Mike McDaniel redefined what it means to play for the Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins have reached the playoffs in back-to-back seasons under head coach Mike McDaniel.

The beaches, weather, and lack of state income tax are all negotiating tools for the Miami Dolphins, but that’s not necessarily enough to seal the deal. The Dolphins ended each of the last four seasons with a winning record and reached the playoffs in the previous two seasons under coach Mike McDaniel.

With McDaniel as the team's expert negotiator, Miami has finally washed away the lingering stench of just one winning season from 2009 through 2019.

“This opportunity was the main one that kept being put in front of my face,” Odell Beckham Jr. said in his introductory press conference. “I remember somebody asked me a few years ago if I would ever play for the Dolphins. I kind of shrugged it off, that it wasn’t really an idea.”

After spending four years with McDaniel and the San Francisco 49ers, Raheem Mostert didn’t think twice when following him to Miami. The decision paid off with two contract extensions and a franchise-record 18 rushing touchdowns in 2023.

“He’s definitely a guy that I could truly count on,” Mostert said back in November. “When we were in San Francisco together, he was a run game coordinator for a couple of years, and I would go to him for little nuggets and bits of the run game going up against good defenses.”

The Dolphins hired McDaniel before the 2022 season and traded for Tyreek Hill to pair with Tua Tagovailoa and Jaylen Waddle. The offense ranked sixth or better in total yards in each of the last two seasons, and like the Bat-Signal on a clear night, players around the league saw the possibilities of playing in Miami.

“Coach Mike definitely is someone who – he sold it to me because it’s just his energy, we speak the same language (when) we’re talking, the conversations we had about football,” Beckham said. “Just the opportunity, like I said, is presenting itself.

“We sat down for hours and we were just talking football. It just got me excited thinking about it. He pulled up my film compared to what they’re doing here and just kind of married the things. I’ve seen an opportunity, and I think time will tell at the end that this was the right decision.”

The Dolphins are trending in the right direction and yet there’s plenty of work to be done. Miami has one of the longest playoff win droughts in the NFL, but McDaniel’s vision has incoming players excited about future possibilities over past failures.

His ability to connect with players was the catalyst for a culture shift in South Florida, and there’s optimism that playoff success could soon follow.