Different Twist for Preseason Finale
The Miami Dolphins' preseason finale against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Friday night will feature a different twist.
Assistant head coach/tight ends coach Jon Embree will serve as the head coach for the second half, according to Mike Cugno, sideline reporter for the team's South Florida preseason broadcast team. The idea is to give Embree some experience in the event McDaniel has to miss a game during the regular season — for whatever reason.
McDaniel will still handle his role as a play-caller.
Embree is the assistant with whom McDaniel has the longest current working relationship. The two joined the San Francisco 49ers in 2017 — McDaniel from Atlanta and Embree from Tampa Bay.
Embree was assistant head coach and tight ends coach for five seasons in San Francisco before joining McDaniel in the same capacity in Miami in 2022.
Before coming to the NFL in 2013 as tight ends coach in Cleveland when McDaniel was wide receivers coach, Embree had been head coach at the University of Colorado for two seasons.
McDaniel's staff includes former Denver Broncos interim head coach Eric Studesville, who now serves as associate head coach/running backs coach.
PRESEASON PRECEDENT
The game tonight isn't the first time the Dolphins have done something like this in the preseason.
In 2007, Cam Cameron relegated his head-coaching duties for the preseason finale against the New Orleans Saints to tight ends coach Mike Mularkey and defensive coordinator Dom Capers. The Dolphins lost that game, 7-0, before embarking on a regular season ending in a disastrous 1-15 record.
Cameron was widely criticized for that move, though the circumstances were very different from what's going on with McDaniel now.
For one thing, Cameron was in his first year as an NFL head coach, whereas McDaniel is heading into his third season. For another, Cameron gave that preseason responsibility to two assistants who already had served as NFL head coaches, which doesn't apply here with Embree.
Assistant head coach/tight ends coach Jon Embree will serve as the head coach for the second half, according to Mike Cugno, sideline reporter for the team's South Florida preseason broadcast team. The idea is to give Embree some experience in the event McDaniel has to miss a game during the regular season — for whatever reason.