What to Know About the New Dolphins OLB Coach

Before taking questions during his press conference Monday morning, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel addressed the situation involving outside linebackers coach Ryan Crow, reaffirming the team's statement that he had been placed on administrative leave.

Crow was arrested Friday morning by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department on a domestic battery charge. Crow was released from jail Saturday and ordered to stay away from the alleged victim and undergo a substance abuse evaluation within 10 days, CBS reported. 

“We’re going to let the process play out,” McDaniel said Monday. “The allegations, we take extremely serious. From the organization's perspective, from the whole spectrum of guilty all the way to innocent, rule number one for our team is to protect the team… to be on a team is a blessing, and you have to have regard for things much bigger than yourself.” 

Crow joined the Dolphins last season after spending the first six seasons of his coaching career with the Tennessee Titans. 

McDaniel further announced Monday that senior defensive assistant Sean Ryan would be taken over Crow's duties for the time being.

Who Is Sean Ryan? 

Ryan joined the Dolphins as a defensive assistant last season and was quickly promoted to his senior role in 2025. What’s interesting about Ryan is that he spent his coaching career on the offensive side of the ball before joining the Dolphins. 

In 2023, he was an offensive assistant for the South Carolina Gamecocks. Before that, he served as the quarterbacks coach for the Panthers, Lions, and Texans. He worked with quarterbacks like Matthew Stafford and Sam Darnold over that period. 

Ryan was also a member of several Super Bowl-winning staffs. He spent nine seasons (2007-15) with the New York Giants, where he helped them to victories in Super Bowl XLII (2007) and Super Bowl XLVI (2011). He held various roles for the Giants, including coaching positions for receivers and quarterbacks.

That experience leading a position group is what the Dolphins will be leaning on with his recent promotion to lead the outside linebackers. 

“You feel fortunate to have someone who has not only had a position room, but led a position room for multiple years and has multiple years of experience,” McDaniel said about Ryan. “I feel very fortunate to have an established relationship with him, having an established relationship with all the guys. And I think they were very excited for the opportunity to be led by him, based on my conversations this morning.”

Ryan will be leading an incredibly talented outside linebacker room that includes Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb, Matthew Judon, and Chop Robinson. 

If Miami’s defense wants to be a force this season, that group will have to be incredibly disruptive to keep the pressure off the team’s young secondary.