McDaniel Addresses Players Lying and the Supposed Culture Shift

Beyond the potential trades and holdouts, the largest topic of conversation surrounding the Miami Dolphins at training camp is a shift in culture. The culture that had been built during the Mike McDaniel era was flashy but lacked substance. Hot starts that fizzled out in late-season disappointments. Culminating in the season finale, where Tyreek Hill pulled himself from the game, and extending to Jalen Ramsey seeking a trade. When things were going well, the team felt unified and upbeat; when they started to falter, the vibe shifted. In the NFL, it is easy to be a frontrunner, simple to command respect when things are going well, but it is much more difficult to weather a storm of uncertainty. 

That’s where the team is at right now: will they band together and work towards a common goal, or split now that things aren’t so sunny in South Beach? If you ask the players, they will tell you that the culture has changed. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa addressed this notion when speaking to the media on June 10th. 

“I think there is a culture shift, I feel it just as much as everyone else,” Tagovailoa said. “I really do feel in my heart that this is a change of scenery for our guys in the locker room, and then it also transitions to our coaches as it is the players.” 

We’ve heard it before, players saying that this season will be different, and yet the past three years have felt similar to fans. Defensive End Bradley Chubb, who missed last season while recovering from a knee injury, laid it out pretty clearly when he revealed that the players may not have been honest when telling the media and fans that things had changed last offseason. He addressed the dishonesty while meeting with the media on the 11th. 

“I’m gonna say last year, we were lying, honestly, Point blank. Period.” Chubb said. We felt it, you know what I mean. We put our toe in the water, but we didn’t dive all the way in. We didn’t get all the way there with each other. We weren’t making the effort to go the extra mile.”

That is about as damning as a sound bite as I have ever heard. Even saying it as if they’ve moved on and are now telling the truth still paints Coach McDaniel in a negative light as a motivator. McDaniel was asked about Chubb’s comments in his press conference on the 12th. 

“It would have been awesome if he would have told me on the front end when they were lying.” McDaniel said. “Beyond that, 2024, unless I’m using it directly for an analogy, I’m much more concerned with 2025. I think you do a lot more for the organization if you spend your time thinking forward in terms of not this, that, or the other, or whose fault it was. No, we want it like this, let’s do it like this and this is who we are. I don’t even – what year did you speak of? I guess I’ll read about that in history books.”

Credit to McDaniel for addressing it head-on, I think most of us would have preferred to know that the team was lying about their motivation last season. The sluggish start to the Jaguars’ game in week 1 and quitting at the end of the season make a lot more sense with this revelation. Most importantly, how are we supposed to believe players this season? I think McDaniel put it best when he was addressing Jaylen Wright’s desire for an increased role. 

“The best way that I can tell that you really want the ball is how you’re very on all the details of your track when you’re getting the ball or your route to get the ball.” McDaniel Said. “Basically, if you’re on it with your assignments, that’s telling me you want the ball more, and I can see better than I hear. That’s kind of an extrapolation. I’ve found a lot of creative ways to say the same thing over this offseason and that action is a lot more important to me than words” 

Action is a lot more important than words. The players are saying all of the right things, but until we see how they act on the field, there’s no way for fans to be confident in the culture change.  

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