Mike McDaniel – March 28, 2022
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Monday, March 28, 2022
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Can you clear one thing up that some of us have wondered about. QB Teddy Bridgewater declined to answer when he was asked if he was the backup. Just to be clear, is QB Tua Tagovailoa the unquestioned starter or do you envision an open competition over the next four months?) – “That’s an example of Teddy being a true professional and being experienced in this business. That is for us to talk about, really not him. You guys remember around the Combine, I was describing specifically what I thought Tua really needed in support with a backup quarterback. Unbeknownst to you guys, I was quite literally describing Teddy Bridgewater at the time, just not using his name. So both players have been explicitly explained their roles and expectations and for that room to be their best, they need to know that and moving forward, we’re very excited to have Teddy a part of the process and hope to win some games with both those guys working together and empowering Tua to be the best player he can be. That’s something that Teddy takes serious and is excited to do that.”
(What was your reaction when you heard that WR Tyreek Hill was a possible trade opportunity?) – “There was a lot of stuff going on in the brain. You’re not sure if it’s true. You get involved in these processes and there’s a lot of things that come across your desk, so I was trying to be a pro and understand that you don’t get ahead of yourself. But it was very exciting to go through the process to see really (General Manager) Chris Grier and (Senior Vice President of Football and Business Administration) Brandon Shore work and once it came to fruition, I couldn’t be happier for the Miami Dolphins and adding a player of that talent to the team.”
(On T Terron Armstead and plans at the right tackle position and confidence in the in-house candidates) – “I feel very confident about the players that we have at the offensive line position. I know Terron (Armstead) is going to be the left tackle for sure, but it wouldn’t be fair to the process or the players to try to outline exactly who’s going to be where moving forward only because when you – just off the top of my head, there’s about four players whether we got them in the draft in the last couple years or in free agency this year that one of their strengths is their versatility. And we are doing a new scheme that highlights different attributes of a player’s performance and it wouldn’t be fair to the process, nor to the players to say, ‘ok, this guy’s going to be here exactly at this point,’ because it is a different scheme. We ask people to do different things. But I’m excited about all of those players, while really each and every draft pick that we’ve had up front were guys that, in a different city when I was working on a different team, we were looking at as targets for ourselves. So I’m excited about those type of players and starting in a week, we’ll begin that process to decide exactly where they’re at.”
(What do you envision with WR Tyreek Hill in this offense?) – “I’m really excited about what Tyreek can do on the field, but even more than that, I think he has an opportunity that he’s really excited about to develop the room as a player and lead. There’s a lot of youth on our team and he has a lot of outstanding experience and really trying to just start next week, get him in the door, have him learn our language and then utilize his vast array of skillsets in a multitude of ways. But you’ve got to start with a foundation, much like building a house. We’re building a football team and we’ve got to start with how to line up and what cadences are and how to come off the ball and utilize every single asset that he has in his body.”
(On if he feels the team has done enough yet to get greatness out of QB Tua Tagovailoa) – “Well, I hope not because we haven’t been able to meet about football yet. So in regards to Tua and really any player on our offense, the nuts and bolts really begin April 4 for us when we start Phase 1. You try to have good players on your team on both sides of the ball, as well as special teams, you try to empower players by having good teammates and then you just – as boring as it is – you have to deliberately engage day-in and day-out to really get the end result that everybody wants. So have we done enough? We’ve barely even scratched the surface. There is no shortcut to doing anything great in this league and as much as you like to say bold this, that or the other; there’s no shortcut, there’s not secret. It’s guys coming in together trying to work for a common goal and becoming the best offense which has – remember, football is 11 separate players working together in unison at the same time and that’s what we’re going to start working on on Monday. Each and every day we’re going to be challenging Tua to be his very best as well as every other player on the offense.”
(You’ve seen a lot of the tape of last year’s offense….) – “Absolutely.”
(Would you say that this year’s offense will be better?) – “I can say that this year’s offense is going to be the best that we can make it into. That’s a lot of people that have to – am I just going to dust some magic potion and be like, ‘you’re the best?’ (laughter) No. You have to have a lot of people engaged in one direction to maximize whatever we have and score the most points possible and be the best offense that we can be. And I can promise you that as a coaching staff, that’s where our mind is at. It has nothing to do – and last year is completely irrelevant in my mind. We can call it ‘PMM’ if you want – pre-Mike McDaniel. It’s about how good can we get with the people in front of us and the people that are sacrificing and investing in the football team, the offensive players and the coaches. What can we best become? And that’s the directive and that’s the motivation and we won’t lose sight of that for a minute.”
(The skillset of WR Cedrick Wilson Jr. and RB Chase Edmonds – what appealed to you skill-wise about each of those two players?) – “Well both of those football players, they came to us with an unbelievable reputation as human beings, and that’s one thing that I can say about our entire free agent class is we added people that we are very proud of in terms of the human beings and what they’re about, because the players that you add in free agency kind of tell the team a lot of what you’re expecting from them and what you want to invest in. Both players happen to be very good with the ball in their hands, which was attractive to us, and both players were in their own right self-made. They had to compete for opportunities in their given organizations and that made them stronger. That didn’t kill them. That made them stronger. So there are common traits in that go from the tape and beyond and we felt like we had a lot of great information, courtesy of Chris Grier and his staff, on who these human beings were which made us feel very comfortable targeting them for the Miami Dolphins of 2022.”
(What kind of message does the addition of key free agents – proven free agents – guys like Terron Armstead and Tyreek Hill – what kind of message does that send both to the players and to the group and also to the fans?) – “I think it’s important that we’re transparent in that we’re trying to do everything we can to win football games. I think there are other decisions that probably don’t feel the same to the fans and the team in that way, but they’re all under the same context and veil that we’re doing whatever it takes and that’s no exception. I think as I’ve said since I’ve gotten the job, we literally have support from everyone to do whatever it takes to best try to get ourselves the opportunities to win games. This is no exception. It’s something to be excited about, but there’s a lot of other players on the team to be excited about as well.”
(On using WR Tyreek Hill in a similar fashion to the way he used WR Deebo Samuel in San Francisco) – “I wouldn’t – from a starting point, both players are exceptional with the ball in their hands. Your starting point in terms of where you’re trying to accentuate people’s skillets, that is a commonality. As far as exact ways that we will use Tyreek Hill relative to the way that Deebo Samuel was used in San Francisco, there’s probably going to be some overlap to some degree. But those are things that Deebo Samuel evolved into that role because of both circumstance and because of skillset while in San Francisco. I expect no difference, really, with Tyreek, where we are going to start with the foundational elements of the receiver position. I promise you we’re not going to limit – or we’re going to continue the process of developing him and the Miami Dolphins football team. For a lot of players, that will look different in Week 4 than on April 4th.”
(On QB Nate Sudfeld and what he saw in practice) – “Nate Sudfeld is an adamant – I want to say under-the-radar professional football player. That happens a lot at the quarterback position because there’s only a finite amount of reps for really the public to see. What we saw in practice was a very capable NFL player who is trending upward, who’s best football was in front of him and a guy who’s skills were to a level and a degree that let his teammates take notice. They knew that he was very, very capable and I think there’s a lot of excitement in regards to his teammates when he comes on the field and they are allowed to play together.”
(On players mentioning speed was important to him and if that was how he built the roster to this point) – “I think there is something to be said about talented players and there’s a lot of talented players that are fast. You don’t go in at the beginning of the whole process necessarily saying all we want are fast guys. What we want is really good football players at the position. On top of that, if they happen to be fast – there’s a couple of ways that we can utilize that. I think the biggest thing is that we got some really good football players that happen to be fast, that on April 4th we are going to be able to start to get in rooms together and develop what this team is going to be because you can say whatever you want at a press conference in front of a microphone but it’s the blood, sweat and tears that goes on when you’re investing yourself, committing and sacrificing your time and committing to a football team. Within those walls, the individual personalities kind of create the culture and really the likeness of what your team is going to look like and be moving forward for the season.”
(On sharing a moment with Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick and his reputation) – “I feel like I’m a couple of wins behind him in the win/loss column. That’s somebody that if you’re a football guy and you have a pulse, I have the utmost respect and admiration for a coach of his caliber and one of the best ever if not the best to ever do it. As far as how I compared with wits, maybe ask him and he’ll be complimentary of me. I don’t know. I think it’s part of the business. It’s okay to really respect people and acknowledge all of the things that they’ve done for the game of football. Acknowledge where it might be if he hadn’t been there, you know? I think that’s important but also, I’m a professional football coach for the Miami Dolphins and we’re going to have to play him twice a year. There’s some competitiveness there that’s entertaining to say the least. I was happy to talk to him, he’s a tremendous human being, football coach and I’ll be excited to go against him next year.”
(On if OL Connor Williams will be staying at left guard) – “Again, I know in his past and I think Connor said he’s been most comfortable at left guard with the Dallas Cowboys. What does that mean for the Miami Dolphins? Again, I wouldn’t be doing justice to the process for all of the players involved to not get them in-house and train them and see where they’re most comfortable as Miami Dolphins. That will be evident by their play and how they are able to execute the given tasks. I’m super excited to add – he’s one of many on the list that we were able to add that their play is matched by the human being. I think that will resonate itself on game days after a lot, a lot of work in April, May, June, July, August and then September.”
(Can you describe your relationship with QB Tua Tagovailoa at this point and how it’s evolved?) – “That’s been a cool process because the first time you talk to somebody, since like maybe the Combine process, is on FaceTime while you’re on a jet flying to meet him. Since then, I think there’s been a lot of trust that has been earned. We’ve both been very honest and candid with each other and I think in any healthy relationship, that’s paramount. That’s been a fun process. Building that, it’s a lot of build up but you have to wait because the current CBA mandates that we do to talk football. But once that process starts on April 4th, I think the equity that we’ve built up and trust and mutual respect, I think that will pay dividends coming to work Monday about this time.”
(On RB Raheem Mostert and if he had any conversations with John Lynch before it happened) – “No. That was something that kind of came across our radar after it had already begun. It really wasn’t necessarily on our plan so to speak. It was something that once given the opportunity, it didn’t take us long to jump on because as you know and as most people know, my affinity for Raheem is real. We’ve had journeys together where, in a related way, we both have been counted out at some point and pretty much earned everything we got. It was really exciting, something that I didn’t necessarily forecast going into the whole process but something that was very easy to get excited about after it was presented – was on our plate.”
(On if he’s talked a lot with RB Raheem Mostert about their journeys) – “Oh, for sure. Yeah, that’s something that when going through it, all the way back to 2018, there was a moment in time where Raheem, I think he fumbled a couple of times and was kind of losing some confidence. But then we really needed him to perform. I think it was against the Packers in maybe a night game – maybe it was a Monday night in 2018 – and the whole team, it really resonated with them how much he stepped up to the plate. It was his first big game of that season. So all the way back to that point in time, those things have been part of our conversations together.”
(On retaining TE Mike Gesicki and DE Emmanuel Ogbah) – “Both players, we were very, very fortunate to retain both players on both sides of the ball just because what you’re talking about are professional football players that know the process and know how to execute and perform on a week-in, week-out basis. Those types of things cannot be lost in the whole process about dependable playmakers. I feel like that’s what the Miami Dolphins got in re-signing both players.”
(What type of players are you getting in OL Connor Williams and WR Cedrick Wilson? It seems like Connor had some issues in Dallas with holds. And does getting WR Tyreek Hill affect the plan with Cedrick?) – “I’m very, very excited about both players for multiple reasons. Their on-field play, their perseverance, how they handle adversity. Those are all things that are a big deal to the Miami Dolphins organization and our assessment of players. And then their playmaking ability. In talking to Connor, I know that those things have been brought up in terms of holding, and he’s very aware of that. And how do you handle that? You coach, coach, coach technique. The one thing that – holding is a derivative of caring and trying. So you try to fix that with technique, which is something that we’ll hit fast and furious, early and often. But nothing that has to do with the Miami Dolphins moving forward. Cedrick is an unbelievable talent who is not only well-versed in receiver play but I think he threw the best receiver throw I’ve ever seen in my life, off-schedule, to his right. So I’m excited about both of those individuals and adding them to the football team. I’ve never been around a coach that has ever said, ‘Hey, whoa, whoa guys. There’s way too many playmakers.’ I think we’ve added some playmakers and there’s only positives that can come with that. I think all of those guys will make each other better working diligently and deliberately day-in and day-out through the offseason program.”
(You’ve made a lot of moves. Which one was the most exciting?) – “To be fair, we did go into free agency with the least amount of players on contract of any team in the NFL. There was a lot of work to do. Out of them all, I’m going to say the Miami Dolphins. Out of all of the players in the whole process the person that played out the best would be the Miami Dolphins organization. For me, it’s a football team. To sit here and say that one player – they snowballed on each other. I think there was a buzz that the Miami Dolphins organization and the city of Miami very much deserved, and the organization to their credit. I think they all snowballed on each other. The first one was probably special. We re-signed (Emmanuel) Ogbah, then Chase Edmonds, to kind of get it started. It was early, so I think that tone set was important to me. Diligently approaching it, it’s just not in my nature as a football coach to sit here and say my favorite player, only because they are all important to me. It’s the most obvious common sense thing to me to understand that, ‘guess what, not any of them can have success unless the other guy is performing to the best of his ability.’ There is no individual one player that stands alone. I was more excited about the entire group. Probably the one that started it off was the most special just because it was like ‘alright, it’s real, it’s time and here we go.’”
(On reactions from around the league about the WR Tyreek Hill trade) – “I think it’s a small circle of people in the National Football League, so it’s most of the guys I know and people have been pretty excited for the most part. Just the understanding that it takes a lot of people to orchestrate a move like that. It doesn’t start or stop with me at all. The personnel side, Chris Grier, and all of the magic that Brandon Shore had to work. Just acknowledging that it takes a village or it takes an entire organization to pull something off. I think that respect for what we’re doing in this phase of the offseason didn’t go unnoticed. There were some dabs, some high fives, a couple of low fives. “
(WR Tyreek Hill said you sound like Shrek. Do you think you sound like Shrek?) – “What he was saying is I was saying just be you. Because I kept repeating just be you. That was what I sounded like Shrek. It wasn’t necessarily the vocal part. If I’m a phase of Michael Myers’ voice, I wouldn’t be totally mad about that, but I don’t think that’s exactly what he was trying to say.”
(There seems to be an idea that you have a great quarterback who elevates the team around him or you can build a team that maybe elevates the quarterback. Can you talk about that?) – “Quarterbacks need players and players need quarterbacks. The exact formula of how you go about doing that is, honestly alright, what’s the best way? We have player X, what’s the best player we can get to complement player X? Oh, that’s player Z. Then you go with some other consonants. (laughter) In terms of the best formula, I think it’s a formula that’s adapting to the people around them. I think having an identity you’re trying to find and committing to that vision with an ultimate purpose is important. Having a vision and going about it conclusively in one direction, to me that’s the most important part. I think there are a lot of different ways to skin a cat.”
(On what he saw in T Terron Armstead) – “Terron Armstead is an outstanding player at one of the most difficult positions in the National Football League. I think that is obvious by the respect that his peers give him and his teammates give him. To have the opportunity to add a player that’s played so good for so long and still have so much good football in front of him, on top of the fact that most of the players we were able to add – really all of the players we were able to add – this offseason, he is a paramount human being and individual.”
(Is the new formula to win now?) – “It’s always kind of been. The coaches, whether you guys realize it or not, are very aware of everyone’s impatience including ownership, fans and media. Our particular circumstance was that we have the least amount of players under contract in the National Football League entering free agency. We were aggressive in what we did and excited about the players we were targeting. But we also had the most ground to make up in regards to our existing roster and having that prepared to go into the draft and into next season.”
(Has anyone in the building mentioned to you about trading for QB Tom Brady?) – “Tom Brady? The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tom Brady? The Super Bowl winner? No. That has not been in the conversation at all. I think that’s what you call fake news.”
