The Buffalo Bills weren’t the only team to make a change at head coach in the AFC East this offseason, though their decision to move on from Sean McDermott was much more surprising than the Miami Dolphins parting ways with Mike McDaniel.
McDaniel spent five seasons in Miami, and while the Dolphins were usually good under his lead, they couldn’t get out of their own way late in the season, whether it was because of the cold weather or injuries. And in the NFL, good isn’t nearly good enough.
One of McDaniel’s most used running backs, both from his time in San Francisco as offensive coordinator and Miami, Raheem Mostert, the oldest back in the league, recently talked about his former head coach, and why he thinks he failed in Miami.
Ex-Dolphins RB Raheem Mostert star points to Mike McDaniel's cultural flaw the Buffalo Bills often exposed
“He’s a great coach,” Mostert said on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “If guys are talking, he’ll listen and give them some advice, but head coach wise — the past couple of years, what they’ve been going through has just been kind of rough. I kind of feel bad for the players. When you have a coach that is so player-friendly, it doesn’t really mix all that well. Look at the coaches in history, not just in the NFL, of all of these different sports franchises, they have coaches that implement toughness, resilience and that’s something that he kind of missed the mark on in being a head coach.”
Bills Mafia could see from the start that McDaniel was going to have a tough time in Miami. A warm-weather market that attracts the problematic likes of Tyreek Hill is a double-edged sword that McDaniel didn’t know how to wield.
Certainly, though, wit and football IQ are at the top of the list of requirements to be an NFL head coach, and McDaniel has both in spades. But just looking at his head-to-head record against McDermott makes Mostert’s point. McDermott, who did emoby that toughness and resiliency in his Bills teams, dominated McDaniel biannually for five seasons, holding a 7-2 record over the Dolphins.
That said, the vibe shift in Miami will soon be realised. With new head coach Jeff Hafley and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan settled in Miami, they’ll begin retooling the team to look like a South Beach version of the Frozen Tundra of Green Bay. Hafley is a defensive mind, bringing with him a disruptive scheme and that toughness mentality McDaniel lacked, which goes without saying.
Of course, that doesn’t guarantee success for the loosely Miami franchise. The Dolphins failed to find success with Brian Flores, another top defensive mind in the NFL, before moving to McDaniel. Hafley and company have their work cut out for them in rebuilding the broken home McDaniel left behind.