{"id":671619,"date":"2026-01-12T14:42:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T14:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/671619\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T14:42:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T14:42:13","slug":"fired-dolphins-coach-will-interview-with-lions-but-also-has-other-suitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/671619\/","title":{"rendered":"Fired Dolphins coach will interview with Lions, but also has other suitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Lions are still looking for their next offensive coordinator, and now a respected offensive coach is officially in the mix.<\/p>\n

NFL Network\u2019s Tom Pelissero reports<\/a> that former Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel will interview for the job. Detroit contacted the 42-year-old<\/a> coach just hours after he exit in Miami, making him a top candidate from the start.<\/p>\n

McDaniel had a 35-33 record in four seasons with the Dolphins, leading them to two winning seasons and two playoff appearances. Both times, they lost in the Wild Card round to the Buffalo Bills in 2022 and the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023.<\/p>\n

After two losing seasons with records below .500, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross decided to make a change and fired McDaniel after meeting with him last week.<\/p>\n

McDaniel is known as one of the NFL\u2019s top offensive minds. He worked for years as an assistant under San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, serving as run game coordinator from 2017 to 2020 and offensive coordinator in 2021 before joining the Dolphins.<\/p>\n

McDaniel is also in demand for head coaching jobs. Pelissero says he will interview with the Baltimore Ravens, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, and Tennessee Titans this week for their open head coach positions.<\/p>\n

The Lions fired John Morton as offensive coordinator last week and began looking for a replacement quickly. Before contacting McDaniel, they considered former Lions quarterback and Washington Commanders assistant quarterbacks coach<\/a> David Blough. But a few days after the Lions showed interest, the Commanders promoted Blough to offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

This week, the Lions are also set to meet with Ravens quarterbacks coach Tee Martin and Seattle Seahawks pass game coordinator Jake Peetz about the open position.<\/p>\n

If the Lions hire McDaniel, many will see it as a great move because of his creativity and what he could do with players like Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, Jameson Williams, and Sam LaPorta. Under McDaniel, Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and wide receiver Tyreek Hill had some of their best career stats.<\/p>\n

A key question is whether Lions coach Dan Campbell and McDaniel share similar views on player development and building relationships, which Lions coaches have suggested they do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to be who you are, that\u2019s probably the best way to say it, because players see through B.S.,\u201d Campbell said at the time. \u201cThey know when you\u2019re full of it, and they sniff that out in a heartbeat. I think it\u2019s important to be who you are, be honest with them. Whether they like it or not, they\u2019ll appreciate it. Certainly, I know that Coach McDaniel does that over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell had a big influence on the Lions\u2019 offense last season after taking away play-calling from Morton. If McDaniel takes the job, he is expected to call his own plays. Right now, the Lions are the only team he is interviewing with for an offensive coordinator job, besides his head coach interviews.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Lions are still looking for their next offensive coordinator, and now a respected offensive coach is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[97633,217,7,216,251,2087,6,31185],"class_list":{"0":"post-671619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-_dm94214","9":"tag-dolphins","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nflraw25"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115882658604978570","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}