Will Mike McDaniel be retained as the Miami Dolphins head coach? The answer could lie in the names of the general manager prospects. As Stephen Ross embarks on another GM search, there is plenty to take away from the candidates they have requested to speak with.
Miami opened its first day of the offseason, officially, by reaching out to other NFL teams to request the rights to interview prospective candidates for Miami's opening. This is an interesting situation because the Dolphins haven't officially fired or made an announcement on Champ Kelly's status.
So far, the Dolphins are acting like Kelly is not coming back, at least not in the role he assumed when Chris Grier left the team.
Miami Dolphins search for a new GM starts with well-respected names from outside
Miami has reached out to several teams already, but the names that are popping up are consistent with names that have been hot topics for the last several weeks as the process has unfolded.
John McKay - The Rams assistant GM is going to get a GM job soon; the only question is with what team. He has worked through the Rams' highs and lows and comes off the Les Sneed tree. Sneed has been a long-time GM and has built a winning franchise in L.A.
Alec Halaby - The assistant to Eagles GM, Howie Roseman, Halaby has been on the up-and-coming list the last couple of years. Roseman is considered one of the best evaluators of talent in the NFL over the last few years. One would have to assume that Halaby absorbed some of that.
Jon-Eric Sullivan - The Packers' VP of Player Personnel may not come directly off the trees of the legendary Packers' GMs, but he has come off the trees of their disciples. With lineage dating back to Ron Wolf, Sullivan is a guy to keep an eye on. As a personnel guy, he has said previously that he believes the core of a team comes from their draft.
Those names are not only interesting, but expected. The Dolphins are not going for the lesser-known names this time around, and it's unlikely they get stuck with another Dennis Hickey type option, but two others have the Mike McDaniel connection that Ross could be looking for.
Josh Williams - The 49ers Director of Scouting and Football Operations has 14 years with the 49ers, which means he knows McDaniel and vice versa. Of all the candidates, he may be the weakest, having only been in his current job one season. He was previously serving as an area scout.
Tariq Ahmad - The 49er's VP of Player Personnel is also in his first season in that role.
Neither of the 49ers' options is bad, but they lack the experience to be a GM at this point. If the Dolphins went this route, it would likely indicate their desire to put a person in the GM spot with some ties to McDaniel, and that isn't a good idea. Hiring a GM simply because they work for the same team McDaniel did is spinning the wheels.