Mike McDaniel – September 2, 2024
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Monday, September 2, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Congrats on the contract extension. Just to fill in one detail about it, was this done entirely through your agent or was there a neat moment in the last couple of months where Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner Steve Ross said to you, “I’d like to give you an extension, we’re happy with what you’ve done.” Was it a meeting? Was it a phone call? Was it anything like that?) – “I appreciate it, thank you. I see – the congratulations goes to the organization. I think there’s a lot of people that lift you up that to give you the opportunity to become a head coach, but once you become a head coach, for that program to sustain, that takes each and every person involved in it so I see that as an accomplishment for the organization. And there was a neat moment, as you phrased it; I had dinner over at Mr. Ross’ house a couple weeks ago. It was a great dinner; I ate all of my steak.”
(Did you eat your vegetables?) – “I did. I did, they gave me minimal. (laughter) So they anticipated that.”
(So did you have an idea that was the discussion of the dinner? I’m trying to get the details right here.) – “I knew he wanted to have dinner and I knew I was going to be a good dinner date, I guess you would say. Outside of that, you don’t really forecast too much. It was an opportunity to hang out with Mr. Ross, so I jumped on that. So yeah, that’s why I’m employed.”
(Was there any, I guess, kind of sense of relief when you look at your watch? Because if I remember correctly, you bought that as an investment not only in yourself but the work that you’re putting into this team, so signing that extension, do you feel some kind of sense of relief?) – “You know, I really haven’t even thought about it, to be honest. I think part of trying to have a program sustain is you have to really look at each and every day and what goes into it and what you’re asking of other people and who are those people that are supporting you and really rallying the troops each and every day. I think for me, I haven’t really thought twice about it afterward from the regard of, I guess – I’ve had a ton of reasons, millions and millions of reasons to approach every day with everything that I have and really giving myself to everyone as best I can. I guess this is another reason to be motivated to kind of really attack each and every day your fullest, so I probably have just some more reasons to do what I’ve been intending to do since I got on grounds here, and that’s a – I mean, September 2? Man, we’ve got a great September 2 today, and I’ll do September 3 when that comes.”
(What do you view as the common denominator between the eight recently named Miami Dolphins captains?) – “Really good players. I think off the top of my head, 28 Pro Bowls – boom. How about that? That’s fast facts. I think you have guys that have not only the respect and the regard of their teammates, but they’ve earned their stripes, so to speak, from the league. I think the National Football League, your peer – really the opinions of your peers, there’s nothing that I think you can have a stronger attachment towards if you’re a player. It’s as important as the name on the back of your jersey, and I think with our particular unit, I think it was cool to see the amount of conviction the team had for the individuals across the board. I saw a lot of – there was a lot of worthy people on this team, a lot of captain worthy leaders, and I could tell by the way the award was received by each individual that it meant a great deal, because it was a very high honor, particularly on this team.”
(For LB David Long Jr., he’s been through a lot in his life professionally and personally. For him to get the captaincy, what did that mean to him and you to see that?) – “Well, he tried to play it cool in front of all of his teammates. I’m convinced that him and a couple other of his fellow captains probably had an emotional moment behind closed doors. That’s just me guessing because I truly know how much this game means to David Long Jr., and I thought it was a really cool orchestration of a player-voted captainship for him to let him know just how much regard his teammates hold for him. It was a very cool moment to be a part of, something that I think none of his teammates were surprised by but happy that he was bestowed that honor.”
(When you started prep for the Jaguars, what about their defensive front jumped out at you?) – “I think how they come off the ball, how they play with consistent technique and fundamentals and their relentless strain. I think that’s pretty obvious from the minimal game tape that we’ve watched, but that’s something that’s been paramount in Coach Nielsen’s (Defensive Coordinator Ryan Nielsen) kind of repertoire defensives lines and defensive fronts that he’s coached in previous teams. Very talented group that is playing hard together, that’s what I see on tape.”
(Quick follow up if I can, DE Travon Walker, it seemed like he made a big leap from Year 1 to Year 2. What kind of challenge does he present?) – “Typical of every defensive line you face in the National Football League, especially ones that have invested some top assets into some elite athletic defensive front players, I think you really, both on run and pass, not just on pass, but in your run, you’re scared of ‘Walk’ (Travon Walker) making a play at the point of attack or from the back side of a play. I think his game is kind of – I just saw little glimpses of evolution that you know is coming. You can tell that they’re preparing to put him in positions to make plays and be a primary area of focus, so that’s going to have to be something that each one of our offensive players along the line of scrimmage, including tight ends and receivers, we’re going to have to be aware of his game. It’s going to take several people to slow him down, for sure.”
(To build off of that, what have you seen from LB Josh Hines-Allen and what do you think of your pass protection package overall? Have you seen enough from it right now or do you think it’s kind of a work in progress?) – “I think the stuff that we’ve gone into the offseason emphasizing and things we wanted to get better at as far as protection is concerned, it’s a very timely matchup when you’re looking at all their pass rushers and the problems they present, really kind of overlapping with some of the stuff that we’ve been trying to focus on and get better connected with. I think much like you are orchestrating an outside zone run play where you’re trying to tie in blockers to the course of the ball carrier, you get better in pass protection by getting better connected from the blockers and the launch point from the quarterback and having consistency with the depth and what you’re blocking for. I think that’s stuff that this group will really challenge you on, because any time you have speed with adept rushes, particularly on the edge, they can really expand your pocket. And if you’re not tied together with your launch point and where your blockers are, you can have individual pass protectors get edged pretty quickly, and there’s a lot of space that is tough to protect against. I think they’re a great group to start with because they’re super talented that if you’re not on your game, you will be exposed, and I think that’s something that you have to be used to in the National Football League in terms of protecting the passer because you don’t get a week off from elite pass rushers and unified fronts.”
(Can I get an update on two guys? OL Aaron Brewer and DT Benito Jones, where are they in terms of their practice participation levels and close to readiness for the season?) – “Well, you’re going to see them participate in practice this week. Boom.”
(OL Aaron Brewer can handle the snapping with the hand?) – “You have to let the player do it, but that’s the anticipation. Fortunately enough for our group, we’ll see how that progresses. I feel great about our starting offensive line, I also feel great about the contingencies we have in place should we have a different version of that this week. So all things, I’m confident by the work orchestrated by the individual players, and how that will play out over the course of the week, my crystal ball is broke, but we’ll take it one step at a time.”
(Why great? What would you describe great about what you…?) – “Because of the adversity we’ve had since the spring has proven to be a wonderful opportunity to really get looks at players in different spots, and got a lot of work, extra communication from all the individuals, so it’s almost like they got extra reps from the spring into the fall just because the different lineup changes that we had and the different injuries we were managing from spring into training camp. It’s almost as if it was the training staff’s diabolical plan to mix up the groups early, so that we can just not even bat an eye once we got into regular season mode.”
(WR Tyreek Hill and WR Jaylen Waddle, how are they recovering from their injury deals?) – “They’ll be practicing today. No setbacks to relay as of yet. They’ll be out on the field today.”
(How has LB Chop Robinson grown from Day 1 of training camp to today? Is he ready for game action?) – “Grown a lot just because we ask a lot from edge defenders in our defense. You ask to be not only of primary importance in the run game but in the pass game as well. I think understanding the box that you kind of have to play within as a pass rusher is huge. Gone are the days of running the hoop 11 yards that you can get some college productivity at. Typically you have to really tighten that angle because quarterbacks don’t drop back as far, as well as just different keys to how to play the game within the game. Different stance keys that kind of diagnose run or pass, situational awareness, all of these things, he doesn’t waste a day out on the field which is good news for us because he is a talented player that we are counting on to contribute. I would expect nothing else from – that’s the great thing about Chop (Robinson) is he attacks each practice the way a veteran would where you’re trying to get something out of it and adding to the tools of your game.”
(Presumably you guys took a close look at WR Brian Thomas Jr. in the pre-draft period. What was your evaluation of him as a player?) – “Super talented player that has a unique combination of being able to be a down the field third level receiver that can track and make plays down the field, while also having a route running skill set to do your underneath and intermediate routes. You see a very talented individual that can take his game as far as he wants to take it. I think it’s adding to the plethora of LSU Tigers out there in the league. He’s a very talented individual that we will be well aware of when he’s out there on the field. It won’t be a surprise, because we did a lot of work on him coming out.”
(What are some factors that you’ll consider each week as far as running back touches? Obviously, those guys are healthy right now – you have a lot of talent in that room. What are some of the things you think about each week?) – “Each week just trying to get individuals opportunities and let those opportunities shape their overall breadth of how many touches they get in the course of a game. I think it’s important to make sure that guys have the opportunity to – it doesn’t take long in a game for you to get a guy a couple carries, then the next guy gets a couple carries, and then you feel, ‘OK, well, this dude, it’s one of his days. We better lean on this guy and give him more.’ So it’s just to get everybody involved is important for me and then letting the game take its course on who’s competitive edge we’re going to lean on the most.”
(You’re in a unique spot at receiver because obviously you have three veterans in WR Tyreek Hill, WR Jaylen Waddle and WR Braxton Berrios. But then you have options this week. You have two young guys at 4 and 5 in WR Grant DuBose and WR Malik Washington, and then you have two really experienced guys on the practice squad in WR Robbie Chosen and WR Dee Eskridge, and obviously WR Erik Ezukanma is coming back from his injury. How unique or difficult is this call on whether to elevate the practice squad guys or go with the young guys? I know Special Teams Coordinator Danny Crossman is a part of that decision. Is that kind of an unusual spot to be in?) – “I guess in a healthy regard, yes it would be unusual just because there’s a couple different directions that you can go. Again, you try to facilitate the most opportunities possible; taking advantage of the extra day of practice we have this week is huge for us to shape the direction we’re going to go. We just have a lot of different versatility, not only in the receiver room but really at all the skill positions offensively that you, week-in, week-out, have the ability to tailor how it’s going to manifest towards the people that you have. I think the bottom line is that I feel very good about where that room is at because of the existing assets that we had, and the people we were able to add I think fit the mold of what we’re trying to do and trying to be as fast, physical with as elite technique as possible. However we deploy that, I think having versatility and options helps you in a competitive scenario against opponents week-in, week-out.”
(What did you like with QB Tim Boyle?) – “So I had followed him through the course of his NFL journey. There was some good overlap tape that I’ve had in previous years, and then this past preseason I thought he did a great job. I think it helped me personally having personnel connections with two of his previous coaches, that being Bobby Slowik as a play calling offensive coordinator in Houston, as well as Matt LeFleur in Green Bay because you want to add value to the room, and you want to make sure the personalities fit and really the group can grow together. I think not only as a player but as a person, that’s where Boyle fit for me and fit for our group, so we’re fired up to have him.”
