Ian Rapoport has the latest on Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, who is considered to be on the hot seat. While appearing on the NFL Network, the NFL insider said that he expects McDaniel to be with the team next season.
“Mike McDaniel is expected to be back with the Miami Dolphins,” Rapoport said. “Obviously, going to have a new general manager that will put him in a much better position to succeed.
“The fact that the 2025 Dolphins roster basically got remade in May and June, with a couple of players that other teams decided to discard late in the year, or players that unretire like Darren Waller. It was a little bit of a mess, really, never quite found the cohesion, money spent in all sorts of strange places. A lot of reasons you can say that Mike McDaniel just was not put in a position to succeed as well as he should have. Things will be looking in a completely different place in the 2026 season.”
Ian Rapoport then said the Dolphins will need to figure out the quarterback situation after Tua Tagovailoa was benched in Week 16. The belief is that the Dolphins will “move on” from the veteran QB, “but how will they do it?” Rapoport asked.
Mike McDaniel started off strong in his career with the Dolphins
McDaniel has been the Dolphins’ head coach since the 2022 season. He led the Dolphins to the playoffs in his first two seasons, but then Miami finished 8-9 in 2024 and 7-10 this season.
The Dolphins recently fired general manager Chris Grier, who had held that position since 2016. A new GM should give McDaniel a chance to have more success in Miami since the team needs a few more pieces on both sides of the ball to be a contender.
While the 2025 season was disappointing, the Dolphins played well during the second half of the year. After starting the year 1-7, Miami won the next six of nine games, including an upset win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 10. The Dolphins will look to reach the playoffs next year and earn their first postseason win since the 2000 season.