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In a rather surprising turn of events, Mike McDaniel finds himself without a job. The Miami Dolphins fired him Thursday after four seasons as the franchise's head coach. 

What makes this a surprise move is the timing of McDaniel's departure. After coming out the other side of Black Monday, it seemed like McDaniel's 5-3 run down the stretch saved him. However, the organization seemed to need more time to digest the 2025 campaign in its entirety, and once they did, it became clear they wanted to go through a full reset after already moving on from GM Chris Grier midseason. Either that, or the arrival of John Harbaugh into the available coaching pool could've been the catalyst for this pivot off of McDaniel. 

Whatever the reason, the 42-year-old McDaniel is now looking into the abyss of his NFL career and asking what's next. 

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Tyler Sullivan
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He leaves behind a tenure in Miami where he went 35-35 overall. That includes a 0-2 playoff record, despite helping the Dolphins reach the postseason in each of his first two seasons. In the years since, however, the Dolphins posted back-to-back under-.500 campaigns, including the 2025 season, when the team went 7-10 and featured McDaniel benching Tua Tagovailoa. 

With that behind him, let's look ahead and identify a couple of landing spots for McDaniel as both a head coach and an offensive coordinator. 

Cleveland Browns (HC)

In some instances, we see a former head coach either take a year off or return to a coordinator role after being fired. However, there are times when a coach jumps into an opportunity right away, and that could be the case for a number of candidates this cycle, which includes McDaniel. After firing Kevin Stefanski, the Cleveland Browns are interested in McDaniel for their coaching vacancy, according to Cleveland.com. Of course, McDaniel does have a prior history with the organization, working as their wide receivers coach in 2014 under then-head coach Mike Pettine and then-offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. The report notes that the Browns have long admired McDaniel's offensive mind, so this is a landing spot worth paying close attention to. 

Washington Commanders (OC)

When it comes to trying to figure out landing spots for any available figure in the NFL, whether it be a player or coach, it comes down to relationships. As this relates to McDaniel, the Commanders make a lot of sense in that regard. Of course, they need an offensive coordinator after parting ways with Kliff Kingsbury, and there are multiple connections within that organization to the former Dolphins coach. 

He worked on Dan Quinn's staff as an offensive assistant from 2015 to 2016 when the Commanders head coach was leading the Atlanta Falcons. So, from a coaching standpoint, there is familiarity with McDaniel. That's also the case on the personnel side, as well with general manager Adam Peters. Before coming to Washington, Peters was the vice president of player personnel for the San Francisco 49ers from 2017 to 2020. McDaniel was the run game coordinator under Kyle Shanahan throughout Peters' tenure before ascending to OC in 2021.  

The chance to coach an offense around Jayden Daniels would certainly be appealing to McDaniel. 

Detroit Lions (OC)

The Detroit Lions are coming off a disappointing 2025 season that saw them finish with a 9-8 record and in last place in the NFC South. While injuries played a part in their demise this season, the absence of Ben Johnson and the inability to properly replace him were factors as well. During the season, head coach Dan Campbell took over offensive play-calling duties from offensive coordinator John Morton, who has since been fired. Detroit has one of the deepest collections of talent on offense in the entire NFL, ranging from wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams to running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, tight end Sam LaPorta, and, of course, quarterback Jared Goff. If there was anyone capable of getting this group back to firing on all cylinders, it'd be McDaniel. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (OC)

Tampa Bay is another team undergoing some rather seismic changes, but not at the head coaching spot. The Bucs are keeping Todd Bowles intact, but he has since started making big changes to his staff, including firing offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard after just one season. This would be another appealing destination for McDaniel if a head coaching opportunity isn't available to him this cycle, as the Buccaneers boast plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball. Seeing what McDaniel would do with a quarterback like Baker Mayfield and skill position players like Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka, and Bucky Irving would be fascinating.  

Wherever Robert Salah gets hired (OC)

This is a bit of a wild-card scenario because we don't know whether Robert Saleh will actually be hired this cycle. However, he has received interest from teams. If he does land a job, McDaniel would make a lot of sense as his offensive coordinator. The two worked together in San Francisco under Kyle Shanahan from 2017 to 2020. Saleh was working as the defensive coordinator at the time, and McDaniel was the run game coordinator. So, there is familiarity between the two, and given that Saleh comes from the defensive side of the ball, it'd be wise for him to secure one of the better offensive minds in the league as he potentially embarks on his second stint as an NFL head coach.