The Miami Dolphins’ top decision makers will sit down with San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel and Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore this weekend to decide who will replace Brian Flores as the franchise’s 11th head coach.

Unless a dark-horse candidate enters the mix in the 11th hour, which isn’t expected, the Dolphins will be picking between a former college football quarterback legend, who worked his way up the NFL coaching ranks quickly, or the Ivy League-educated game-planning wizard, who is supposedly the mastermind behind the 49ers physical rushing attack.

Neither candidate has prior head coach experience, but that has never been a prerequisite for Dolphins owner Steve Ross, who will apparently is prepared to hire a fourth straight coach who has never served as a head coach in their coaching career.

McDaniel will meet with the team for the second time on Friday in South Florida, and Moore will sit down with Ross and his selection committee again on Saturday.

McDaniel, 38, just completed his first season as the 49ers offensive coordinator after spending the previous four years with the team as the run game coordinator (2018-20) and run game specialist (2017).

San Francisco’s offense has featured one of the NFL’s most physical rushing attacks, averaging 131.1 rushing yards per game in the three seasons he was the run game coordinator. This season, the 49ers ranked seventh in yards per game (375.7), seventh in rushing yards per game (127.4), 13th in points per game (25.1), first in red-zone efficiency and 17th in sacks per passing attempt with Jimmy Garoppolo as the team’s starting quarterback.

The 49ers were a win a way from playing in the franchise’s second Super Bowl in three seasons. But McDaniel, who played receiver at Yale, where he earned a degree in history, doesn’t call plays. Head coach Kyle Shanahan does.

“Mike is phenomenal,” said Jets coach Robert Saleh said of McDaniel, who he’s worked with for seven seasons in Houston and San Francisco, during this week’s Senior Bowl practices, according to Yahoo.com. “His mindset, the way he creates things, the outside-the-box thinking, his ability to communicate with people, he’s as good as they get.”

McDaniel is biracial since his father was the product of an interracial relationship. If hired he’d be the first, and possibly only person of color to be named a head coach in the nine openings that became available this cycle.

The biggest concern about McDaniel is identifying whether he’s a leader of men, able to command a locker room, and if he can put together a quality staff of assistants. That last component is usually an issue with first-time head coaches.

But Moore faces similar concerns.

Moore, 33, had a standout career at Boise State University, where he set all kinds of FBS records while posting a 50-3 record as a starter. He finished the 2009 regular season with the highest passer-efficiency rating (167.3) in Division I-A history.

The left-handed quarterback wasn’t selected in the 2012 NFL draft because of his limited size (6-foot) and arm strength, but he spent his first three seasons with the Detroit Lions.

He joined the Cowboys in 2015, reuniting with Scott Linehan, his former offensive coordinator, who served as the offensive coordinator in Dallas.

Moore spent three seasons as a player with the Cowboys before becoming the team’s quarterback coach in 2018. A year later, he was promoted to offensive coordinator once Jason Garrett was fired. Mike McCarthy kept him in that role when hired in 2020.

The Cowboys, who were led by two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Dak Prescott, had the NFL’s top-ranked offense last season, producing 407 yards per game and 31.2 points per game. The Cowboys’ offense ranked sixth in red-zone efficiency, ninth in rushing yards per game, and finished the 2021 season ranked sixth in sacks allowed per passing play.

The previous season, when Prescott missed all but five games because of season-ending ankle injury, the Cowboys ranked 14th in yards per game (371.8) and 17th in scoring per game (24.7) with veteran Andy Dalton as the team’s starter the rest of the way.

Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones addressed Miami’s interest in Moore earlier this week at the Senior Bowl.

“I think the world of Kellen and that’s why we want him back,” Jones told the Cowboys team website from the Senior Bowl. “I’m not rooting against him to further his career. Hopefully, it works out selfishly that we can keep him.”