Cover sports long enough, and you're bound to be wrong an almost-countless number of times. Happy to say that believing in Mike McDaniel as a head coach — even if it
was only based on his awesome press conferences and rumored schematic genius as Kyle Shanahan's longtime right-hand man — was not one of those times. McDaniel has proven he can construct an elite offense around Tua Tagovailoa, who many on the NFL streets consider to be a "mediocre" or "non-Super Bowl" quarterback. The other way to look at that is, McDaniel had the vision and grasp of what Tua is best at, played to his strengths, and has continued to adapt and evolve as Tua has. You know, not shoehorning your players into your scheme. Tailoring your ways to what they do best. Because of his diminutive stature and self-deprecating demeanor, many people questioned whether McDaniel was the man for the job when the Miami Dolphins hired him as their new head coach in the wake of the
turbulent Brian Flores era . Two playoff appearances later, with Tua only getting to start once in a historically-freezing game against the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs, and McDaniel has established himself as one of the best in the sport. All of these elements have helped Tyreek Hill's career reach another stratosphere. Unfortunately, a minor driving pun-intended speed bump came up in the midst of Tyreek's skyrocketing trajectory prior the Dolphins' 20-17 win over the Jaguars on Sunday. Some overzealous police officers pulled Tyreek over,
threatened to break his window , and then dragged him out of the car and
handcuffed him on the ground . It was a whole power-tripping spectacle. Even Tyreek's new teammate Calais Campbell was detained. Fellow Miami newcomer Jonnu Smith was at the scene as well. https://twitter.com/NolanFried73315/status/1832789458988433468 What's always made McDaniel stand out to me is how he drives home the point of how he takes a player's development very personally. He's helping them realize and achieve their wildest dreams in the NFL, with the understanding that they have such a finite window to maximize their earnings and flourish at their athletic peaks. It's clear that McDaniel's care and compassion carry over to the actual lives of his players away from the field, too. That was never more apparent than when he took the podium Monday to talk about the whole Tyreek arrest situation. https://twitter.com/MySportsUpdate/status/1833227060887638125 The reason McDaniel got so choked up is that he couldn't relate to those dire circumstances on a personal level for reasons he explains in more depth in his full answer. Well worth listening to. The Miami Dolphins also released a statement in light of the new bodycam footage: https://twitter.com/MiamiDolphins/status/1833316157463449919 It was obvious on Sunday that the players involved and himself were rattled. This all happened mere hours before kickoff, and well, the Dolphins weren't super dialed in out of the gates while falling into a 17-0 deficit. Naturally, lightning struck once Tyreek got the tiniest sliver of an opportunity. To his credit, 'Reek was able to make light of the scary police encounter by hitting
an end zone handcuff celebration after his 80-yard TD catch and run. https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1832862488175481217 https://twitter.com/carlosgil83/status/1832861683439845525 Circling back to the main subject of this post: Not that I had any questions about McDaniel's ability to lead men in the first place, but for anyone who does, I think that ignorant talking point can be laid to rest. Feel free to look back on McDaniel's first presser below. Everything he put out there about his philosophy, leadership style, and his approach to handling players has come to pass. The man is the genuine article. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvpbp9teMPk&t=1371s&pp=ygUrbWlrZSBtY2RhbmllbCBpbnRyb2R1Y3RvcnkgcHJlc3MgY29uZmVyZW5jZQ%3D%3D