Fins Up

Mike McDaniel shuts down Mike Florio and Chris Simms with one of the most baller quotes in NFL coaching history

March 01, 2023

If you had still had your doubts about Mike McDaniel’s future with the Dolphins—if you were still keeping one eye on Jim Harbaugh and the other on player/coach/president/commentator Tom Brady—lay them to rest right now. Put the rose on the grave and say goodbye. This dude is Miami down to the last stitch.

Unreal. 12 months ago McDaniel was a virgin from Yale. Now he’s running South Beach like Scarface. He practically blinded Mike Florio and Chris Simms with the gleam off his Richard Mille at the Combine on Tuesday, and when they tried to shame him for it, saying “you can’t hide money,” McDaniel shot back with one of the great head coach quotes in modern NFL history:

“I’m not trying to,” he mocked back. “I spent a lot of life poor.”

Florio and Simms both laughed it off, but the perfectly bronzed McDaniel was annoyed. He’s nobody’s nepo baby. He didn’t cut the line like Jeff Saturday. He paid his dues and worked his way up. He learned from some of the best and did it all while not looking the part or fitting the mold (which makes the damn-near-impossible task of becoming an NFL head coach even harder). So what if his sneakers are whiter than Mr. Clean’s t-shirt? When you nearly win a playoff game in Buffalo with Skylar Thompson as your starting quarterback, you can wear whatever the hell you want.

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