Sources: Dolphins extend McDaniel through ’28

MIAMI — The Dolphins have agreed to a three-year extension with Mike McDaniel, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, keeping their head coach in south Florida through the 2028 season.

McDaniel is entering his third season with the Dolphins and has led them to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons, joining Dave Wannstedt and Don Shula as the only coaches in franchise history to do so. After going 26 years without a top-10 offense, Miami has fielded one in each of the past two seasons, leading the league in total yards in 2023.

Miami has not won a playoff game since the 1999 season, and lost a pair of AFC wild-card games under McDaniel, but a source told ESPN that McDaniel’s working relationships with general manager Chris Grier, CEO Tom Garfinkel and Senior VP of Football and Business Administration Brandon Shore have convinced owner Steve Ross that he’s the right coach to end the playoff win drought.

McDaniel has made an especially noticeable impact on Tua Tagovailoa‘s development; the quarterback has turned in the two best seasons of his career under McDaniel and led the NFL in passing yards last season.

Tagovailoa signed a four-year extension this offseason, which now lines up with McDaniel’s extension through the 2028 season.

The Dolphins were the only team to interview McDaniel during the 2022 offseason, hiring him for his first head-coaching job. He has drawn rave reviews from players and staff for not only his football mind, but also his ability to connect with others — something Ross said was an important quality for a head coach to have after firing Brian Flores in 2022.

“We took a chance, but I was impressed by him,” Ross said in an interview with CBS Miami this preseason. “I mean, his intelligence and as a person he’s unique certainly, and he’s doing a great job. Everybody loves him.”