Who should hire Mike McDaniel? Landing spots for former Dolphins HC

The Miami Dolphins’ decision to fire head coach Mike McDaniel has opened a major opportunity for teams with struggling offenses across the NFL.

McDaniel, a member of San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan’s coaching tree, is a coach whom experts widely consider to be one of the best offensive minds in the league. While some teams may be interested in hiring McDaniel to fill their head coaching vacancies, many others will be weighing the former Dolphins head coach as an option to take over as offensive coordinator.

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell pointed out on social media that many of the players on offense on McDaniel’s Dolphins rosters had better seasons with McDaniel than with past head coaches or teams.

Specifically, wide receiver Tyreek Hill – who was already a top receiving option with the Chiefs – surpassed 1,700 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons in Miami. Running back Raheem Mostert had the first 1,000-yard season of his career while leading the NFL in rushing touchdowns in 2023, his ninth season in the league.

As teams look to bolster their coaching staffs ahead of the 2026 season, McDaniel will be a hot name to watch. Here are six landing spots for the Dolphins’ former head coach:

Mike McDaniel landing spots

Washington Commanders

In 2013, Washington’s football team had Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur, Mike McDaniel and Raheem Morris on its coaching staff. All five ended up with head coaching gigs elsewhere, but the 2026 Commanders can take a step toward rectifying the error in letting all of those coaches go by bringing back McDaniel.

Washington just parted ways with both coordinators after a 5-12 season, leaving defensive-minded head coach Dan Quinn and quarterback Jayden Daniels in need of a new offensive guru to run things on that side of the ball. After finishing the 2024 season with a top-five scoring offense, the Commanders took a major step back in 2025, finishing with a bottom-11 unit in scoring. A big part of that can be chalked up to injuries, but bringing in McDaniel to rework the Daniels-led offense would give Washington a good shot at reclaiming the magic that got them to an NFC championship last year.

Detroit Lions

Detroit’s 2025 season was plagued by inconsistency and ultimately ended in a last-place finish in the NFC North despite a winning record. In Week 10 of the season, head coach Dan Campbell took over offensive play-calling duties from former offensive coordinator John Morton, whom the team fired after Week 18.

A year after Ben Johnson’s departure to become head coach of the Bears, the Lions dropped from the top scoring offense in the NFL to fifth – from averaging 33.2 points per game to 28.3 points per game. Hiring McDaniel could revitalize an offense that already has its key players in place: quarterback Jared Goff, receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jamerson Williams, running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery and tight end Sam LaPorta.

Kansas City Chiefs

The next two teams do not currently have openings at offensive coordinator, but there’s reason to believe they may have one soon. Current Chiefs OC Matt Nagy spent a few years as the Bears’ head coach and has been targeted by several teams looking to fill their head coaching opening during this cycle. If Nagy leaves Kansas City, the Chiefs would need to fill his vacated position.

Though McDaniel wouldn’t handle play-calling duties under head coach Andy Reid, he would be in charge of implementing a new offense for the Chiefs. As quarterback Patrick Mahomes returns from his ACL injury and Kansas City spends the offseason retooling after a disappointing 2026, McDaniel could be the perfect candidate to right the ship for the offense.

McDaniel proved in Miami that he’s good at building an offense to maximize his players’ strengths and mitigate weaknesses. That could make him a perfect fit for a team lacking dynamic playmakers outside of their quarterback.

Philadelphia Eagles

Similar to the Chiefs, the Eagles don’t have an open spot at offensive coordinator, but that could change if Philadelphia falls short of a Super Bowl win. Current offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo, who took over the job this year following Kellen Moore’s departure, has struggled to bring out the same results as his predecessor.

The Eagles’ offense averaged 27.2 points per game last year, making them the seventh-best unit in the league in the category. This year, Philadelphia averaged 22.3 points per game on offense, a bottom-14 mark in the NFL despite a roster that was largely the same as 2024’s squad.

By building a successful offense around a limited quarterback in Tua Tagovailoa in Miami, McDaniel proved he’d be a strong fit to replace Patullo – if it comes to that. Quarterback Jalen Hurts has similar limitations, but the star-studded cast of playmakers around him is comparable to – if not better than – what McDaniel had to work with in Miami.

Atlanta Falcons (HC or OC)

The Falcons are one of the teams searching for a head coach in this cycle, and McDaniel – who was an offensive assistant for the team in 2015 and its NFC title run in 2016 – could be the right fit for their roster as either a head coach or offensive coordinator.

One of McDaniel’s biggest strengths with the Dolphins was building a strong run game. He did it with Raheem Mostert in his first couple of years, then De’Von Achane over the last two seasons. The Falcons have one of the best running backs in the NFL in Bijan Robinson already in the building, and Atlanta could get the chance to boost his ceiling further with an offensive mind like McDaniel’s.

In addition, the Falcons already have a strong framework for an offense. Outside of Robinson, wide receiver Drake London is a bona fide No. 1 receiver, and tight end Kyle Pitts showed real promise in the back half of the regular season. If Atlanta has faith that McDaniel can help develop young quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in an offense with those pieces in place, he would be a strong fit to run the Falcons’ offense in either capacity.

Cleveland Browns (as HC)

Multiple outlets have already reported the Browns’ interest in McDaniel filling their head coach vacancy. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said before the new year that Cleveland had their eye on McDaniel if it fired Stefanski and the Dolphins fired their head coach. Now that both things have happened, Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot has reported that the Browns are interested in hiring McDaniel to be their head coach.

The former Dolphins head coach has a history in Cleveland, having served as the Browns’ wide receivers coach in 2014. McDaniel is an intriguing fit for the Browns as an offensive mind who could arrive to help develop young quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, both of whom landed in Cleveland via the 2025 NFL Draft. The Browns could use an extra boost on the offensive side of the ball as well after finishing 2025 with a bottom-two scoring offense while their defense finished in the top half of the NFL in preventing opponents from scoring.