Who Are You? McDaniel's Miami Coaching Staff Taking Shape -

New Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel continues taking a permanent marker to his big board when it comes to finalizing his coaching staff.

After being named as the Dolphins’ head coach on Feb. 6, McDaniel has now named multiple position coaches less than two weeks later, as well as confirmed to multiple from the previous coaching staff that they’ll be staying on.

New Faces to Miami, But Not New to the NFL

Wes Welker

First on the docket? Former NFL (and Miami) receiver Wes Welker.

Welker will return to the Dolphins as their wide receivers coach in 2022 after being a Dolphin himself from 2004-06 after he entered the league as an unrestricted free agent. Although he didn’t do much before being traded to division-rival New England, he will return to South Beach to lead what should be a star-studded staff led by second-year standout Jaylen Waddle.

Welker made five Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams in his career, along with five 1,000-yard seasons. He also worked with McDaniel on the San Francisco 49ers staff and is officially following him to Miami.

Frank Smith

Next, McDaniel plucked another position coach from another California team.

He successfully hired standout offensive line coach Frank Smith from the Los Angeles Chargers.

It’s no secret the Dolphins have had one of the worst offensive lines in the league in recent years and have produced next to nothing in their run game because of it.

Smith is a 17-year NFL veteran who also served as the Chargers’ run game coordinator in addition to being the OL coach last season for the Chargers. Recognize the name Austin Ekeler? Yeah, I’d take an Austin Ekeler-esque runner for Miami.

While McDaniel has already come out and said he will be calling Miami’s plays, he expects Smith to have a key role. McDaniel also said Smith will have an extra duty in helping develop tight ends, in which Miami has a plethora, between Mike Gesicki, Durham Smythe, Hunter Long and Cethan Carter.

Sam Madison

Still on the front of new hires, former defensive back Sam Madison is headed back to South Beach as Miami’s cornerbacks coach.

He played for the Dolphins from 1997-2005 and was the team’s MVP in 1999.

Madison has spent the last few seasons as a defensive coach with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Darrell Bevel

Finally, on the new hires front, quarterback coach Darrell Bevel has been hired by McDaniel to assist Tua Tagovailoa and become the team’s passing game coordinator.

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Bevel is most notably known for coaching Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, Russell Wilson in Seattle and Matthew Stafford in Detroit.

Boyer, Studesville Make the Cut to Stay on Miami’s Staff Under McDaniel

Meanwhile, McDaniel said he is going to keep defensive coordinator Josh Boyer and positional coach Eric Studesville.

McDaniel said he wanted to keep Boyer, not only to keep chemistry with one of the top units in the NFL, but because both he and Boyer love film study and the 3-4/4-3 versatility of the secondary.

Finally, Studesville remains on staff, although his role has not yet been determined. He was a co-offensive coordinator last season, but that is unlikely to continue in 2022.

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– Kayla Morton is the Managing Editor for Full Press Coverage Miami Dolphins. She has covered the Dolphins for more than three seasons, as well as the NFL and NHL, for FPC. Like and follow on Follow @oldbayqueen74 Follow @FPC_Dolphins and Facebook.