Dolphins tight end Darren Waller has lifted the lid on his awkward meeting with Mike McDaniel just moments before the head coach was fired.
Waller was enjoying his traditional end-of-season exit interview with McDaniel when Miami’s billionaire owner Stephen Ross walked in.Â
‘Damn this s*** is cold,’ Waller thought after McDaniel was removed from his post minutes later. The Dolphins went 7-10 in the 2025 regular season and missed out on the playoffs once more.
The 42-year-old learned his fate on the morning of January 8 – not long after Waller arrived for his 9.30am meeting with the head coach.Â
‘It was a wild year, front to back – I was at the scene of the crime, bro. I think I was the last person that saw him before he got fired,’ Waller told former quarterback Johnny Manziel on his ‘Glory Daze’ podcast.
‘My exit meeting was that Thursday morning from 9.30 to 10. So I get there… and we’re talking for like 10 minutes and he’s like: “I definitely want you back next year”
Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross fired Mike McDaniel after a disappointing 2025 season
McDaniel learned his fate on January 8 – not long after Darren Waller arrived for his meeting
‘We were just reflecting on the year and things he was thinking about doing differently in the upcoming year.
‘And then Stephen Ross kicked the door in at like 9:42. He comes in, joins in the conversation – we’re just all talking, reflecting on the year – and Stephen Ross said: “We’d love to have you back next year…”
‘And then the conversation kind of hits a lull and I’m sitting across the desk from Mike and Stephen Ross is standing there just kinda looking at me like…’
Manziel filled in the blank by replying: ‘It’s time for you to get the hell out!’
Waller revealed how the head coach then promised him they would ‘finish this conversation later’ but that never came to pass.Â
‘So I go out of the meeting, go downstairs and get a massage,’ the tight end continued. ‘I come up from the massage, check my phone and he’s fired. I’m like: “Damn this s*** cold, for real.”‘
There are currently eight vacant head coaching roles in the NFL – including the Dolphins – and McDaniel has already interviewed with the Falcons, Titans, Browns and the Ravens.
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I watched as ‘cold’ billionaire NFL owner fired my head coach… this is what happened