'It’s moderately hot' — NFL insider pulls back the curtain with the latest pulse check on Mike McDaniel’s coaching seat with Dolphins

"Well, (McDaniel's seat) is moderately hot, I would say. I really think that ownership there really likes Mike McDaniel a lot. This is not something where they are looking for an excuse to move on from him right now. So I don't expect anything, at this moment, this week. I feel like they want to give him a little bit of time but there are a lot of factors that go into that kind of situation. One of which is 'is your team getting better? Is it lifeless? Are the seats in the stands in Miami Gardens empty?'

Those are factors that could go on. If they have some home games that are pretty ugly, if the fans turn on the team. That's when Stephen Ross could make a move. My understanding is Stephen Ross has his sons involved in the process, so they could be a factor here in the future of Miami and what they do."

— ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler on Mike McDaniel's job status in Miami

Miami Dolphins' offensive rankings through Week 5 of the 2025 NFL season

• 21st in scoring offense (21.4 points per game)
• 28th in offensive yards (one game with more than 300 yards of offense)
• 11th in giveaways (5)
• 2nd in red zone scoring (76.9%) and third down rate (46.7%)

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if the criteria for McDaniel's job security is based on the fan pulse, we're not off to a great start. Fans have flown banners over Hard Rock Stadium for both of the Dolphins' home games thus far this season calling for the jobs of both McDaniel and general manager Chris Grier. There have been boos present at the game.

The Dolphins have just two home games in October. One is this Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, the other is on Thursday, October 30th against the struggling Baltimore Ravens. So if multiple home games getting ugly from this point is what Fowler suggests is required at this stage, we may be looking at another four weeks, barring a turnaround.

But as Fowler himself points out, the Dolphins' roster is one in transition. And it shows.

"He's been given a team whose roster is in transition. The defense, clearly, lost a lot of key players that they felt would be good to move on from for the locker room's sake — but they backfilled them with players that weren't as talented. So they're not working with a team that is ready-made to win right now, at least on that side of the ball," said Fowler.

"And then you lose Tyreek Hill. To shoot Mike McDaniel a little bail, he's got a quarterback who can't really take a lot of hits, if at all, because of the concussion history. So there's some limitations he's working with."

Ah, there it is! It's like that Simpsons meme with Bart Simpson. "Say the line, Bart!"

Fowler now makes the third NFL insider in the last three weeks to speak after a Dolphins loss about how much McDaniel's hands are tied by the limitations of his quarterback. The other two, James Palmer and Tom Pelissero, spoke after Miami's Week 3 loss to Buffalo on various mediums and said eerily similar things about that same restriction.

That'd be all well and good if not for the fact that McDaniel, of course, played a hand in helping push that very same quarterback's contract extension across the finish line last summer. This group is in it together. So now's the time to dig deep and pull out of the rut — or else we'll likely be having another weekly "hot seat" spotlight with another subtle dig at the restrictions in Miami in place again next week.

Or, even worse, perhaps Stephen Ross will have finally had his fill.

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