Report: Mike McDaniel threatened to trade or release players after Week 18

The Miami Dolphins ended their 2024 season on a very sour note. Miami capped off a campaign to forget with a 32-20 loss to a lowly New York Jets team in Week 18.

As it turned out, the Dolphins would have missed the playoffs regardless of the outcome of that contest. Miami also needed the Denver Broncos to lose to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 18, which did not happen.

Reportedly, in a team meeting following the loss to the Jets, Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel issued a message to his players about accountability and threatened to trade or release anyone who wasn’t on board.

“IN THEIR FINAL team meeting of the 2024 season, shortly after a season-ending loss on Jan. 5 to the New York Jets, McDaniel issued a challenge to his players,” ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques wrote.

“According to multiple players and team staff, the Dolphins coach stressed the importance of player-driven accountability and said that anyone who wasn’t on board could say so, and the team would either trade or release them.”

It’s unclear if any players actually said no and were later traded or released, but that’s seemingly within the realm of possibility, as the team did experience some roster turnover in the offseason.

The Dolphins’ loss to New York served as a solid microcosm of the team’s 2024 season. Wide receiver Tyreek Hill totaled just 20 receiving yards on two receptions to put a bow on what was far and away his worst season in a Dolphins uniform. He didn’t even total 1,000 receiving yards last season after he accumulated more than 1,700 each in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Moreover, quarterback Tua Tagovailoa didn’t even play in Miami’s season finale in what was an injury-plagued campaign for the former University of Alabama standout. Thanks to a concussion he suffered against the Buffalo Bills and a hip injury he initially sustained against the Houston Texans, he suited up in merely 11 of the Dolphins’ 17 contests.

Last season was the first time that the Dolphins didn’t make the playoffs under McDaniel, but it seems as if Miami is already in real danger of missing out on the playoffs once again in the 2025 season.

The Dolphins have yet to so much as earn a single win since the start of the new campaign and have picked up losses to the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots up to this point. Miami can get in the win column with a victory over the Bills on Thursday, however.