New Dolphins coach excited about Tagovailoa. Ex-NFL QB calls McDaniel the ‘next Andy Reid’
A six-pack of Dolphins notes on a Monday, in the wake of Miami’s hiring of coach Mike McDaniel:
▪ Dolphins management preferred to find a coach who believed he could mold Tua Tagovailoa into something more and maximize his strengths.
They have found one with McDaniel.
NFL Network’s Peter Schrager said he spoke with McDaniel this weekend and reports that the Dolphins’ new coach is “very high on Tua.”
Per Shrager, McDaniel told owner Stephen Ross and general manager Chris Grier: “I am going to maximize what Tua can do best. I’m not going to think Tua is going to hold us back.”
Shrager said McDaniel “made the case for why Tua can be the quarterback there. He had answers for what he wants to do with Tua.”
Though McDaniel wasn’t specifically coaching the quarterbacks, Washington’s Robert Griffin III (102.4 passer rating in 2012) and Atlanta’s Matt Ryan (117.1 in 2016) happened to have their best seasons when McDaniel was working as an offensive assistant with those teams.
Jimmy Garoppolo played generally well this past season, McDaniel’s first as the 49ers’ offensive coordinator after four years as their run game coordinator. Garoppolo had a 98.7 passer rating, with 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions this season.
▪ ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky was effusive in his praise of McDaniel:
“The Dolphins just hired the next Andy Reid. He’s grown up in the Mike Shanahan, Kyle Shanahan system longer than anyone in the NFL. He is going to change and innovate this offense that for 40 years hasn’t needed to.”
Orlovsky said he hasn’t had personal interaction with McDaniel but NFL people that Orlovsky knows “say he’s got this great vision that people buy into. They rave and say he’s as good an X-and-O guy as there is in the NFL.”
Orlovsky noted that “Tua spent his time at Alabama playing under Steve Sarkisian, who ran Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Mike McDaniel will be running his version of Kyle Shanahan’s offense. Tua will be very, very, very comfortable in this system and scheme.”
ESPN’s Mike Tannenbaum noted that the 49ers completed 33 of 40 passes on designed rollouts with 6 TDs this past season. That’s something Tagovailoa does well and the Dolphins figure to do more of.
▪ Then there’s this from former 49ers Pro Bowl offensive tackle Joe Staley, who retired in April 2020 — after working with McDaniel for three seasons.
“He is a genius,” Staley told Sky Sports. “It’s surprising people are just figuring out how much he does behind the scenes. [49ers coach] Kyle [Shanahan] gets a lot of the attention because he is the offensive mastermind and pieces everything together. The construction of a lot of the plays, especially the run game, is through Mike McDaniel and has been a long time.
“He’s a wizard when it comes to different personnel groupings, formations, how to utilize people, how to put them in position to succeed. That’s what you want as a coach. It’s not surprising to me now he’s getting a chance. He definitely deserves it. He’s a great leader, communicator, all the things you look for in a head coach.”
One 49ers player conveyed that the public praise of McDaniel is genuine and not the byproduct of players feeling compelled to praise coaches with whom they’ve worked. Everybody recognizes his sharp offensive mind.
▪ Dolphins running back Duke Johnson told WSVN’s Donovan Campbell on Sunday night that he has spoken to other NFL players about McDaniel, and “everyone is excited, especially guys who have played for him. Very creative, good coach. The way he runs the ball, creates the best matchups for his offense, I hope I have an opportunity to play for him.”
Johnson, an impending unrestricted free agent, said of Brian Flores’ firing: “It was tough for the team, them more than me. I got here late in the season. [But a] lot of guys were hurt by the decision. But we all understand it’s a business.”
Under Flores, “we [were] not going to get pushed around or bullied. Guys love Flo and appreciate what he’s done.”
▪ Don’t be surprised if the Dolphins pursue 49ers running back Raheem Mostert, an impending unrestricted free agent. According to a 49ers person, McDaniel thinks very highly of Mostert.
Mostert, who turns 30 in April, played briefly for six teams (including Miami) before blossoming with the 49ers.
He sustained a season-ending knee injury in the 2021 regular-season opener but is expected to be fully healed for the start of the 2022 regular season.
His 5.7 yards-per-carry career average (on 284 carries) would be the highest among active players if he had enough carries to qualify.
He had 29 carries for a franchise postseason record 220 yards in the 49ers’ 2020 NFC Championship Game win against Green Bay. That was the second-most rushing yards in NFL postseason history, behind only Eric Dickerson’s 248 in 1986.
▪ For those believing McDaniel’s hiring will result in the Dolphins selecting a running back high in the draft, that’s not necessarily the case.
None of the 49ers’ leading rushers during McDaniel’s tenure there were high draft picks. In fact, San Francisco drafted only two backs in the past five drafts, both in 2021: Trey Sermon in the third round and Elijah Mitchell in the sixth.
McDaniel, of course, wasn’t making the selections; general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan made the personnel decisions.
The 49ers found their backs mostly in free agency during McDaniel’s time there.
In 2018, they gave a four-year, $30 million contract to former Vikings third-round pick Jerick McKinnon, who subsequently missed two seasons with a major knee injury.
In 2019, they gave a two-year, $10 million deal to former Falcons third-rounder Tevin Coleman, who averaged just 3.6 yards per carry in his two years in San Francisco and will again be a free agent in March after averaging 4.2 on 84 carries for the Jets last season.
Mostert had been with six teams before the 49ers signed him in 2016.
Jeff Wilson — also an impending free agent, like Mostert -- was signed by San Francisco as an undrafted free agent out of North Texas in 2018. Wilson has had a good career, averaging 4.2 yards on 298 carries with 35 catches for 296 yards.
Of the 49ers’ two running backs drafted last year, San Francisco got far more from the sixth rounder Mitchell (963 yards, 4.7 average) than the third rounder Sermon (167 yards, 4.1 average).
Credit goes to the backs, Shanahan and McDaniel for the 49ers continuing to rank among the league leaders in the running game during a five-year stretch when the team never picked a running back in the first two rounds and extracted modest contributions from their third-round pick Sermon.
Also credit Pro Bowl receiver Deebo Samuel, a 2019 second rounder who ran 59 times for 365 yards (6.2 average) and eight touchdowns last season.
This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 2:40 PM.
