Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel looked to the players to police the team in 2024, expecting the leaders to step forward and add professionalism to the club. The players said the right things, but the results never really appeared. The team struggled both on and off the field throughout the season and crashed out as the regular season came to a close, missing the playoffs and opening the door to doubts about the club’s future.
“I’m going to say last year, we were lying honestly. Point blank, period,” a laughing linebacker Bradley Chubb told the South Florida media on Wednesday as the team held their 2025 mandatory minicamp. “ We felt it. We put our toe in the water, but we didn’t dive all the way in. We didn’t get all the way there with each other. We weren’t making the effort to go the extra mile and I would say this year, we’re doing that. I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out for us, but we are putting forth that foot to change it because last year, like I said, we said we wanted to change, yeah, we’re doing this, we’re doing that; but it’s not going exactly how we want to.”
The players not taking full accountability for themselves and their teammates was a significant issue for the team, where players were arriving late for meetings, creating off-field problems, and becoming distractions, even if the team never acknowledged it.
What is different this season?
“This year, I feel like everybody has the right mindset and moving forward, so if it works out, it’s going to work out. If it doesn’t, we’re going to get back to the drawing board and make sure it works out,” Chubb explained.
McDaniel spoke this week about the culture changes he is seeing with the team this year, compared to the 2024 version of the club. “I think first and foremost, things that we collectively established as non-negotiables to improve from one season to another, we attacked, and I think communicating that in a fashion that’s very direct. It wasn’t a surprise to me that this is a question of this press conference or it’s been talked about this offseason, considering that I did have a team meeting that was very pointed at the subject right before guys had media and the point is you can’t run away from things that need to be fixed. Let’s identify them and collectively, either we’re going to not be in the gray – if it’s going to be a player responsibility, we need to be adept at communicating exactly what that looks like, being accountable on the communication part, and then holding players accountable and identifying what that looks like from a player perspective.
“Ultimately, cultures are people, a collection of people, and each person has a role in the culture. So having the right mindset with the right people and doing that from not a place of hope but a place of evaluation, with a lot of these players we have all the information on, considering we’ve lived with them for years; that collectively you can decide as a team what do you want and then follow through. For me, I think myself and probably a lot of people on the team were more interested in doing rather than saying.”
He continued, “So this offseason has been about being very, very pointed at exactly what we’re looking for and making sure we know on the front end who we can count on and who we can’t. I think players and coaches alike that have bought in and really, really put forth their energy and everything they have from a professional standpoint into the program, that it was kind of music to people’s ears, so to speak, with relation to who the listener was. The listener thought it was music because those people were as motivated as the coaches to get things the way that they need to be for us to be a winning football team.”
When asked if he would share the “non-negotiables” he mentioned, McDaniel replied, “I think some of the non-negotiables were the football program has to focus on football. For that to happen, there’s a lot of things that can’t dominate people’s time, which is like, first and foremost, being on time. Being accountable to each other and staying to the rules or feeling very open as a team that, hey, it’s OK to call someone out when they deserve to be called out, and for those people, it’s OK to be called out as long as you change your behavior. So realistically, I think we’re in the business of winning football games, that’s what we’ve set forth each and every day this offseason.
“The people involved in this football program have each and every day shown me that they are up for the task. And what does that mean? Well, how many games are won and lost today? Zero. So you have to establish a standard and maintain it. Realistically, that’s what we’ve been about from the beginning, but sometimes a re-emphasis or just emphasizing anything in general is very necessary. I think from a team perspective, this offseason has been healthy because we’ve established the way we want to do business, and then guys have either followed through or been held accountable in the process. And all of those things are things that we’ve established collectively as a team that we need to do to win football games, and done a good job of eliminating all other things that don’t have to do with that out of the equation. That’s a monumental part that is a daily focus – noise out the door; in the door, focus and deliberate, intentional practice at the things that we have to be elite at on game day if we want to win football games.”
Linebacker Jaelen Phillips weighed in on the cultural shift the team is experiencing this year, explaining, “I think the biggest thing for me that I’ve noticed is that with our defense especially, I can’t really speak for the offense all that much, but with our defense, the leaders are leaders because of merit and because of the respect they earn on the field. They’re not leaders because of name or because of how much you make or anything like that. You have to lead to lead. So guys like Jordyn Brooks, guys like ‘T. Dot’ (Tyrel Dodson), guys like Bradley (Chubb) obviously, Zach Sieler, these are the humblest dudes you know. Come in, first dudes in, last dudes out type of mentality. They earn your respect in that way, which I can appreciate.
He continued, “I almost feel like we have this, not necessarily an underdog mentality, but you don’t see a bunch of superstars or big name superstars on defense. It’s almost like the Dolphins ‘No Name Defense.’ Obviously, we have super talented guys who have names in the league, but just in that since that nobody feels like they’re bigger than anybody else in the defense. I feel like in general, it’s just making us closer. We’re doing a lot more off the field stuff early on. Going to dinners together, just building that bond. I just feel like by the time the season comes, especially later on through the season after we just keep building the bond, I’m really excited about the direction of our defense and team in general obviously, but especially the defense.”
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was asked earlier in the week about the work ethic of the team, compared to last year. He replied, “I think there is a culture shift. I feel it just as much as everyone that’s been here since I’ve gotten into the league. We always hear about, ‘Man, culture shift. You guys have a change of this. You guys are doing this, always optimistic.’ But I really do feel in my heart that this is a change of scenery for our guys in the locker room, and then it also transitions to our coaches as well, because we get opportunities to lead and it’s not as much the coaches as it is the players I would say this year.”
Tagovailoa pointed to the team’s past results, including not having won a playoff game in 25 years, to why a culture change is needed, and why it is on the players to make it happen. “I think first you’ve got to have the right guys to be able to do that with, and I think we have the right guys within the room, within the locker room, within the offense, and I know those guys on the defense feel like they have their guys as well. For me, I think what’s most important is I’ve been here for five years going on six. Are you not tired of what we’ve done these past five years? If you are, then why aren’t we doing anything about it? What do we have to change? What do we have to do to correct the navigation of where we want to go? I would say that’s what it is. You create that standard in the locker room, the guys follow and you’ve got to uphold it. So you come into work knowing that they are looking to you to uphold that standard and if you don’t, you’ve got to have brought enough guys to hold you to that standard as well.”
The Dolphins said the right things in 2024 about holding each other accountable. In 2025, it seems like they are actually starting to do that. They are adding the “professional” back into professional football. Will they succeed in changing a culture that needs to be fixed after last year’s struggles? We will find out in September.
