Report says Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel expected to remain with the team
Don’t expect any changes this week.
The Miami Dolphins plan to keep coach Mike McDaniel despite the team’s 1-6 start, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
This comes after the Dolphins suffered three consecutive losses, including the most recent embarrassing 31-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
“Owner Stephen Ross likes him and believes in him, has extended him in the past and wants to go forward with Mike McDaniel,” Rapoport said, later adding that he doesn’t know what will happen with the Dolphins, however, “questions about the future of Mike McDaniel and Tua [Tagovailoa], by the way, and everything that’s in the Dolphins orbit — it is all fair now with that performance that they gave on Sunday.”
Rapoport gave two conditions of McDaniel’s employment: the players haven’t given up on the coach and/or fan attendance doesn’t slip, both of which aren’t guaranteed considering the team’s lackluster performance as of late. Players, for the time being, still appear supportive of McDaniel.
“I think we all believe in him as a coach,” tackle Patrick Paul said Sunday. “At the end of the day, we have to execute as players. The game plan will work, but we have to execute.”
“Yeah, it’s hard truths,” fullback Alec Ingold responded when asked if the locker room is still receptive to McDaniel’s messaging. “And they’re hard to hear, but you got to hear them. They’re said they’re listened to, they’re heard. You need to apply [them]. At the end of the day that’s accountability, and that’s growth, and that’s character. We need to get better fast”
McDaniel has compiled a 29-29 during his four seasons in Miami. After initially leading the Dolphins to back-to-back records above .500 and two playoff appearances, the team has seemingly regressed during the past two years. McDaniel went 8-9 in an injury-plagued 2024 season that also was rife with habitual lateness on the part of players.
The Dolphins subsequently purged a lot of those repeat offenders, including Jalen Ramsey, with the hope that the team’s pivot to a youth movement would lead to not just better camaraderie but also more success. That didn’t happen; the Dolphins currently sit at 1-6 while the 42-year-old coach has faced questions about the safety of his job.
McDaniel, however, doesn’t appear focused on the outside noise that has risen to a din as the team has become synonymous with failure.
“If I’m thinking about having a job, I need to be doing my job,” McDaniel said Sunday, deeming anything else as “offensive.” “As long as I’m the coach for the Miami Dolphins, they will get everything from me. I refuse to spend my time thinking about something that you have your job, you do your job, and you do it to the best of your ability, and that’s where my concern lies. I think it’s offensive to all coaches, players, and the organization, if I’m spending that precious time thinking about myself.”
McDaniel doubled down on that sentiment Monday, explaining that he has “a lot of things to focus on, none of which is speculating on speculation.”
“There’s a piece of me, from an integrity standpoint, to go into the world of speculation when I’m currently holding the job,” McDaniel said. “I think that’s kind of irresponsible.”
Added McDaniel: “I do recognize the hard part is the residual consequences — other staff members, players — just the uncertainty of that. But at this point, I don’t think anybody is focused on any of that now. You got to focus on winning the game.”
When Ross decided to keep McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier at the end of the 2024 season, he did so under the condition that the “status quo won’t do.” By that measure, the Dolphins can only afford three more losses.
This story was originally published October 20, 2025 at 10:57 AM.
