This Sunday’s Week 13 game against the 49ers will be a revenge game of sorts for these members of the Miami Dolphins organization.
The Miami Dolphins are one of the top teams in the NFL after 12 weeks of the 2022 season, but things are about to get a lot tougher Mike McDaniel and company.
The last few opponents that the Dolphins have faced haven’t exactly been juggernauts. The Lions, Bears, and Browns aren’t the league’s worst teams, but they certainly don’t present the type of threat that Miami is going to face over the next few weeks. They’ll be on the road for the next three contests, with games against the Chargers and the Bills looming.
But first, they’ll have themselves a date with the San Francisco 49ers, who boast what is likely the league’s best defense. The unit led by coordinator DeMeco Ryans has allowed exactly 0 points over the last 6 quarters, and has some of the game’s most talented players at every level of their defense.
But the reason that this game could be one for the ages is because of the familiarity between the two. Some fans have gone as far as to refer to the Dolphins as the “South Beach 49ers”, as there are plenty of players and coaches that have experience with both organizations.
Here are five members of the Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers that link the two teams:
1. Mike McDaniel
The biggest name that links the Dolphins and 49ers is Mike McDaniel. The new head coach in Miami, McDaniel spent five seasons in San Francisco as an assistant on Kyle Shanahan’s staff, with whom he worked under for a vast majority of his 17-year coaching career.
This game promises to be one of the marquee matchups of the season, and in large part because of the familiarity of the coaches. Both offensive game plans will feature similar blocking schemes and running game philosophies, as both have derived from the well-renowned Shanahan coaching tree. McDaniel is always one for good sound bites during the week, and he’ll surely have some witty comments about his former mentor leading up to the game.
5 people that link the 49ers franchise to the Miami Dolphins
2. Trey Lance
Second-year 49ers quarterback Trey Lance has a lot of hype to live up to, and he’ll have an uphill climb coming back from the injury that kept him out of almost the entirety of this second season in the league. He could still wind up being an excellent quarterback, but as it stands today, Miami fleeced San Francisco in their 2021 trade, given the assets that the Dolphins acquired using the gained draft picks.
Much like the Laremy Tunsil trade set up Miami with cornerstone pieces, the Lance trade has done the same. The Dolphins flipped the picks that they received and parlayed them into Jaylen Waddle, Tyreek Hill, and Bradley Chubb, who are all major contributors to what Miami is currently putting together. Not bad work by a general manager who receives plenty of ire from the fan base.
So while Lance won’t be playing in the contest between the two teams, his name will forever be remembered by both franchises, and it could be for polar opposite reasons. The 49ers have done just fine in building a Super Bowl-caliber team despite the trade, but the Dolphins are still benefitting from the haul that they received.
5 people that link the 49ers franchise to the Miami Dolphins
3. Trent Sherfield
We were unsure about which wide receivers would step up behind the dynamic duo of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, and it was unclear whether or not Trent Sherfield would make the roster before the final cuts during training camp.
But things have certainly changed for the better for Sherfield. Through the first five or so games of the season, Miami had a gaping hole at their third wide receiver position, and they were waiting for someone not named Jaylen Waddle or Tyreek Hill to step up and contribute. It was thought that Cedrick Wilson Jr. would be that guy, but for whatever reason, the former Cowboys’ wideout hasn’t panned out as planned.
Enter Sherfield. The former 49er has become one of Tua Tagovailoa’s most reliable targets, and has had some solid performances on the stat sheet in the last few games. He has become Miami’s undisputed number three receiver, though he may have lost a target or two with River Cracraft (who is also a former 49er) back in action after missing time with an injury.
Sherfield had just two catches against the Texans, but for a respectable 33 yards. He’ll want to put up a big game against his former team, and could be an x-factor if Hill and Waddle are occupied.
5 people that link the 49ers franchise to the Miami Dolphins
4. Raheem Mostert
The Miami Dolphins entered training camp with a fully revitalized backfield, as the team went out and spent money on veteran running backs during the offseason. It looked as though Chase Edmonds would be the feature back for the year, but Raheem Mostert and Sony Michele figured to give him a run for his money.
It didn’t work out that way. Edmonds never fit the scheme and Michele was gone before Week 1, which resulted in Mostert receiving the bulk of the carries for the first six or seven weeks of the season. But he has since sacrificed some of his work load in order to accommodate his new (and former) backfield mate in Jeff Wilson Jr. (who we’ll get to).
Mostert missed last week’s action with a knee injury, and the Dolphins had one of their poorest running game performances of the season against the Texans. If they hope to have a chance against Sam Francisco, they’ll need a healthy Mostert to be at the top of his game against his former team. He has already made headlines on 49ers Twitter though an interview about his former team that was apparently taken out of context, which could provide some bulletin board material.
5 people that link the 49ers franchise to the Miami Dolphins
One of the newest members of the Miami Dolphins, Jeff Wilson Jr. has been one of the most pleasant surprises over the last couple of weeks. The running back was acquired in a trade with the 49ers when he fell out of favor in San Francisco, but he seems to have found a familiar home in Mike McDaniel’s system in Miami.
In Week 10 against the Browns, Wilson Jr. rushed for 119 ground yards, the highest total of any Dolphins player so far this season. He has the ability to break tackles and fight for extra yards, and is a nice compliment to the speed that Mostert brings to the backfield. He had his struggles against the Texans as the feature back for Miami, but so did the entire rushing attack, and much of it was due to the lack of push from the offensive line.
Wilson Jr. spent the first four and a half years of his career with San Francisco, and had solid numbers despite being a part of a backfield-by-committee. He had his finest season in 2020, when he led the 49ers in attempts (126), yards (600), and touchdowns (7). He along with Mostert will look to prove something to their former teammates and coaches, though they’ll have their work cut out for them against a tough 49ers defense.