The Mike McDaniel show goes on in South Beach.
Just minutes after the Dolphins fired general manager Chris Grier, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Friday, citing sources, that McDaniel will remain the Dolphins’ head coach for at least the rest of the season following a sluggish 2–7 start.
It appeared like the 2025 campaign was a make-or-break year for McDaniel and the Dolphins. Miami stumbled out of the gate, dropping its first three games of the season before scraping together a 27–21 win over the Jets in Week 4. Miami went on to lose four of its next five games and looked uncompetitive in an ugly 28–6 loss to the Ravens at Hard Rock Stadium on Thursday night.
However, Dolphins owner Stephen Ross apparently determined Grier was more of the reason for Miami’s struggles than McDaniel.
The Dolphins hired McDaniel ahead of the 2022 campaign after parting ways with Brian Flores. Over three-plus seasons at the helm, McDaniel has led the Dolphins to a 30–30 record with two playoff appearances in 2022 and ‘23. Miami’s season ended in the wild-card round both years, but it marked the first time the franchise made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons since 2001.
The Dolphins haven’t had a full-time coach log a record of .500 or better across his tenure since Dave Wannstedt went 42–31 over five seasons from 2000 to ‘04.
McDaniel began his NFL coaching career as an intern with the Broncos in 2005 under coach Mike Shanahan. He spent three years with the Texans and two seasons with the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the UFL before reuniting with Shanahan in Washington from 2011 to ‘13. For the next eight years, McDaniel coached under Kyle Shanahan, working his way up to becoming the 49ers’ offensive coordinator in 2021—a role that put his name on the head-coaching circuit.
The Dolphins will return to the gridiron—with McDaniel on the sidelines—in Week 10 against the rival Bills.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Report: Mike McDaniel Has Surprising Bit of Job Security Despite Dolphins Firing GM.