McDaniel, the Shoes, and the Dolphins Bye Message

Head coach Mike McDaniel had very specific directives for his Miami Dolphins players heading into their bye week

While most NFL teams were busy starting their practice week Wednesday, Miami Dolphins players were enjoying their bye week, one that head coach Mike McDaniel made sure would be as long as possible.

CBA regulations mandate that players be given four consecutive days off during their bye week, but McDaniel went above and beyond and made it six days after players reported to the Baptist Health Training Complex on Monday.

So while a lot of teams practice on the Wednesday of their bye week, that wasn't the case for the Dolphins, who will be back at work Monday to begin preparing for their next game against the Houston Texans at Hard Rock Stadium on Nov. 27.

"Just philosophically, how I see going about business, you’re competing against people all the time within your own personal – within your building structure, within the people in your position group and around the league. To separate yourself in how you go about stuff, it’s the intentionality and being deliberate, but the thing is to do that the right way, it’s an exhausting process," McDaniel explained Monday. "Deliberate practice is a brain drain. And in order to do it the appropriate way, you have to have deliberate rest as well.

"So I’m a leader by example. I’m going to show these guys how to rest my butt off, and then when I’m not asleep, I’ll be daddying and husbanding. I’ll have some honey-dos. I’ll do my chores, because I won’t want to be in the doghouse. I might kind of, at the end of the week, just kind of skirt some of those honey-dos, just knowing that there won’t be ramifications because I’ll be back at work. (laughter) But until then, I’m all right.”

Sam Navarro - USA Today Sports

McDANIEL, DAUGHTER AND THE SHOES

McDaniel's "daddying" will involve spending time with his 3-year-old daughter, Ayla.

While she's always in his heart, she was on his shoes during the game against the Cleveland Browns last Sunday — well, her image and his own were on the shoes.

"That was gifted to me," McDaniel said. "That was a surprise on Saturday. I have people on top of people – yes, I was surprised on Saturday. I’m getting my haircut on Friday by Steve, you guys might know him, and then he’s like, ‘I’ve got a present for you on Saturday.’ I said, ‘Cool.’ I didn’t expect that. Salute to Service, which is very meaningful to me and I very much appreciate it, but then to have a picture of myself and my daughter, it was just like, what world am I in? This is unbelievable.

"So then I went down the hall and checked with my regulatory advisors to make sure that I would not be violating any NFL rules, and I think I passed all tests, so then I put them on. It was a really cool thing to be able to support an unbelievable cause for people that sacrifice really everything they have, in a selfless manner, for our way of life. And then to have that on top of a painted picture of my daughter, who when I saw her on the sidelines before the game, they were talking about them. So I pointed and she goes, ‘Ayla,’ which is her name, so she recognized herself on a shoe and I almost just broke down crying before the game.

"So that was pretty cool. I felt very fortunate to be a part of it. Those shoes are – I took them from the game home and I’ll probably be wearing them doing dad duty all week while I take out the trash.”

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FOR EVEN MORE COVERAGE ON THE MIAMI DOLPHINS, CHECK OUT SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S MIAMI DOLPHINS PAGE ON SI.COM.

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ROSTER RESET AND FORMER DOLPHINS MOVES

-- The Cleveland Browns made official Wednesday the signing of DL Ben Stille off the Dolphins practice squad.

-- RB Jordan Howard was released from the New Orleans Saints practice squad.

-- RB Malcolm Brown signed with the L.A. Rams practice squad.

-- Former Dolphins G/T Billy Turner was placed on IR by the Denver Broncos.

-- Former Dolphins RB Kalen Ballage was selected Wednesday in the sixth round of the new XFL offensive skill position draft by the San Antonio Brahmas.

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