Miami Dolphins Make Major Commitment to Coach Mike McDaniel

After signing fifth-year quarterback Tua Tagovailoa to a four-year, $212.4 million contract extension with $167.1 million guaranteed that will keep the former No. 5 overall pick with the Dolphins through the 2028 campaign, Miami has made another major investment that should keep their 26-year-old quarterback happy until his contract runs out.

Just the third Dolphins head coach to make the playoffs in both of his first two seasons running the team, Mike McDaniel, whose initial contract was set to expire in 2025, signed a contract on Friday that extends him through the 2028 season.

The deal essentially ties Tagovailoa, who led the NFL in passing yards last season and set career highs in completion rate and touchdown passes as the leader of Miami's top-ranked offense in 2023, and McDaniel at the hip for the next five decades.

Tagovailoa, who had major issues with ex-Miami coach Brian Flores and recently referred to his former boss as a "terrible person," has to be excited McDaniel will be his coach for the foreseeable future as the Dolphins strive to win a game in the postseason for the first time since the 2000 season when Dave Wannstedt was running things.

After hiring McDaniel following the firing of Flores despite the team going 10-6 and 9-8 during his final two seasons in Miami, Dolphins owner Steve Ross revealed why he believed the 41-year-old coach was the right coach to end the franchise's playoff-win drought.

"We took a chance, but I was impressed by him," Ross said. "I mean, his intelligence and as a person he's unique certainly, and he's doing a great job. Everybody loves him."

That includes Tua.

“There’s just so many things that we’ve gone through from the journey of two years ago, and it’s not just football related,” Tagovailoa said of McDaniel after signing his extension earlier this summer. "It’s just life related. A lot of it is much more life related off the field type of things, the mental aspect of the game, just the mental aspect of life, the mental aspect of family life back home, and just a lot of things like that and it’s really helped me throughout the course of growing up.”

With McDaniel's extension signed, that help will continue through the 2028 season.