The NFL, like most other professional landscapes, is about building connections.
Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has done plenty of that since entering the league as an intern with the Denver Broncos back in 2005. That’s where he first ran into Broncos safety, and eventual Hall of Famer, John Lynch.
Lynch and McDaniel would end up working together with the San Francisco 49ers from 2017-21. The former safety was, and still is, the general manager, while McDaniel worked his way from run-game coordinator to offensive coordinator before departing for Miami in 2022.
At the 2023 combine, after watching McDaniel and his Dolphins make the postseason for the first time since 2016, Lynch had nothing but good things to say about the coach.
“Yeah, Mike did a tremendous job,” Lynch said. “I’ve always known that about Mike, so vital to our success. He’s really sharp dude, not just because he went to Yale, just because he’s a really sharp dude who’s got all kinds of ideas and can kind of take the crazy outlandish and then make it fit into our core and our foundation, he’s got a real skill and he can adjust to his personnel as he did down there in Miami.
“Mike will do great things. He’s a really good friend who I really appreciate for what he gave to us and it’s great to see him and get to spend some time with him here, I’m pulling for him and the Dolphins moving forward.”
McDaniel is getting support from some of the brighter football minds in the league today, and now that he has an established defensive coordinator, we may just see the team from South Florida reach heights that haven’t been seen there in two decades.
