him go and that’s probably not a terrible move, right? And Gates didn’t turn out to be the world’s best head coach the rest of his career. But then they brought in Brian Flores and they did that whole tanking thing. Was that going to work out? Well, the Flores had back-to-back winning seasons, but they let him go. Obviously, that was a little bit of a a kurfuffle between Flores and a lot of people in the leadership uh department. I think Chris Greer playing a role. You can make an argument Ross did as well. Uh that still has not been resolved in terms of the settlement things going on there. That’s an interesting battle right there. But again, Greer 0 for two. Gase not the right hire. Flores was ostensibly winning games, right? He won 19 games his last two seasons, but it ends badly. And now you have the Mike McDaniel situation brought in. Hey, listen. Quarterback Cougar was the right move to make. We bring in Mike McDaniel. Things look good the first couple seasons, right? But things, you know, injuries derail you last year. Tua seems to not being playing great football. You know, at a certain point, you look at Chris Greer and you say, “Listen, man. The guys you’re hiring and the guys you’re working with, there’s a common theme here, right? We’ve gotten two quarterback gurus. We’ve gotten a great defensive coach and but all three of these guys aren’t working out. They’re all three of them have had double-digit win seasons, right? I don’t think Flores is a terrible coach. I don’t even think Mike McDaniel is a terrible coach. I think Greer is a bad GM for a coach to work with. Now, that doesn’t mean you bring in a new GM and force him to stick with Mike McDaniel. Mike McDaniel is going to be fired. But the reality is it so much is dependent on the GM being the right guy and hiring the guy that he can work with and setting up his head coach for success. If you don’t have that, none of it will matter. Sometimes you can have a great pairing where the head coach and GM are at the same level. Chris Greer, at least based on reporting, was always a notch above the head coaches in terms of the structure with the Dolphins. And I think that created problems. We don’t know if Mike McDaniel was ever going to be the right coach or not. I don’t think he was ever given a chance to be successful. Certainly Flores was never given that chance. I think cleaning house from a general manager perspective and keeping the head coach intact the rest of the season allows the new GM to do everything he will need to do to change this franchise, get them headed in the right direction and back to postseason success.

The Miami Dolphins are obviously in the middle of a transition. But it looks like the Dolphins are done making moves for now. This big Dolphins decision will actually set themselves up very nicely for the future. Fans of the Miami Dolphins should be excited by this news.

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