REPORT: McDaniel Threatened to Release or Trade Players in 2024

Originally posted on Dolphins Talk | By Mike Oliva | Last updated Sep 18, 2025 7:18 PM ET

REPORT: McDaniel Threatened to Release or Trade Players in 2024

A report is out about how the 2024 Miami Dolphins season ended, and Mike McDaniel was not pleased with some members of the team.

Per the ESPN.com report, in the final team meeting of the 2024 season, after the Week 18 loss to the Jets, Mike McDaniel said that anyone who wasn’t on board with what they were doing as an organization would be traded or released. And he would bring in players who would put team over self.

Per the report:

“IN THEIR FINAL team meeting of the 2024 season, shortly after a season-ending loss on Jan. 5 to the New York Jets, McDaniel issued a challenge to his players,” ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques wrote.

“According to multiple players and team staff, the Dolphins coach stressed the importance of player-driven accountability and said that anyone who wasn’t on board could say so, and the team would either trade or release them.”

There are a lot of Dolphins veterans who were on the Dolphins roster in 2024 who weren’t brought back in 2025, and some of which Miami made no offer to retain.

Anthony Walker Jr.

Jaylen Ramsey (was traded, and we know about the issues he had with Coach McDaniel)

Now, to be clear, not all of the names above were problem players. Some weren’t retained because of their quality of play on the field, salary cap reasons, or Miami having younger and cheaper alternatives on the roster.

The question many would have with this report coming out now is, why did it take McDaniel until after the season ended to have this conversation with the team?

And how did it get so bad over the course of the season, and thsi was never addressed?

Right now, Mike McDaniel is coaching for his job in Year 4 in Miami, and it isn’t going well.

While many want to see McDaniel be firmer with the team, show some emotion, and be tougher on the players, it appears that is just not his natural style, and waiting until after Week 18 to have such a meeting is very confusing.

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

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