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Breaking down the fall out from Kingsbury being fired and taking a look at who could replace him
With the table pretty well set for that Shanahan style of offense to hit the ground running, the question is who can Quinn hire to implement that system? The obvious one that has a direct link to Dan Quinn would be Mike McDaniel. You’ve all probably heard me mentioning him regularly this season as a potential option for Washington if he gets fired by the Dolphins. It seems like he will be safe in Miami barring a new general manager opting to go in a different direction, but the Revans firing John Harbaugh has put the league on alert and that could make McDaniel available.
If McDaniel becomes available and isn’t hired as a head coach straight away, his connection to Dan Quinn is a strong one. He was on Quinn’s staff in Atlanta as an assistant to Kyle Shanahan and credited Quinn with helping him battle his addiction and work through rehab. I would imagine McDaniel would be Quinn’s ideal target if he becomes available, but there’s every chance the Dolphins hold onto him or he gets a head coaching job elsewhere instead.
So if not McDaniel, Quinn might have to look elsewhere.
There’s two more Dolphins coaches worth mentioning. Eric Studesville, the running backs coach and associate head coach has been with McDaniel in Miami learning that Shanahan system, but he was also with Adam Peters in Denver, where he was the running backs coach and also briefly an interim head coach back in 2011. The other name is Frank Smith. He doesn’t have any direct ties to Quinn or Peters that I could find, but he has been the offensive coordinator for McDaniel in Miami, so is strongly trained in that Shanahan system now.
There are other Shanahan-tree options outside of Miami too. Klay Kubiak is the current offensive coordinator for Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. He’s been working his way up on Shanahan’s staff since 2021. It might be a bit too early for him but he has the benefit of learning under Shanahan for multiple years, while also being the son of Gary Kubiak, a Super Bowl winning head coach and longtime assistant to Mike Shanahan. Brian Fleury is another coach that is highly thought of on Shanahan’s staff. He’s currently the run game coordinator and tight ends coach and could be ready to step up into a bigger role.
Another option could be Mike LeFleur, younger brother of Packers head coach Matt LeFleur. LeFleur was an offensive assistant under Kyle Shanahan on Dan Quinn’s staff in Atlanta. He then spent a few years on Shanahan’s staff in San Francisco before following Robert Saleh to the Jets. He’s now the offensive coordinator for Sean McVay in L.A. He had some struggles as a play-caller with the...
