Don’t expect any changes this week.
The Miami Dolphins plan to keep coach Mike McDaniel despite the team’s 1-6 start, per NFL Network Ian Rapoport.
This comes after the Dolphins suffered three consecutive losses, including the most recent embarrassing 31-6 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
“Owner Stephen Ross likes him and believes in him, has extended him in the past and wants to go forward with Mike McDaniel,” Rapoport said, later adding that he doesn’t know what will happen with the Dolphins, however, “questions about the future of Mike McDaniel and Tua [Tagovailoa], by the way, and everything that’s in the Dolphins orbit — it is all fair now with that performance that they gave on Sunday.”
Rapoport gave two conditions of McDaniel’s employment: the players haven’t given up on the coach and/or fan attendance doesn’t slip, both of which aren’t guaranteed considering the team’s lackluster performance as of late. Players, for the time being, still appear supportive of McDaniel.
“I think we all believe in him as a coach,” tackle Patrick Paul said Sunday. “At the end of the day, we have to execute as players. The game plan will work, but we have to execute.”
McDaniel has compiled a 29-29 over his four seasons in Miami. After initially leading the Dolphins to back-to-back records above .500 and two playoff appearances to start his tenure, the team has seemingly regressed over the past two years. Since the start of 2024, McDaniel has gone 9-15, leading to calls about the safety of his job.
The 42-year-old coach, however, doesn’t appear focused on the outside noise that has risen to a din as the team has become synonymous with failure.
“If I’m thinking about having a job, I need to be doing my job,” McDaniel said Sunday, deeming anything else as “offensive.” “As long as I’m the coach for the Miami Dolphins, they will get everything from me. I refuse to spend my time thinking about something that you have your job, you do your job, and you do it to the best of your ability, and that’s where my concern lies. I think it’s offensive to all coaches, players, and the organization, if I’m spending that precious time thinking about myself.”
This story was originally published October 20, 2025 at 10:57 AM.
C. Isaiah Smalls II
Miami Herald
C. Isaiah Smalls II is a sports and culture writer who covers the Miami Dolphins. In his previous capacity at the Miami Herald, he was the race and culture reporter who created The 44 Percent, a newsletter dedicated to the Black men who voted to incorporate the city of Miami. A graduate of both Morehouse College and Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Smalls previously worked for ESPN’s Andscape.
