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Mike McDaniel’s Hiring: A New Era of Dolphins Football?
Mike McDaniel always struck me as an interesting head coaching prospect for the Miami
Dolphins. On one hand, he is lauded as a running game guru and was said to be a significant
contributor to the 49ers deep playoff run. On the other hand, there were several questions
regarding if he has sufficient experience needed to be a head coach, especially considering he
was only an offensive coordinator for 1 year with the 49ers, and that was under Kyle Shanahan
who is also regarded as one of the best offensive minds in the NFL. Regardless, the Dolphins
were heavy handed in their pursuit of Mike McDaniel and hired him over the likes of more
experiencing head coaching candidates that were available, such as Vance Joseph or Jim
Caldwell.
Mike McDaniel has spent nearly 15 years under Kyle Shanahan and comes from a system that
has produced successful head coaches such as Sean McVay and Matt Lafleur. Perhaps the
Dolphins are looking at the success of these Shanahan disciples and are hoping to equally strike
gold with McDaniel? According to Pro Football Reference, the 49ers in 2021 offensively ranked
13 th in points scored and 7 th in yards. In terms of rushing stats, McDaniel’s specialty, the 49ers
ranked 5 th in attempts, 7 th in yards, and 5 th in touchdowns. The Dolphins last year offensively
ranked 22 nd for points scored and 25 th in yards. In terms of rushing, the Dolphins ranked 18 th , 30 th ,
and 24 th respectively in the same categories listed earlier. Over the 5 year stretch that McDaniel
was the running game coordinator and most recently offensive coordinator for the 49ers, the
team on average ranked 11 th in rushing attempts, 12 th in yards, 11 th in touchdowns, and 14 th in
yards per attempt for the teams rushing attack. The Dolphins over that same 5 year stretch
(which includes that last two years of Adam Gase’s coaching tenure as well as the entire 3 year
tenure of Brain Flores) ranked about 25 th in attempts, 26 th in yards, 26 th in touchdowns, and 25 th in
yards per attempt. Aside from the glaring lack of success of the Dolphins running game
compared to the 49ers rushing attack, this data also shows a clear difference in offensive
philosophy. Only once across the 5-year tenure of McDaniel as running game
coordinator/offensive coordinator for the 49ers has the offense failed to rank top 15 in rushing
attempts. Across the same 5-year time span for the Miami Dolphins, the team has failed to even
reach the top 15 in attempts in any year.
To further analyze what McDaniel will likely bring to the table as the Dolphins Head coach in
terms of schemes, let’s take a deeper look into McDaniel (and his mentor Kyle Shanahan’s)
bread and butter—the zone blocking scheme. The zone blocking scheme is an offensive
philosophy that attempts to stretch out the defense by using lateral runs that finds a weakness in
the defense and exploits it for large gains. It is a scheme that prioritizes speed and quickness and
emphasizes the run game especially on first and second down. The run game is then used to set
up the play action pass in which the quarterback is responsible for finding and delivering the ball
accurately to quick receivers in space leading to yards after the catch. The quarterback in this
offense must be reliable, accurate, and efficient. One of Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa
strengths is his accuracy, as he completed 67.8% of his passes which ranked 7 th in the NFL.
Despite this, Tua is going to have to improve in every facet of his game to truly prove himself as
the Miami Dolphins franchise quarterback moving forward. McDaniel and his staff seem to be
supportive of Tua going into the 2022 season, but it remains to be seen how big of a step Tua is
going to take with this new coaching regime. Regardless, fans seem to be excited at the new
prospect of a dynamic offense, it’s now up to McDaniel and the rest of the Dolphins team to
meet those new expectations.
Written by- Alan Martin
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