Hours after the Dolphins bailed on a potential plan to give Mike McDaniel a fifth season as head coach, the experienced play-caller is drawing offensive coordinator interest.
The Lions reached out to McDaniel about their OC vacancy, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports
. Detroit fired John Morton after one season
. McDaniel figures to be a coveted commodity on the OC carousel, and it should not be deemed out of the question HC-needy teams express interest.
There will be competition for McDaniel’s services on the OC market, should he drop below the HC level during this cycle. A number of teams and prospective HCs have the newly available coach on their OC list, NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo adds . The Lions, however, do present a favorable option for play-callers given their offensive personnel and recent success.
While the Lions have not used anyone from the Mike/Kyle Shanahan tree since Anthony Lynn — whom Dan Campbell demoted during his first season calling plays (2021) — it is clear the team is interested in a potential transition. McDaniel learned under Kyle Shanahan at multiple stops, and considering the popularity of this genre of offense leaguewide, such a transition certainly shouldn’t be a dealbreaker for the Lions. After all, Jared Goff developed under Mike Shanahan disciple Sean McVay in Los Angeles.
McDaniel (feat. Tyreek Hill ) reignited Tua Tagovailoa ‘s career upon arrival in Miami four years ago. The former No. 5 overall pick led the NFL in yards per attempt and passer rating in 2022, paced the league in passing yardage in 2023 and in completion percentage in 2024. Miami’s offense steadily declined under McDaniel, however, sinking from second (2023) to 22nd (2024) to 25th (’25). This period ended with Tagovailoa’s benching and both McDaniel and GM Chris Grier being fired.
The Dolphins were believed to be more likely to retain McDaniel, but a Wednesday report indicated GM candidates were being asked for their thoughts about working with him. Despite some ex-McDaniel coworkers in the mix, the Dolphins moved on and will align their GM and HC positions this offseason. The Lions have an established head coach in Campbell, who also spent time in Miami during Stephen Ross‘ ownership tenure (and with Grier in the front office), but they swung and missed on Morton.
Detroit did not conduct a thorough search upon hiring Morton. With McDaniel in demand, the Lions will likely reach out to more candidates this time around. With McDaniel a minority candidate, however, the Lions would not need to interview a second option. The Rooney Rule only mandates one external minority candidate be interviewed for coordinator positions — as opposed to two for HC and GM posts. Though, the team still will be likely to meet with multiple candidates given the moving parts here.