Miami Dolphins: Grading Mike McDaniel’s coaching staff

On Friday, the Miami Dolphins sent out a press release to announce their 2022 coaching staff.

And while this is just a formality, Dolphins fans have become very interested in their favorite team’s coaching staff.

Why?

Well, former head coach Brian Flores may have had back-to-back winning seasons in Miami, but a lot of fans will never forget him for his inability to build a coaching staff.

Flores’ offensive staff was one of, if not the worst offensive coaching staff in football last year and ultimately was one of the reasons he was fired at the end of the season.

The Miami Dolphins should be happy with Mike McDaniel’s coaching staff.

Then Miami hired former San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel to be their next head coach. Hiring McDaniel made a ton of sense, and it was just the time of “swing for the fences” hire Miami needed.

McDaniel is the definition of boom or bust, though he passed his first true test with flying colors.

That first test was building a coaching staff fans could appreciate and a coaching staff that could help the talent on the team reach their full potential.

Obviously, these are just names on paper, but McDaniel did a great job from the looks of the names on the paper.

Here is the list of McDaniel’s coaching staff with their positions in parenthesis:

Frank Smith (offensive coordinator), Matt Applebaum (offensive line), Darrell Bevell (quarterbacks/passing game coordinator), Jon Embree (assistant head coach/tight ends), Josh Grizzard (quality control), Chandler Henley (assistant quarterbacks), Lemuel Jeanpierre (assistant offensive line), Mike Person (offensive assistant), Aldrick Robinson (offensive assistant), Kolby Smith (offensive assistant), Eric Studesville (associate head coach/running backs), Wes Welker (wide receivers), Josh Boyer (defensive coordinator), Mathieu Araujo (assistant defensive backs), Anthony Campanile (linebackers), Austin Clark (defensive line), Steve Ferentz (assistant linebackers), Steve Gregory (safeties), Derrick LeBlanc (assistant defensive line), Sam Madison (cornerbacks/pass game specialist), Ty McKenzie (outside linebackers), Ryan Slowik (senior defensive assistant), Patrick Surtain (defensive assistant), Danny Crossman (special teams coordinator), Brendan Farrell (assistant special teams) and Dave Puloka (head strength and conditioning).

The Dolphins added a nice little stat, saying, “McDaniel’s staff includes more than 300 years of coaching experience, including 183 years at the NFL level.”

Let’s grade Mike McDaniel’s coaching staff with all that being said.