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Mike McDaniel Hired as New Miami Dolphins Head Coach: Can he rejuvenate a underperforming franchise?

The Miami Dolphins have completed their search for a new head coach after firing Brian Flores at the start of January, hiring San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.

The 38-year old arrives in South Florida having spent the last five years with Kyle Shanahan in Santa Clara as both the run game and offensive coordinator.

Fans across the NFL seem to question McDaniel’s experience now he has been given a head coaching role but you only have to look at how long he has been in the sport, where else he’s been and what he’s achieved to know that this might not be such a risky appointment.

In 2017, McDaniel reached his best achievement as part of a team’s staff when he reached the Super Bowl Final with the Atlanta Falcons as assistant to Dan Quinn, unfortunately losing to the New England Patriots 34-28.

McDaniel was then hired by the 49ers to be their run game coordinator under Shanahan. On January 18th of this year, McDaniel was promoted to offensive coordinator, following the departure of passing game coordinator Mike LaFleur. The 49ers went 10-7 in 2021, and McDaniel was widely praised for his use of wide receiver Deebo Samuel who, upon the team’s loss to the LA Rams in the NFC Championship game, ended his season with 2,879 rushing yards, leading him to be selected as an All-Pro.

Dolphins fans will be hoping their exciting new coach can get the best out of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and the rest of the Miami offence, who relied heavily on rookie wide receiver Jaylen Waddle in 2021, the Alabama superstar responsible for the majority of the Dolphins success when it did come in the offensive department.

With Miami entering the offseason with the highest amount of cap space out of any NFL team ($70.2m), the franchise will no doubt be in the hunt for some extra offensive talent in free agency to help the likes of Waddle and Mike Gesicki going forward, with Green Bay’s Davante Adams, Tampa Bay’s Chris Godwin and the LA Chargers’ Mike Williams just a few of the big wide receivers out of contract at their current teams.

There’s certainly a lot to look forward to and hopefully McDaniel can bring some happiness to sunny South Florida once again.

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