Klint Kubiak Has Entered the Chat

Klint Kubiak Has Entered the Chat

As each hour passes in the search for a new head coach of the Miami Dolphins, the chances of John Harbaugh taking over lessen. Sitting here on Wednesday morning, it doesn’t seem as though he’ll even set foot in the state of Florida for a meeting, as Atlanta, the Giants, Tennessee, and perhaps the dark horse that is Tom Brady’s Raiders forge ahead in the race for his signature.

The reality is not what it says about the franchise as a whole, more about its position right now: somewhat listless, with few star players, no quarterback to speak of, capped up to the eyeballs with overpaid vets, a short-term salary cap tsunami on the near horizon, and a multiyear rebuild approaching. None of which seems overly appetising for a man who’ll turn 64 years of age in the second week of the 2026 regular season, and quite frankly, you can understand his position.

The same can be said for Mike Tomlin, who, after 19 seasons at the helm in one of the great football cities of America, seems destined for a television studio – probably Fox – rather than the sideline. And who can blame him? There comes a point in everyone’s working life where they feel like they’ve made every galvanising speech there is to make, and squeezed every ounce of blood from their stone.

If there were a third horseman for this apocalypse, which is the 2026 Miami Dolphins, then I see neither Green Bay trading Matt LaFleur nor LaFleur himself entertaining the Dolphins should the unthinkable happen, and he be made available. Replacing Harbaugh or Tomlin would seem far likelier than swapping cheese for dips.

So where does that leave Miami?

There are still plenty of options, and although I’m told that owner Stephen Ross would prefer a retread candidate, he’s open to another first timer. The compiled list of names is a strong one and absolutely what I’d expect given the two new names involved in the process – GM Jon-Eric Sullivan and senior advisor Troy Aikman. With the latter’s playoff broadcast commitments keeping him away full-time, I expect the interviews and then the follow-ups to come thick and fast once ESPN’s NFL season finishes in Foxborough on Sunday.

I could, of course, sit here and make a long case for all of the remaining coaches on the Dolphins list. They might not necessarily be high on my own personal scorecard of choice, but I could certainly do it: Patrick Graham has been consistently good as a defensive co-ordinator and a leader of men over the past decade, and has history with Sullivan from his time as the Packers linebackers coach and run game coordinator in 2018; Jesse Minter, who has ties to Stephen Ross from his spell as Michigan’s DC, has done an excellent job in LA with the Chargers, running Mike MacDonald’s defense and turning young players like LB Daiyan Henley and edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu into some of the league’s best; Rams DC Chris Shula has familial ties to Miami, and much like Minter has had great success with a defense that features only one first round pick selected by Les Snead. He’s also taken under the radar guys and turned them into top level performers – LB Nate Landman and slot safety Quentin Lake are two that immediately stand out; Jeff Hafley has close connections to Sullivan, has already been a head coach albeit in college, is extremely well regarded, a terrific teacher, and did an excellent job with a Packers defense missing four of it’s five best players – Micah Parsons, Devonte Wyatt, Edgerrin Cooper and Evan Williams – for large chunks of the season; Kelvin Sheppard is someone I’ve seen close up – at the Senior Bowl in 2022 – where he coached right in front of me and put on an absolute clinic in terms of teaching and how to deal with young men; and Anthony Campanile has a lot of fans in the building from his three seasons as LB’s coach in Miami, knows Sullivan from his year in Green Bay and just ran a unit in Jacksonville that led the NFL in rush defense (85.6ypg) and were only third team since 2000 to not allow an opposing rusher to reach 75 yards in a single game.

Then you have the two ‘retreads’ in Kevin Stefanski, a hugely likeable two-time coach of the year who got stuck in the vortex that is Cleveland, and Robert Saleh, who is as impressive a person as I’ve been around in terms of how he speaks, his level of accountability, and his sheer presence. His defenses have always been great, the job he’s done with the 49ers this season has been truly outstanding given the injuries to a pair of future Hall of Fame defenders, and when I spoke with both Sauce Gardner and Jermaine Johnson last season in the Jets locker room at MetLife, they couldn’t say enough good things about him and how he runs his operation.

And so that just leaves Klint Kubiak, the first man to interview with the Dolphins in this cycle – because of the window as it pertains to Seattle’s playoff situation – and who, in many regards, could be seen as the Mike McDaniel of this process; a hot young co-ordinator whose scheme helped drive the Seahawks to the #1 seed, parlaying great seasons from frontline names like Sam Darnold and Jaxson Smith-Njigba, but also nurturing two backs with more than 730 yards; showing the ability to pivot when injuries threatened to derail the offense; and developing young players like AJ Barner and Tory Horton. Rarely was he afraid to tear up tendencies, especially down the stretch, and his commitment to run from under center, to use play action against defenses creeping into the box, coupled with a system reminiscent of the one already in place in Miami, makes him a hugely viable candidate.