Mike McDaniel’s time in South Beach has come to a close.
The Miami Dolphins fired their head coach after four seasons, the team announced on Thursday.
McDaniel ends his tenure with a 35-33 record and two playoff appearances in four seasons as head coach.
“After careful evaluation and extensive discussions since the season ended, I have made the decision that our organization is in need of comprehensive change. I informed Mike McDaniel this morning that he has been relieved of his duties as head coach,” Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said in a statement. “I love Mike and want to thank him for his hard work, commitment, and the energy he brought to our organization. Mike is an incredibly creative football mind whose passion for the game and his players was evident every day. I wish him and his family the best moving forward.”
The 2025 season began as the worst for the Dolphins since McDaniel’s arrival. The team started 0-3 and picked up its first win of the year against the New York Jets on Monday Night Football in Week 4, a game in which it lost star receiver Tyreek Hill for the season with a devastating knee injury.
From there, the team blew late leads in back-to-back defeats against the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Chargers. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa called out the Dolphins’ “leadership” following their Week 6 loss to the Chargers, saying some players had been late or skipped meetings in prior weeks.
Following Tagovailoa’s comments, the Dolphins traveled to Cleveland and got demolished 31-6 by the previously 1-5 Browns. However, they followed that up with a four-game winning streak in Weeks 10-14 before ultimately losing three of four games to finish out 7-10.
The Dolphins hired McDaniel in February 2022 to replace former head coach Brian Flores. McDaniel had spent one year as offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers before making the leap to a head coaching position.
The hiring of McDaniel in 2022 coincided with the Dolphins’ trade for Hill, and both aided Tagovailoa in getting the team to the playoffs at 9-8, the same record it had with Flores in 2021. The team fell 34-31 against the Buffalo Bills in the wild card round, which featured rookie Skylar Thompson at quarterback in place of Tagovailoa, who was in the NFL’s concussion protocol.
McDaniel helped guide the Dolphins to an 11-6 record and another playoff berth in 2023, but their season ended in another wild card flameout, this time against the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs in frigid Kansas City.
The team went 6-5 in Tagovailoa’s 11 starts in 2024, but the team went just 2-4 in games he missed and failed to make the playoffs at 8-9.
Looking to the Dolphins’ future, Tagovailoa signed a franchise-record four-year, $212.4 million contract in July 2024. He has $54 million in guaranteed money and a $99.2 million dead cap hit for 2026, but he does not have any guaranteed money in his deal after next season. On March 15, $3 million of his 2027 salary becomes guaranteed, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
On top of McDaniel’s exit, the Dolphins also have a vacancy at general manager after they parted ways with Chris Grier midseason.
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport noted that John Harbaugh, who was fired by the Baltimore Ravens earlier this week after 18 seasons with the team, “looms as a key candidate for Miami” given his “ties” to the Ross family.
The Dolphins are one of eight teams with a head coach opening, joining the Ravens, New York Giants, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns and Arizona Cardinals.
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