Mike McDaniel operating under the assumption he has a future with Miami Dolphins

Mike McDaniel finished his fourth season as head coach of the Miami Dolphins with a 7-10 record.

The Dolphins have now suffered two losing seasons in a row, and after leading the team to the playoffs in his first two seasons as head coach, McDaniel's overall record in Miami has fallen to 35-33.

It's not great, and the Dolphins' firing McDaniel certainly wouldn't come out of left field. On Monday, though, the 42-year-old spoke as if he's moving forward as not just the head coach in Miami, but as an important decision maker as well.

Mike McDaniel planning to interview next Miami Dolphins GM

He told the media that he's the head coach of the Dolphins until he's told otherwise, and he even revealed that he's planning on being part of the interview process as the Dolphins look to pick their next general manager.

He's got a conversation scheduled with team owner Stephen Ross, and despite the disappointments of the past two seasons, he does believe these conversations will be focused not on the past but on improving for the future.

"We're getting together later in the week to discuss what needs to be discussed," McDaniel said Monday, according to Marcel Louis-Jacques of ESPN. "We both share the sentiment that we're not where we want to be, and in this business, you have to have a plan of action to improve that play. I think those discussions are very important and healthy, and I think the fan base is counting on that to occur.

"We're not just dismissing this season as, 'Oops, we'll try again.' No — you're trying to attack things, control your controllables and the bottom line of 'We need to improve this football team now,' and set forth a plan to do that."

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Notably, Louis-Jacques is reporting that the Dolphins have not lost faith in McDaniels and instead believe that their problems this season were related to quarterback play. Tua Tagovailoa threw for 2,660 yards and 20 touchdowns compared to 15 interceptions and was benched in Week 15. Rookie seventh-round pick Quinn Ewers finished out the season, but he wasn't any better. 

The former Texas quarterback threw for 622 yards and three touchdowns with three interceptions.

Tagovailoa is signed through 2028, but he's talking like he wants to be released or traded.

As far as McDaniel is concerned, his team started this past season 1-6 but went 6-4 the rest of the way. He said there will be a quarterback competition in 2026 and there are question marks about the roster moving forward, including questions about whether or not Tyreek Hill will return from the gruesome dislocated knee injury he suffered early on.

He does seem to think this team has something to build on moving forward, though.

"I think that 7-10 is not good enough — 1-6 is certainly not good enough, but the response that you saw with our football team came from somewhere," McDaniel said. "It's our jobs to identify exactly the parts of the solution and build upon that and nothing else. So, I don't see a complete rebuild. What I see is a team that needs to make smart decisions and compound those smart decisions so that the interest can be conveyed."