REPORT: McDaniel Staying, Dolphins to go with Co-GM Style Approach
It appears the Dolphins are going to do it again. They won’t do a clean sweep of Head Coach and General Manager, and will do a half measure of forcing this head coach on a new GM.
Per Jones: “League sources indicate to CBS Sports a belief that McDaniel is likely to return as head coach of the Dolphins next season, this despite the team being eliminated from postseason contention Monday night against the Steelers and as McDaniel benched franchise quarterback Tua Tagovailoa this week. Seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers will start Sunday vs. the Bengals.Â
“They love Mike,” said one league source. “They felt like he’s had a tough hand and they want to give him a shot.”
Multiple prospective head coach and general manager candidates, as well as agents, told CBS Sports they are now operating under the belief the Dolphins will keep McDaniel with three games remaining in the season.”
Jones goes on to discuss Miami’s open general manager position, and it appears Brandon Shore, the team’s SVP of Football and Business Administration, will serve as part GM, handling some of the GM’s duties. At the same time, the Dolphins look to hire a talent evaluator to do the other GM duties—sort of a co-GM situation.
Jones said: “Brandon Shore, the team’s SVP of football and business administration, has been more involved since Grier’s departure, sources say, which isn’t unusual considering his 16 years with the team and five years in this role. The increased role during this interim GM tenure could continue, though.
Sources say the Dolphins may look for a true football evaluator and roster manager at GM with Shore handling the other duties that been added to a GM’s plate in today’s NFL. That setup is not dissimilar to what had already been in place with Grier, a long-time personnel man, and would be in line with what several other NFL teams do. Perhaps the best and most successful example of such a setup is the L.A. Rams with Les Snead at GM and Tony Pastoors at COO.
Jones goes on to say there are still three games left and decisions to be made, but the Dolphins seem prepared for their immediate future.
Now, Jones does mention other teams around the league have this CO-GM style, so it isn’t out of the ordinary in today’s NFL.
In my opinion, this doesn’t work, though, for the most part. The NFL isn’t a wheel that needs reinventing.
The recipe for winning in the NFL is a top-down power structure, and the Dolphins will not have that.
Plus, once again, in the roughly 17 or 18 years that Stephen Ross has owned the team, he will not fire both the GM and head coach at the same time.
He is always forcing one on a new hire.
What general manager would want to come here and be forced to coach Mike McDaniel? And now be told, you aren’t a full GM, and Brandon Shore will do half or a portion of your job?
The candidate pool Miami will be talking to will be very weak, to say the least.
This is not a winning front office structure if this is the path the Dolphins are going to take here in the coming weeks.
