While the Miami Dolphins scramble to find a head coach who'll appease their fans, freshly fired offensive mastermind Mike McDaniel is becoming the toast of many NFL towns.
Lest Phins Phanatics gaze inward and realize how dysfunctional their organization has been for decades, it's probably an easier form of copium to just blame McDaniel. Make-believe like he was the biggest problem.
Meanwhile, McDaniel could very well stick around the Sunshine State once his wooing tour ends. Possibly not as a head coach. Not at first, at least...
Former Miami Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel is a strong candidate for Bucs offensive coordinator — and Todd Bowles' successor?
Albert Breer of The MMQB shared his latest insider scoop on McDaniel's job prospects, which are plentiful. Most compelling, though, is what could happen if he winds up as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive coordinator:
"Mike McDaniel has made the rounds, and if I had to guess, he’ll probably wind up as an offensive coordinator in the next week or so. I’ve heard Tampa Bay could be a good spot for him, and that, if he does a good job, he could be set up to be Todd Bowles’s eventual successor."
Each of the last six Super Bowl matchups has featured head coaches with offense-dominant backgrounds. That's just where the NFL is at. This year could be an outlier if Mike Vrabel's Patriots and the Mike Macdonald-led Seahawks meet in Super Bowl LX.
That said, Vrabel has the benefit of a two-time head coach and six-time Super Bowl champ at offensive coordinator in Josh McDaniels. Speaking of outliers, too, Macdonald might be the biggest defensive wizard of the modern era. Seattle boasts arguably the greatest talent-evaluating GM in the business in John Schneider as well.
So more often than not, you want to lean offense with your head coaching hires nowadays.
It'd be one thing if Todd Bowles' defenses were still up to snuff. They've gotten gashed time and again in recent years. The Bucs' decline in 2025 had a lot to do with injuries, particularly to star quarterback Baker Mayfield, who was gutting through multiple ailments throughout the year.
But Bowles, despite three NFC South titles in his four-year tenure, only holds a 35-33 regular-season record, along with three losses in four playoff games.
How eerie is this? That 35-33 mark is identical to what McDaniel posted at the helm in Miami. The difference is, McDaniel had nowhere near the defensive talent Bowles has had to work with, nor nearly as good an offensive line, never mind the superiority of Mayfield over Tua Tagovailoa.
When folks are saying things like this about Bowles, maybe it's time to prepare for a change?
Todd Bowles won’t win you a Super Bowl in Tampa Bay.
— JC Cornell (@CornellNFL) January 6, 2026
Bringing him back is closing the window on all the talent Jason Licht has put on this roster.
The franchise will return to the basement. You will waste Baker’s prime years left.
McDaniel to Tampa as the offensive play-caller could convince legendary wide receiver Mike Evans to run it back for one more year. If not, the Bucs still have the three-headed monster of Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin, and Jalen McMillan to lean on at the position.
There's enough athleticism in the Bucs' trenches to execute McDaniel's zone running schemes, plus the explosiveness of Bucky Irving, Sean Tucker, and Rachaad White (if he stays) out of the Bucs' deep backfield.
Tucker is a restricted free agent, while White is unrestricted. Both would be compelled by the opportunity to play under McDaniel after
Now that he has head coaching experience, McDaniel could be reinvigorated to focus mostly on building the offense while also taking some minor things off Bowles' plate as he prepares to be his prospective successor.
Be careful what you wish for, Dolphins faithful. McDaniel to the Bucs might mean your team is by far only the third-best NFL franchise in the state of Florida for quite a while.