While the Buffalo Bills are preparing for their Wild Card showdown this Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, one of their division rivals just made a bit of a bold coaching change. According to Adam Schefter, the Miami Dolphins have fired their head coach, Mike McDaniel. While he got to finish out the season, he is officially out of Miami.
ESPN Sources: Dolphins fired head coach Mike McDaniel.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 8, 2026
Dolphins owner Stephen Ross met with McDaniel this week to discuss the season. After that meeting and reflection, Ross decided to move on. pic.twitter.com/tp9TnpGQ1l
A lot of people had thought that maybe McDaniel had done enough to save his job in the second-half of the season, but now the Dolphins are now looking for not just a new general manager but now a new head coach.
Miami had let go of Chris Grier in the middle of the season and now they have cleaned house. Typically, you would think that this is a good thing from a rival’s perspective, but Bills fans should be concerned about what Miami could do now.
Dolphins' cleaning house should concern Bills fans
Miami showed that they have talent to win games once the second-half of season came around. When it comes to Buffalo specifically, Miami delivered a big-time beatdown to the Bills in Week 10 down in south beach. Depending on what moves the Dolphins make next, they could start to make a chase towards Buffalo within the AFC East.
One candidate that the Dolphins could very well pursue is John Harbaugh, who was just recently fired by the Baltimore Ravens after 18 seasons. According to Ian Rapoport, Dolphins’ owner Stephen Ross has ties to the Harbaugh family, the Dolphins could very well be an ideal landing spot for Harbaugh.
The best part for Miami is that they can only go up from here and if they land the right people in the front office and on the sidelines, they could very well make a run within the AFC East with both the Bills and Patriots.
The only big factor that this new regime will have to figure out is what to do with Tua Tagovailoa and his contract.
