Could the 49ers Offense Experience a Drop Off if Mike McDaniel Leaves for the Dolphins?

Losing a pivotal coach who factors into the running game such as Mike McDaniel could be cause for concern for the 49ers.

Mike McDaniel is scheduled to interview for the vacant head coaching position with the Dolphins on Friday.

As of now, it is the only one McDaniel is slated for, but the fact that he is interviewing gives him a chance to be on the way out. Losing McDaniel would mean that Kyle Shanahan would be losing his right hand man in back to back seasons. 

Could the 49ers offense experience a drop off if McDaniel leaves for the Dolphins?

There is a chance.

The level of concern isn't high, but it is at least lightly there. The reasoning for some concern is how the 49ers offense operated for the first half of the season. They looked out of sorts. It was tough for them to find any consistency and it largely had to do with a lack of an identity. Their offense just felt all over the place and you could never understand what was going on.

While all that was happening, I cited the coaching turnover of the 49ers. They lost a good chunk of coaches on both sides of the ball, but none probably stung more than Mike LaFleur. Offensive coordinator by name only, LaFleur was the passing game coordinator for the 49ers. Everything regarding the aerial attack of the 49ers stemmed from LaFleur and Shanahan. 

And then, LaFleur left last offseason to go be the true offensive coordinator for the Jets under Robert Saleh.

With LaFleur out of the picture, the responsibility of the pass game likely fell on Shanahan's shoulders more along with newcomer Bobby Slowik. Shanahan had to make an adjustment to his weekly planning without LaFleur considering how embedded the two have been throughout their coaching careers.

The same can easily happen if McDaniel leaves. McDaniel was the run game coordinator, so he plays a pivotal role in that department. He has always been on the side of Shanahan much like LaFleur has through their careers. Losing him can create a new learning curve if he leaves because then Shanahan will have to figure it out again.

"Obviously, I don't want to lose Mike," said Shanahan on McDaniel interviewing with Miami. "Mike, I think people made a bigger deal out of Mike this year because he had the title all by himself. But Mike did the same thing this year he has been doing the last five years. So Mike's always been such a big part of what we do here. Yeah, he always focuses on the run game. That's his area of expertise, but Mike helps me in all aspects of offense.

"We brought Bobby Slowik, who kind of took a little bit of [New York Jets offensive coordinator Mike] LaFleur’s role. But that didn't change what we do with Mike and he was just a big in 2019 and as he is this year. So Mike's always been good at what he does. He always will be and he deserves to get some of these opportunities people are talking about.”

No matter what, Shanahan will always propel his guys and want the best for them. Even if he knows that losing his close coaches will mean a new and difficult challenge, he'll never let that get in the way. Some coaches will try their hardest to keep their guys and not uplift them. 

For what it's worth, I see no way McDaniel becomes the head coach of the Dolphins. It isn't because of the drama that they're in, it is because if McDaniel was a coveted candidate he would've had more than just one interview. Tough to imagine him leaving, but if he does, then Shanahan will have no qualms about it.