The Dolphins fired McDaniel on Thursday, a day before they announced the hiring of new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan.
Sullivan has spent his entire NFL career with the Green Bay Packers, most recently serving as the franchise’s vice president of player personnel. This makes it easy to draw a connection to Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Haffley, who was recently added to Miami’s interview list.
The prediction here, though, is that the Dolphins go with another defensive candidate in Los Angeles Rams’ coordinator Chris Shula.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Miami has requested an interview with the 39-year-old.
Shula is the grandson of legendary Dolphins head coach Don Shula, which would make his landing in Miami a bit of a feel-good story. However, that’s only part of the reason why Shula would make a ton of sense for the Dolphins.
After firing an offensive coach in McDaniel, the Dolphins may prefer a coach who can get more out of their defense. Shula, who has been with the Rams since 2017, has shown an ability to coach up young defenders.
Shula was L.A.’s linebackers coach when the Rams won Super Bowl LVI, but he’s spent the last two seasons as the defensive coordinator. During that time, he has taken emerging talents like Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, Cobie Durant, and Quentin Lake and forged one of the league’s more impressive young defenses.
Theoretically, Shula could help the Dolphins lead with their defense while they sort out a quarterback situation that may or may not include Tua Tagovailoa for the long-term.
