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Dolphins Narrow GM Search to 4 Candidates

Originally posted on Dolphins Talk | By Mike Oliva | Last updated Jan 8, 2026 10:04 AM ET

Dolphins Narrow GM Search to 4 Candidates

The Miami Dolphins have concluded their first round of virtual interviews with eight general manager candidates. They have now narrowed that list to four people and are flying them in this week for in-person interviews.

The four names are

Champ Kelly, Dolphins Interim GM

Josh Williams, 49ers Director of Scouting and Football Operations

Chad Alexander, LA Chargers Assistant General Manager

Jon-Eric Sullivan, Green Bay Packers VP of Player Personnel

Many expect the Dolphins to move quickly through this second round of interviews and announce who their new general manager is early next week.

Because three of the people involved have teams playing this weekend, if it were to be Alexander, Sullivan, or Williams, Miami cannot announce their hiring this weekend unless they get permission from the teams they currently work for.

For Champ Kelly, that obviously is not an issue if Miami decides to go with him.

The reason Miami has been able to move through this process so quickly is that they fired Chris Grier on October 31st and had a two-month head start on this process.

They did their homework and extensive background checks on everyone they wanted to meet, so once the season ended, they just had to make phone calls and set up interviews.

After completing their initial round of GM interviews, the Dolphins will have in-person interviews this week with:
Chad Alexander, Chargers Assistant GM
Champ Kelly, Dolphins Interim GM
Jon-Eric Sullivan, Packers VP of Player Personnel
Josh Williams, 49ers Director,…

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 8, 2026

NFL Insider Dianna Russini of The Athletic is reporting that the Dolphins are asking candidates about a future in Miami with Mike McDaniel as the head coach, and about what the Dolphins may look like without Mike McDaniel as the head coach.

This is just another example, and further proof, that the Dolphins’ decision-makers and owner are not in love with or attached to Mike McDaniel as their head coach.

Since Monday, they have yet to issue a statement or hold a press conference confirming that McDaniel will be their head coach in 2026.

NFL Insider Josiana Anderson is reporting that Miami has already reached out to recently fired John Harbaugh.

And now this report from Russini stating the general managers interviewing for the job are being asked about head coaches they may be interested in if McDaniel isn’t the Dolphins’ head coach.

The handwriting is on the wall here, folks.

You don’t need to be scooby-doo to solve this mystery; Mike McDaniel is a dead man walking and isn’t long for keeping his job as Dolphins head coach.

As we have said on the DolphinsTalk.com Podcast this week, it is very obvious that Miami is looking around at the head coach candidates and won’t fire McDaniel until they fall in love with one or two that they would consider hiring.

McDaniel appears to be the Dolphins’ fallback plan at this time, hence why he hasn’t been fired yet.

And he may keep that job for all of the 2026 season, but even if he does, he will enter the 2026 season on the hottest of hot seats any coach has been on entering a season.

And a slow start will most likely result in his firing in October.

This article first appeared on Dolphins Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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