Mike McDaniel – May 17, 2022
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Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(Opening statement) – “The Miami Dolphins truly appreciate your guys’ support, but I’m going to have to call in to question your priorities. We have two playoff games (in South Florida) today. (laughter)”
(We’ll be there.) – “Okay, just making sure. I mean, OTAs are very important. I’ve been telling the players the same thing, but playoffs? (laughter) You guys got anything? We good?”
(I guess we could ask you about the two recent additions since the draft. With RB Sony Michel, was the thinking just you can’t have enough quality backs obviously with RB Chase Edmonds and RB Raheem Mostert and RB Myles Gaskin and RB Salvon Ahmed? And with LB Melvin Ingram was there just a feel that another edge player could help for depth reasons?) – “Well, the latter of the two, I have not seen pen to paper yet. So revert. (laughter) We’ll talk about our Dolphins players, but hopefully we’ll be able to talk about him soon. Sony (Michel) – if you have an opportunity in the offseason to add a player of his caliber, of his pedigree, just him as a human being and a multiple Super Bowl winner, we jumped at the opportunity. His interest fit our interest and competition for the Miami Dolphins is only a good thing. I think one thing that’s unique about that particular room is no one shies away from competition. Everybody in there is excited for the offense, for the opportunities and wants the best man to win and aren’t backing away from that.”
(And with RB Raheem Mostert, are all indications of his recovery suggesting that he should be ready for the start of the season? Do you feel good about that?) – “I know his expectations are to play Week 1 and we are not going to rush it. He’s come too far to have a setback, so he’s just diligently working day-in and day-out. But when he’s ready, he’ll be on the field for sure.”
(What is something you want to instill or establish in your team at this early stage in OTAs?) – “I think we’ve begun that process. There’s three phases in an NFL offseason. Phase I is meeting room-exclusive. We’re currently in Phase III where we’re actually able to practice for the second time. In Phase II, you get to do some drill work and coach them on the field, not in team settings. But all three phases are really cool to me for the specific reason that you get to coach and not prepare for an opponent. So we’re learning a different language on one side of the ball and we’re refining a language on the other side of the ball, but realistically you want guys committed to getting better and you want to really establish how you’re going to go about business. We had a bunch of time to prepare for – we had two voluntary minicamps and now this afternoon, you guys will see our second OTA and what was important to me was you don’t skip steps in this business. So if we want to make strides and progress as an organization and as a football team, we have to position ourselves so that when we come back for training camp, that we’re able to practice and operate at a high-caliber level that fits our goals. There’s no easy way to do that. You just don’t wish things to happen. You take matters into your hands in the game of football. And the guys, I am very proud of the way they’ve approached everything from that standpoint.”
(We haven’t asked you yet, I don’t believe, about a player with sort of an interesting skillset. Your views on WR Lynn Bowden Jr. and what he can offer?) – “Lynn, he does have an interesting skillset. I’ve always been drawn to players that have multiple positions, specifically quarterback, experience, because of the way they see the game. Lynn’s been battling some hamstring stuff. He’s been diligent in the meeting room and we don’t really get ahead of myself when we’re looking at our team, and I don’t think his teammates should either. We’ll know if Lynn’s ready to contribute to the team when he’s on the field and we’re trying to get him there, and he’s making sure – I know he’s making sure – that he’s prepared for his opportunity when he is healthy.”
(I wanted to ask you about the offense in terms of what unit or what group is it the most difficult to sort of implement this offense, teach them what you want to do fundamentally and the core scheme?) – “The most drastic disparity from whatever you’d call ‘traditional’ – you enter it when you’re coaching players. You’re very aware of their past coaching. You make yourself aware of that so that you can best articulate ‘hey, this is like this’ or ‘this is not like this.’ The biggest disparity from a traditional standpoint is the offensive line without a doubt, and it is a full-scale commitment to certain principles and ownership of fundamentals that we ask them to do and to major in. So as far as the offseason program is concerned, it’s almost built for our offensive linemen in terms of how to approach things because you need about two weeks of an hour-and-a-half or an hour-and-45-minute meetings, which is what Phase I allows you, to digest ‘hey, we’re asking you to run off the ball, we’re asking you to have these landmarks, we’re asking you not to hesitate.’ And then in Phase II, you can kind of drill it. I think in terms of Johnny-don’t-know-his-name coming on the team and then all of a sudden being thrown into the mix, I think it’s the hardest position because we are so committed to our fundamentals and technique. And offensive linemen are like officials, I would say, where you’re not talking about them and that’s a good thing; and they have scars from when they are talked about, so to get them to just let go and let all that stuff – let the past be the past and move forward is the most deliberate and intentional thing that as a coaching staff we have to do. One of the reasons that kind of shaped my whole vision for hiring a coaching staff is I wanted to make sure that the guys that were touching those players, we would be able to see the results of the scheme and people that really dive in and invest, understand where they’re coming from, some of the stuff they have in their past and let that go and move forward. And I feel very, very comfortable and confident and happy with starting with Matt Applebaum and ‘Lem’ (Lemuel Jeanpierre) has been doing an outstanding job understanding everything that we’re trying to do. Mike Person and then Frank Smith, obviously the offensive coordinator. So that position is probably – I’m not sure if … Do you have any interest in the offensive line position? (laughter) Am I boring you? (laughter) It’s exciting, too, because you get to see guys at that position. I feel like we’re kind of – it’s liberating to a degree because, listen, if I were to tell you that on this team – and this is my seventh team, I’ve been in a lot of different places – but this is as athletic and capable of any group, you might be like, ‘Huh? Are you crazy?’ But they really are and they’re hungry and committed and it’s been really, really rewarding to watch them work, see the benefits and then more than that, what’s going to happen with your first adversity because this just in, offensive linemen have adversity. They live in adversity. And how are they going to respond to a run play where they’re short of their aiming point and Christian (Wilkins) makes you pay in the backfield or (Zach) Sieler or whoever. And that’s the fun part of this part of the year is you get to focus on them and not an opponent.”
(Can you talk a little bit about what you see from the rookies and undrafted free agents so far, besides just their physical traits and what they can do on the field but maybe their character and how they fit within the team?) – “Overall as a group, I feel that all the parties involved in acquiring them – I hold undrafted free agents with high esteem. They aren’t just throw-ins. They are important to me. We’ve had a multitude of success over the years having undrafted free agents really impact your team. What I will say is as a group, it’s a testament to the organization’s scouting department, Chris Grier and the collection of people, because we have the right types of people. This is overwhelming. You have to understand that rookies, people don’t really view it this way but I was just talking to the guys yesterday, is they are coming in trying to make a living at something amongst people that have been doing it professionally for years. You’re doing that in a language that you’re like, ‘What?’ You just got introduced this stuff so you’re triple behind the eight-ball. You get to find out fast if guys are tough-minded enough. I will say, they are made of the right stuff so far having one weekend with them and then this being the second OTA.”
(We saw recently that you have joint practices with the Buccaneers this preseason. What can you get out of that and are there any other joint practices that this team will have?) – “Joint practices are outstanding for everyone involved. There’s only so far you can go when going against each other before things start to hurt more than they help. Having different schemes, coverages, is incredibly impactful. Having different offenses for run fits and all of that stuff is super impactful. We’re going to start out, we’re practicing two days against Tampa and can’t wait to see you guys type really fast but we are going to have joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles as well. Both scenarios I feel very fortunate that things worked out with Coach (Todd) Bowles and Coach (Nick) Sirianni. We’re excited about that and I think our players will be too.”
(When you first arrived here, you talked about this being your dream job and you’ve worked for 20 years towards it. I was just curious, over the course of getting here, teaching, coaching and getting on the grass – how does your experience lived up to the expectation of your dream job?) – “Surpassed it. It’s just really fun to express a lot of the things that you didn’t know if you would ever have the opportunity to do. I am surrounded with so many people that are supporting and help driving the force that it really, truly feels like a team that we’re working together for a common goal. Which that is what football is all about.”
(Two, probably three guys on this team are not only fast but eager to show they are the fastest on this team. Are you going to let them race and most importantly are we going to see it?) – “Hmm. (laughter) Well, with a persuasive argument maybe you can convince – I’m not going to tell them not to race. I love competitors. I’m also not going to force them to race. So if I were you guys and they would do so at one of the five practices that you guys are at, and you guys were able to persuade them to do it at one, the guy pushing for my race the hardest I would put my wagers on amongst your betting selves. I would not bet because there are some very, very fast guys on the team. But I enjoy the fact that they are competitive about that and I would never keep them from doing so. I’m more trying to get them to figure out how to run a route, defend a go-ball or run the ball – did I cover all my bases? I did? – than to have them compete in a race. We do track miles per hour on every practice so they don’t necessarily need to race side by side for me to put that in front of them as a motivating factor.”
(You have to tell us who the fastest now if you know you’re tracking it.) – “I mean, I don’t have to. (laughter) It wouldn’t be fair yet because not all players are able to take part in the race yet. There’s been a good amount of 21 and 22 mile per hour runners out there. I’m not going to be mad if there’s more additionally in the future.”
(If you’re willing to share this in May, anyone beyond RB Raheem Mostert and WR Lynn Bowden Jr. if we don’t see out there today going full or going out there at all that are out for health reasons, injury reasons that you are able to share so we are not guessing when we are out there watching?) – “You don’t technically have to guess. You can just holler at me and I can answer your question. (laughter) As far as that test question, I don’t really know off the top of my head. I know (our communications staff) is probably sitting there like, ‘Yes you do,’ and I’m like ‘No, I don’t.’ The veterans that have earned the right over their career and the science backs it up that it’s not best-served for them to be out there, we’re not going to put them out there. From any given day, that can vary. We try to be very intentional and deliberate in everything we do. There’s no absolute with anything. The best thing for the Dolphins is each and every player is ready for Week 1. However we get there is the way we will handle those things.”
