The Miami Dolphins are not messing around as they look to rebuild a franchise that has underperformed the last two seasons. The 2025 NFL regular season ended on Sunday, the Dolphins began requesting interviews for their vacant general manager position on Monday, they conducted an initial round of virtual interviews on Tuesday, cut their list to a final four of candidates on Wednesday, and fired head coach Mike McDaniel on Thursday. The team is moving quickly and decisively in 2026, and they do not seem to be slowing down.
According to ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, a former Dolphins beat reporter, the Dolphins “expect to make a decision on their new GM by tomorrow.” Darlington adds Dolphins interim GM Champ Kelly interviewed to stay on as the team’s permanent GM on Wednesday, while Los Angeles Chargers assistant general manager Chad Alexander, Green Bay Packers Vice President of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan, and San Francisco 49ers director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams all flew into Miami Wednesday night for Thursday interviews.
Darlington, in a separate post on X, explained the Dolphins’ plan to start their head coaching search “after a GM is in place.” There is speculation that the Dolphins are targeting John Harbaugh, the former Baltimore Ravens head coach who was fired this week, as their primary option to replace McDaniel, but Darlington says the decision to fire McDaniel was not tied to the sudden availability of Harbaugh.
“Yes, it obviously could lead to discussions with Harbaugh,” Darlington wrote. “And yes, one of the GM candidates is very close to Harbaugh. But people close to the situation tell me this decision to fire Mike would have been made either way.”
The GM candidate referenced as “very close to Harbaugh” is Alexander, who was in the Ravens’ front office from 1999 to 2019.
Darlington’s post agrees with multiple posts from the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson which state the Dolphins, as of Thursday morning, had not made any calls to Harbaugh or “anyone in his camp.” Jackson has said the Dolphins have not had discussions with Harbaugh’s camp, including that they “did not seek assurances or ask for odds that Harbaugh would join [the] Dolphins before they fired [McDaniel].”
There have been conflicting reports from other sources that indicate Miami is believed to have at least reached out to Harbaugh after he was relieved of his duties with Baltimore.
If the Dolphins are able to hire their next GM by Friday, it will open the team to their head coach search over the weekend and into next week. The new GM would presumably be involved in that search, assisting with the hire of a cohesive unit for the Dolphins moving into 2026.
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