The Miami Dolphins have moved on from head coach Mike McDaniel in a move that has sent shockwaves through the entire NFL world. And as everyone digests the news in its infancy stage, people are immediately addressing the obvious elephant in the room.
Why was Mike McDaniel given clearance to bench Tua Tagovailoa if his job wasn't secure?
Former NFL player Bryant McFadden brought it up on CBS Sports, and it is honestly a great question that we may never get answered. The move away from Tagovailoa late in the season seemed to be the clearest signal from the organization that McDaniel's future was secure...until it wasn't.
Mike McDaniel had the rug ripped from underneath him by the Miami Dolphins with surprise firing
"I felt like making [the QB] change for Mike McDaniel basically symbolized that he knew his job would be safe."@BMac_SportsTalk & @DHx34 on the Dolphins firing Mike McDaniel. pic.twitter.com/Ne1nI2ZsDr
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 8, 2026
As poorly as Tagovailoa was playing at times this season (most of the season, if we're being brutally honest), the pivot to Quinn Ewers is not a move you make unless you are certain that you have job security beyond the season.
Why is that the case? It's very simple: The decision to bench Tua Tagovailoa after giving him a contract worth over $212 million in total money and $167 million in guarantees ($54 million guaranteed in 2026) is a top-down decision. You do not make that move without the expressed approval of the ownership of the team.
If the Dolphins were to cut Tagovailoa in 2026, they would be taking on an unprecedented dead cap hit of over $99 million. They could spread that out over multiple years if they wanted, and the Denver Broncos recently had an $85 million dead cap hit to deal with from the Russell Wilson debacle, but it would still be largely unprecedented.
When McDaniel made the move to Quinn Ewers, everyone in the football world thought the same thing. We all thought that he had bought himself another year to prove that he could lead this team with a new quarterback. For all intents and purposes, did McDaniel not do what he was hired to do?
Winning is at the forefront of everything, but the Dolphins hired him to help put Tua Tagovailoa in a position to succeed, and he did just that. It's not McDaniel's fault that Tua couldn't stay healthy or that he couldn't play up to his contract after he received it in 2024.
Everyone can see the writing on the wall with this one. When John Harbaugh became available, the Dolphins clearly pivoted. Now, they had better be certain that they find a way to land Harbaugh (if he is, in fact, their top option). Otherwise, moving on from McDaniel could look foolish in a hurry.