Mike McDaniel – May 28, 2024
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Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Head Coach Mike McDaniel
(How does it feel to be in your third year of coaching and now having the type of coaching tree with Teddy Bridgewater at the high school level at Miami Northwestern?) – “I am glad you brought that to my attention. I needed the ego boost – I have a tree. (laughter) I hadn’t thought of Coach Bridgewater as a disciple of my tree, but technically I guess you’re right and it’s cool to see. I kind of had an idea that Teddy would go this direction when he was kind of figuring things out and what he wanted to do. He’s a very talented individual and has a lot of things that he could do with his time, but he’s passionate about football so it doesn’t surprise me. That’s pretty cool, Year 3, to have a tree. That means there’s growth in life. It’s not fall and there’s not people scattering around the league just getting fired because of their association with me so that’s good.”
(I wanted to ask you about Year 3, but primarily QB Tua Tagovailoa. One, is he going to be here today and then two, what kind of growth do you think you can expect from a guy who’s still young and this is the first time he’s ever been in a third year in an offense and I know last year you were at the point where he was directing you in terms of what he liked or what he felt. What do you expect as you continue to grow?) – “That’s been a cool process because you have two years under your belt together where all you’ve seen is his game progress and I think Year 3, we really got to take a step back and assess not just the things that he liked or looked comfortable with, but what are some things that maybe he hasn’t looked comfortable with in the past that we can get him some comfort levels with. We’ve kind of re-challenged ourselves and how we verbalize stuff, and the bottom line is our connectivity with how we see things and what we’re trying to do with every different assignment. That can always get cleaner and I think it really has. I think there’s been some cool things. He will be here today and in the short amount of time – he had two practices last week, and we saw some growth and development within what we’re specifically asking him to do. So it’s been very exciting because at this point we’re like, ‘Alright, well let’s really push ourselves to really challenge this guy,’ because all he ends up doing is rising to the challenge within what we ask him to do. I think to expect the same if not more growth within your game from each year, I don’t think is crazy. I think for us to expect just as much if not more from Year 2 to Year 3 is very safe for our expectations and I know he feels the same way, too. There’s a lot of places where we can get our game better so excited about this opportunity on May 28.”
(Have you seen a difference from him? He hired that personal quarterback coach. Now in OTAs, I know he’s only had two practices. Is there something that you’ve seen personally, like, woah that’s been surprising that’s caught your eye?) – “I think the deliberate intentionality with anything you do renders some unexpected consequences that are definitely desirable. I think he without thinking has probably generated a little more force on some throws that he’s trying to drive. I have actually extensive experience with the coach that he’s working with, John Beck. I was a coach in 2011 for the Washington team that he quarterbacked and have been on a couple teams where he’s worked with some of the quarterbacks that we’ve had already. So there’s some familiarity with that which is awesome because with John, he knows what we’re trying to do and the direction or how we ask the quarterback to play. I think just that connectivity to your game and trying to unearth every single inch and iota of professional development; that in itself, you’re headed in the right direction. So I think there’s some things that I’ll probably see every day and when you talk to him, I think there’s some times that he’s effortlessly doing some of the things that he’s used to doing, just not having to think as much because he’s been so deep diving into his trade.”
(How important do you find it to have a lot of your top guys together for these sessions? Granted, they’re voluntary and also what can you gain when a lot of starters are away?) – “There’s probably two things existing simultaneously in that this is all voluntary, but there’s ways to get better in a team environment each and every day. So for me, individually kind of assessing each circumstance, the good news is with this team and with the players on it, they communicate with me very well so I kind of know what’s coming. As long as I know what’s coming, you can plan for the opportunity, and I mean, shoot, in the two seasons that I’ve been the head coach here, you see how much your roster’s depth comes into question as the course of the season goes. When there aren’t guys on a certain day attending practice, there are guys that supremely benefit from that. The biggest thing as a team, I think the connectivity where people’s expectations on how our standard of practice is, anybody that hasn’t been at practice, people getting more reps because of it have taken advantage of it in that they’ve known their assignment and we’re actually coaching them on technique and fundamentals within the play and not what they should be doing. So because of the team and their mindset and the way they’ve really gone about it this offseason, we’ve had a tremendous offseason of growth really in our schematics and our fundamentals, because people have taken advantage of opportunities. So that doesn’t necessarily – that’s not always the case. So in situations where people don’t rise to the challenge or really understand the opportunity presented when they may be getting reps with the ones instead of the twos or they may be getting reps with the twos instead of the threes; when people don’t rise to those occasions, it substantially affects your team. I’m happy to say that we’ve had really a lot of growth in what we’re trying to do in our practices and the guys that haven’t been here in a voluntary situation, I don’t see it hurting our team right now.”
(Have you had a chance to see WR Tyreek Hill, WR Jaylen Waddle and WR Odell Beckham Jr. together on the field yet?) – “Their individual processes through the offseason, where they’re at; we’ve haven’t had that opportunity yet, but I’m not in any hurry to see that. Each individual has to earn their keep and earn their targets, so having all three at the same time isn’t necessarily a big deal to me. It’s each and every one of them understanding our offense, how to separate in the timing of the play, understanding how to align and who and what to block; all those things are the most important to me especially as you are right live in the offseason.”
(Quick follow up if I may with WR Tyreek Hill, I remember the last couple of years, he wouldn’t want to take a play off during practices. Now that he’s 30 and got to think about the long term for him, do you kind of ramp him down some in the summer to…?) – “Another great benefit of Year 3, especially with the guys that this is their third year in this program with me as the head coach understanding who they are and how to best serve those individuals is huge. So knowing Tyreek’s all-or-nothing type of mindset on the grass, yes, we do take that into account. There’s multiple times that he’s usually trying to talk us into it, but we’re talking him out of participation on the field knowing where his Ferrari horsepower is at and making sure that stays that way so it is very helpful with some of the types of practice players we have – knowing them and being able to keep them out of harm’s way as best we can.”
(Regarding QB Tua Tagovailoa again, I’m going to bring up a word you used last week about him being “svelte.” About a year ago at this time, the thinking was the added weight would help his durability and as it turned out, he played all 17 games. So obviously there’s been some kind of shift in the thinking now. Can you kind of take us through the decision?) – “That’s a very understandable misconception. We were not on an offseason weight program last year, it was strength. So him getting stronger and the unintended consequences for him personally and he saw his game, his strength increased but he felt like he could have the same amount of strength and kind of reshape his body and be a little lighter on his feet. So it’s kind of the natural evolution of you get stronger and then you really pay attention to your diet, the times that you’re eating and when your caloric intake is, those types of things, so he can maintain those strength gains while also being a little more limber in the pocket I think is what’s drove him to kind of attack that which he’s done a great job of.”
(There’s been discussions with the NFLPA and players that came out today about moving OTAs before training camp staring next year. Obviously, this year we have the current format, but I’m curious your thoughts of the split and maybe how it changes how you coach knowing there’s a six-week gap coming up?) – “To an annoying degree, I don’t really have opinions on ‘we could.’ To me, mastering the time from the end of the season to the beginning of it is something that everyone is trying to really execute in a high degree. My only history from the coaching profession is under the current kind of pattern that we really operate under, and with those, you have to really be intentional with the types of things you’re doing, the buildup, the ramp up and then it’s kind of like a trust fall when you take that break between the end of this period of time now to when you see the players again. I can understand why the schedule is as it is and of course, there’s going to be a lot of retooling. If that does change, I can understand the whys and whatfors. Apparently, we might be on deck to have the longest season of all time. With that, if you don’t adjust your schedule – so we obviously will – and if that comes to fruition, but it doesn’t really bother me either way. Whatever the rules are, you just have to be very mindful and intentional of what you’re doing within those rules and we can adjust to whatever. If you come back a month earlier, I’ll probably have different types of breaks and different types of evening meeting schedules and you’re just constantly evolving to have your team full-cylinder Week 1. So it’ll just be an adjustment of calendar stuff which is a whole lot of fun. If you guys want to come to the office on that day if we are to retool our schedule, it’s going to be awesome. I mean you talk about some really stuff within the calendar. But we’ll adjust to do right by the players and maximize their performance which is our jobs.”
(Where does RB De’Von Achane go from – how does he build on his rookie season? What areas do you hope he develops in over the course of this offseason?) – “I think important offseason for him because you were just really hanging on by your coattails as a rookie in this league in general. The way things are kind of structured is there’s so much time devoted to working out and getting your testing numbers right and then the second that you – and you’re training for kind of these timed measurables. Then you immediately transition once you’re drafted into kind of practicing. You get a little breath of a break and then you’re still on your rookie season. Year 2, you kind of let everything settle, understand much more of the whys of everything that you do and for him, the more he can understand within the offense, the more ways he can get the ball. He had outstanding ball production, some of which I know he feels specifically that there’s more out there from the opportunities he had last year and then being able to find different ways to get people the ball whether that’s different types of pass routes, whether that’s different types of run schemes that you can get comfortable with, all those things. More ways to be at the point of attack to play within this offense, that’s what this offseason really provides for him. Seeing some strength gains and you can tell by his body he’s put some work into it and then him just understanding everything about our offense so he can be as big a part of it as possible. That’s his goal.”
(To follow up real quick on that, where is that line between taking the next step as a sophomore, as a Year 2 guy versus maybe entering a sophomore slump?) – “It is real. It is ever-present. It is never going to go away in the game, because a lot of times lessons have to be learned the hard way. A lot of times if you have success as a rookie, you go one of two ways: you’re either starved for more or you can get kind of comfortable. I know each and every year there are examples for both and that’s something that we were talking with De’Von (Achane) in our exit interviews when he was exiting the building that whatever you did this year, are you expecting more or less? Well, if you’re expecting more, you definitely can’t do less. You get out what you put in, and I think he’s aware of that because nobody wants to have the climax of their career be the first year so you just keep it real with guys and very honest and bring up examples that’s happened in the course of your career and try to give them the most tools to succeed the way you know that they want to, because a lot of times people always say, ‘Yeah, I want to be better,’ but it just doesn’t happen.”
