When the Miami Dolphins' 2025 season ended, many wondered out loud if Mike McDaniel was going to return. From his first interviews after the season, McDaniel told the press he was the Dolphins' head coach until he was told otherwise. On Thursday, he was told otherwise.
It shouldn't have come as a shock to the head coach, but apparently it did. According to a report following his dismissal, McDaniel was taken aback by Stephen Ross' decision.
McDaniel was informed this morning. This was a shock to Mike; his camp fully expected him to be retained. Ross decided to make the change after assessing situation in aftermath of meeting with McDaniel.
— Barry Jackson (@flasportsbuzz) January 8, 2026
Mike McDaniel's disconnect from reality is one of the reasons the Miami Dolphins fired him
If the report from Jackson is accurate, and honestly, he is the only reporter that should always be believed, McDaniel's shock is completely confusing on a lot of levels. For starters, it really pinpoints his lack of attention to his own situation.
Midway through last season, McDaniel said that he gets irate over players not learning from their mistakes, yet he never truly learned from his own. The consistency from one year to another has been lacking.
McDaniel should have seen the writing on the wall the day Miami opened its offseason interviewing GM candidates. At no point over the last week has he received an endorsement from the Dolphins owner. There has been no announcement from the team either. At what point do you look at this situation four days into the process and say, "I'm good, I'm safe." ?
The Dolphins' decision to move on from McDaniel is the right one. He wasn't ready, but actually did better than many believed. He will get another chance someday, maybe, but his time with the Dolphins was put on notice the second Chris Grier was fired. Nothing between then and now has changed. A four-game winning streak against bad teams wasn't going to save him.
Ross likes McDaniel, and that is probably one of the reasons for his hopes of sticking around, but it was going to take a lot more than that.
What fans prayed would happen, for the sake of the team, McDaniel clearly didn't see coming, but then again, he couldn't make the right halftime adjustments, the right game plan against great teams, in his four years. That should have also been a big, written indication of his future as well, but like he often did, he missed it.