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Dec 28, 2025; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) runs with the ball in the second quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Dolphins Mike McDaniel Fired! What’s Next?

Originally posted on Stadium Rant | By Wayne Gregoire | Last updated Jan 8, 2026 3:09 PM ET

The NFL head coach guilletine continues falling, and the latest news is that the Miami Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel has been fired. It wasn’t long ago that he was being touted as an offensive genius, and now the former San Francisco 49ers coordinator finds himself on the unemployment line. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to McDaniel or anyone who has watched the Dolphins over the last few years.

Miami has gotten worse each of the last three seasons. They went from 11-6 in 2023, to 8-9 last season, to 7-10 this year. The offense has gotten progressively worse as well (2nd in 2023, 22nd in 2024, 25th in 2025). Suddenly, the genius is looking more like a flash in the pan. His tenure has been the exact opposite of someone like John Harbaugh, who had 20 years of success and a Super Bowl win. For that reason, unlike Harbaugh, he won’t be able to walk into another head coaching position.

With McDaniel fired, the Dolphins will have to start a new coaching search, and the new coaching free agent will have to start looking for potential coordinator jobs. He’s in the same boat that Josh McDaniels found himself in after the Denver Broncos let him go. McDaniel needs to prove himself again, and in all honesty, he wasn’t that great of a coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers.

He had the 13th-ranked scoring offense in 2021, and the previous season, as the run game coordinator, he had the 15th-best rushing attack in the NFL. McDaniel, to put it bluntly, has been “mid” pretty much his entire coaching career, except for 2023. There are several teams who could use a young coordinator with a chip on his shoulder to show the world he is the genius people thought he was.

The Cleveland Browns

Cleveland is still searching for its next head coach, and there’s the chance that whoever they hire will bring his own guys in, and not bring in someone who was just a head coach, and could potentially take their job if the Browns do what the Browns usually do. Should Cleveland bring in a veteran like John Harbaugh, he may be more open to bringing someone like McDaniel in to coach alongside him (similar to what Mike Vrabel did with McDaniels in New England).

McDaniel would have the chance to groom a young quarterback as he did with Tua Tagovailoa. Maybe that is Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders, or maybe it’s someone they draft in 2026. Whoever it is, it’s a chance to show that the success he had with Tua was not a fluke, and that would definitely get him another opportunity to be a head coach again. McDaniel went 31-24 with Tua starting, and the former Alabama quarterback completed 68.7% of his passes for 250 yards per game and a 2:1 touchdown to interception ratio.

The issue in Miami is that Tua was always hurt. The same could happen in Cleveland, or anywhere else for that matter, but McDaniel is best suited to mentor a young signal caller. For all the Sanders hate out there, he still has first-round potential that just needs to be tapped into.

The Atlanta Falcons

Jan 4, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Drake London (5) attempts to make a catch over New Orleans Saints cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry (4) during the second half at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Falcons are also looking for a new head coach, and the same theory applies to them as it does to the Browns. A veteran coach who wouldn’t be threatened would be a good fit, but so could a young coach with no NFL experience. If Atlanta could lure Marcus Freeman from Notre Dame, he would likely take the Brad Stevens approach to football and bring in assistant coaches who have NFL experience since he doesn’t.

Atlanta also has a young quarterback in Michael Penix Jr, who may have been the best pure passer in his draft class. With a solid offensive line and good weapons around him (Bijan Robinson, Kyle Pitts, and Drake London), he just needs a good offensive play caller to have success in the league’s weakest division. An offensive genius could put together an insanely good formula with the pieces they have in Atlanta.

End Of My Dolphins Mike McDaniel Rant

McDaniel is only 42 years old, and there will be several opportunities to be a coordinator in the NFL next year. A dumb team could bring him in as a head coach (I’m looking at you, New York Jets), but that would not be the best move for him. It could lead to another quick firing, and his head coaching days would be over. If he’s hell bent on being a head coach in 2026, he will have to look to the college ranks, and all the top jobs are taken, so he’d have to try and build a mid-level program. He may find that hard to do if he is, in fact, a mid-level coach.

This article first appeared on Stadium Rant and was syndicated with permission.

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