Before new Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel approached the microphone at the NFL’s annual league meeting for his first public comments since his team’s big offseason haul, a soon-to-be adversary stopped him to say hello.
It was a pairing of old school and new school in the AFC East as New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, stationed to speak next to McDaniel on Monday morning at a ballroom at The Breakers, had a quick conversation with the new division rival.
“I feel like I’m a couple of wins behind him in the win-loss column,” McDaniel said of interacting with Belichick, who is 321 regular and postseason wins, to be exact, ahead of the first-time head coach. “I have the utmost respect and admiration for a coach of his caliber. One of the best ever, if not the best ever to do it.
“It’s OK to respect people and acknowledge all the things they’ve done for the game of football. And acknowledge where it might be if he hadn’t been there. I think that’s important. Also, I’m the professional football coach for the Miami Dolphins. We’re going to have to play him twice a year. There’s some competitiveness there that’s sort of entertaining to say the least. I was happy to talk to him. He’s a tremendous human being, football coach. I’ll be excited to go against him next year.”
McDaniel will be more excited to go against him with the likes of two offseason additions: wide receiver Tyreek Hill and left tackle Terron Armstead.
McDaniel, known as an innovative, creative offensive mind from his time with San Francisco 49ers, offered his reaction when he learned the Dolphins were in position to trade for the speedy Hill and sign him to a record contract extension for a wide receiver.
“There was a lot of stuff going on in the brain,” McDaniel said. “You’re not sure if it’s true. You get involved in these processes and there are a lot of things that come across your desk. So, I was trying to be a pro, and understanding don’t get ahead of yourself. But it was very exciting to go through the process.”
McDaniel sounded more enthused on Monday with infusing Hill into the locker room as an energetic leader than anything he plans to do with him schematically.
“There is a lot of youth on our team, and he has a lot of outstanding experience,” said McDaniel about Hill, who has made the Pro Bowl in all six of his NFL seasons. “And really trying to just start next week, get him in the door, have him learn our language and utilize his vast array of skill sets in a multitude of ways. But you’ve got to start with a foundation. Much like building a house, you’ve got to build a football team, and we’ve got to start with how to line up and what cadences are and how to come off the ball and utilize every single asset that he has in his body.”
Both Hill and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, last week mentioned the way McDaniel used Pro Bowl wideout Deebo Samuel, including him in the running game along with his pass-catching, as something that appealed to them in Miami. McDaniel backed up the notion that he could find similar, innovative ways to incorporate Hill.
“We’ll use Tyreek Hill relative to the way Deebo Samuel was used in San Francisco,” he said. “There’s probably going to be some overlap to some degree from San Francisco. I expect no difference, really, with Tyreek.”
The other prized acquisition, free agent tackle Terron Armstead, will definitely remain on the left side with the Dolphins, according to McDaniel. But outside of Armstead at left tackle, McDaniel notes he’ll have to figure out the rest of the offensive line, including free agent guard Connor Williams, determining where they fit best in his scheme.
McDaniel backed up the answers new quarterback Teddy Bridgewater gave reporters last week where Bridgewater declined to get into specifics on the dynamic between Tua Tagovailoa and he in their starter-backup roles.
“That’s an example of Teddy being a true professional,” McDaniel said. “And being experienced in this business, that [the starter and the backup] is for us to talk about, really not him. If you guys remember, around the Combine, I was describing specifically what I thought Tua really needed, in support with a backup quarterback. There, unbeknownst to you guys, I was quite literally describing Teddy Bridgewater at the time, just not using his name.
“Both players have been explicitly explained their roles and expectations. And for that room to be their best, they need to know that. And moving forward, we’re very excited to have Teddy as part of the process and hope to win some games with both those guys, working together and empowering Tua to be the best player he can be. That’s something that Teddy takes serious and is excited to do that.”
McDaniel also touched on the team retaining tight end Mike Gesicki via franchise tag and defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, signing him to a long-term extension.
“We were very, very fortunate to retain both players, just because what you’re talking about is professional players who know the process, know how to execute and perform on a week in, week out basis.”
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