Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel signs extension that will keep him with team until 2028

The first coach to lead the Miami Dolphins to back-to-back playoff appearances in more than two decades just got his contract extended.

Coach Mike McDaniel signed a multiyear deal that will run through 2028, the Dolphins confirmed. The contract details are unclear.

“McDaniel has an especially strong working relationship with GM Chris Grier, CEO Tom Garfinkel and cap guru Brandon Shore,” ESPN’s Jeff Darlington wrote on X, the social media platform formerly know as Twitter. Darlington first reported the extension Friday morning. “It’s the type of cohesive group that owner Steve Ross covets.”

The extension comes as McDaniel begins his third season as head coach. In his first two seasons, he made the playoffs both years and compiled a regular season record of 20-14. The 2023 Dolphins led the league in multiple categories including total offense, passing offense and yards per carry in large part due to McDaniel’s play-calling wizardry.

“My job is to set forth a standard, and I’d better be getting better at everything,” McDaniel said in 2023 after the Dolphins 70-20 drubbing of the Denver Broncos. The Dolphins accumulated more than 700 yards that game. “That’s what the team needs and deserves.”

Although both playoff appearances ended in losses, McDaniel put himself in rare air as just one of three coaches (Don Shula in 1970-1971 and Dave Wannstedt in 2000-2001) to reach the postseason in their first seasons with the Dolphins. The success — albeit in the regular season — was surely a welcomed sight considering the Dolphins were the only team to interview the Yale graduate after Brian Flores’ tenure ended rather abruptly after the 2021 season. Prior to coming to Miami, McDaniel was offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers for a season after more than a decade of working with the team’s current coach Kyle Shanahan. The Colorado native’s previous stops included the Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, the then-Washington Redskins, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos.

“We took a chance, but I was impressed by him,” Ross told CBS Miami in mid-August. “I mean his intelligence and as a person, he’s unique certainly, and he’s doing a great job. Everybody loves him.”

With this being the second large extension that the Dolphins have offered heading into the 2024 regular season, it’s clear that the franchise believes in the Tua Tagovailoa-McDaniel pairing. In late July, Tagovailoa signed a four-year, $212.4 million deal that also runs through 2028. The franchise quarterback has also been very vocal about his appreciation for McDaniel, who has professed Tagovailoa’s greatness from Day 1.

“There’s just so many things that we’ve gone through from the journey of two years ago, and it’s not just football related,” Tagovailoa said of McDaniel after inking his extension. “It’s just life-related. A lot of it is much more life related off the field type of things, the mental aspect of the game, just the mental aspect of life, the mental aspect of family life back home, and just a lot of things like that and it’s really helped me throughout the course of growing up.”

Added Tagovailoa: “He wants us to make money, and he’s going to do everything he can to help us do that.”

The hope is that McDaniel will lead the Dolphins to their first playoff win since 2000. It’s not too far outside the realm of possibility considering the team’s talent. And while Ross’ recent comments about the Dolphins being Super Bowl contenders might have come prematurely, the financial commitment to the 41-year-old coach proves the franchise’s faith in McDaniel’s ability to lead the team to the promised land.

“I like the building, including the owner, having the mindset of ‘Let’s be bold, don’t be afraid of anything,’” McDaniel said in mid-August, latter adding, “I think that means he believes in the program.”