Miami Dolphins Head Coach Mike McDaniel and Where He Ranks as a Play-Caller
Mike McDaniel’s reputation as a brilliant offensive mind may be the biggest reason the Miami Dolphins hired him as their head coach in 2022, and it also played a big role in the team’s offensive success in his first two seasons.
But when things went south for the Dolphins this past season, in no small part because starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa missed six games, some fans and media members began to suggest that maybe the time has come for McDaniel to relinquish play-calling duties.
“Yeah, I think I always consider it, just because that’s something that I don’t enter into for any other reason but I think the team is best served with me calling the plays,” McDaniel said during his end-of-season press conference after the team finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs for the first time during his tenure. “The second that changes, I’ll change that. It’s not a self-serving process and part of the evaluation process in general is am I doing this because I’m the best person to facilitate this within this offense and our players, and the second that changes, I’ll change.”
McDaniel always has had the same answer when a play call has been questioned after the fact, pointing out that it’s easy to second-guess when the outcome isn’t favorable.
And he’s right.
He’s also been right more often than not as a play-caller.
It’s not by accident that the Dolphins led the NFL in total offense in 2023 after being sixth in McDaniel’s first year in 2022.
And while things fell off in 2024 — the Dolphins dropped ot 18th in total offense, McDaniel’s work as a play-caller still is respected nationally.
The 33rd Team has posted its ranking of the top play-caller in the NFL heading into the 2025 offseason, and McDaniel came in at number 8.
The only ones ahead of him were Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers, Sean McVay of the L.A. Rams, Matt LaFleur of the Green Bay Packers, Kevin O’Connell of the Minnesota Vikings, Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs, Ben Johnson of the Chicago Bears and Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos.
Note that the top four, as well as McDaniel, are part of the Mike Shanahan coaching tree. Also note that all of the top eight are head coaches now that Johnson has a new job after being offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions.
“Miami’s offense is unique in the way it asks the quarterback to get rid of the ball quickly and the receivers to get down the field faster than any other offense in the league,” Dan Pizzuta wrote. “We saw how that doesn’t work quite as well with the backup quarterbacks on the roster. McDaniel was able to throw a changeup every year but didn’t really have one this year. Tua Tagovailoa was better out of structure, but that wasn’t so much on the play calling. After designing the best run game in the league last season, the Dolphins managed one of the least efficient in the league this year. Still, Miami got the ball to De’Von Achane in space in the passing game to counter. In games that Tagovailoa was on the field, the Dolphins averaged 0.08 EPA per play, which would have tied with the Philadelphia Eagles at eighth during the regular season.”
We can debate exactly where McDaniel belongs on this list, but it’s pretty clear he should be in the top half and a top 10 ranking seems legit as well.
If McDaniel were to eventually decide to reliquinsh those duties, as Philadelphia head coach Nick Sirianni did during his first season because he wanted to be more involved in every single aspect on game day, the Dolphins certainly wouldn’t be lacking for other candidates.
Between offensive coordinator Frank Smith, QB coach/pass game coordinator Darrell Bevell and senior pass game coordinator Bobby Slowik, McDaniel would have plenty of options.
The question is whether that time will ever come.
