by Shanahan analyzes schematic similarities with his longtime friend McDaniel, who originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and Miami Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel have worked together on different teams for over a decade and know each other as well as any other coach in the NFL – with the possible exception of the Harbaugh brothers.
Of course, this ongoing collaboration means that their respective crimes overlap significantly.
On this week’s episode of “49ers Game Plan,” Shanahan explained his schematic similarities to his former understudy, Greg Papa of NBC Sports Bay Area.
“Everything comes from the same place,” explained Shanahan before the duel between the two long-time friends on Sunday. “Mike was also a big part of our offense.
“Mike and I have worked together since his first year as coach. He had a year where he worked in Sacramento for a week [UFL] team, but other than that we were always together and built that offense everywhere we went.”
After stints with the Houston Texans, Washington, Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons, McDaniel rose to Shanahan’s offensive coordinator position with the 49ers in 2021 before taking the head coaching job with the Dolphins.
“So there are some big similarities, but when you branch out and branch out on your own, you start to see differences,” Shanahan continued. “We move around a lot, but I always say Mike is going to go crazy with it. Mike loves this stuff and so do I. But they do it a little bit more and there are a few different things, but that’s how it has to be. “Even with the type of personnel that you have, we’ll always adjust our personnel and try to put those people in the right positions bring so that it always changes gradually.
In other words: get ready a lot from Pre-Snap Motion Sunday, even though it may look a little different. That’s a credit to McDaniel’s own intelligence.
The nerdy-looking McDaniel doesn’t physically resemble a stereotypical NFL coach, but that doesn’t detract from his coaching potential, as Shanahan claimed.
“For much of his career, Mike was underestimated,” Shanahan told Papa. “He didn’t seem quite like a coach or a former player – which I don’t think he did either. I don’t think he came across that way to many people. But he always did it when I was working.” With him, at such a young age, I could always see how smart he was, how much he could retain things, how much he could understand what I wanted to achieve. When you have someone like that, you trust them to do something, and they do more, and they just build more of it.
“So Mike has always been a great mind. I didn’t know if an owner would ever appreciate it, but I think the success we’ve had has caused it to get a little more attention, and than that… [Dolphins] interviewed him, they connected and they loved him. I think he was great. He did a great job there.
Neither coach is having a memorable season, as both teams are currently 6-8 with little hope of making the playoffs. However, the Shanahan tribe – which includes successful young coaches like Sean McVay and Matt LaFleur – has proven to be a revolutionary force in the NFL over the last decade.
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