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EspañolAsk former Miami Dolphins running back Raheem Mostert why Mike McDaniel failed as Miami's head coach, and he'd give you an answer.
Mostert, a pending free agent after spending the 2025 season with the Las Vegas Raiders, discussed his Dolphins tenure and McDaniel's coaching style in a recent appearance on Fox Sports' "The Herd with Colin Cowherd." In the veteran running back's eyes, his former head coach's "laid-back" mentality and eagerness to be a "players' coach" kept him from pushing his team to get better results.
"When you have a coach that is so player-friendly, it doesn't really mix all that well," Mostert said. "Look at the coaching history, not just in the NFL, but MLB, NBA. All of these different sports franchises have coaches that implement toughness, resilience, and that's something that [McDaniel] kind of missed the mark on in being a head coach."
Still, Mostert said, McDaniel was a good coach in terms of his football savvy as well as his ability and willingness to listen to his players. But as a head coach, McDaniel did not do enough to keep the Dolphins' players in check.
Of all of the players in the NFL, Mostert is among those most equipped to provide commentary on McDaniel and his coaching style.
The veteran running back played five full seasons under McDaniel in San Francisco before they both landed in Miami in 2022. The former Dolphins coach spent four seasons in the Bay Area (2017-2020) focused on the 49ers' run game – one as the team's run game specialist, then three as its run game coordinator – before becoming their offensive coordinator in 2021.
Mostert and McDaniel ended up sticking together in Miami from 2022 through 2024 when the latter took the Dolphins' head coaching job and the former signed with the team in free agency.
In total, Mostert has spent eight of his 11 seasons in the pros working closely with McDaniel.
In his interview with Cowherd, Mostert went on to contrast how McDaniel's coaching style differed from other, more successful head coaches. Former Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and current Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel had a harder line drawn in their relationship with players.
"It's no-nonsense," Mostert said. "We get in here, we're getting the job done, and it's my way or the highway."
For Mostert, McDaniel was too "nonchalant," "laid-back" and wanted to be a players' coach, which set a poor standard for the players.
"When you're dealing with something like that, as a player, you're like, 'No, I need somebody tough that's going to lay the hammer down when it needs to be down and tell other players to get in line,'" Mostert said.