Read the full transcript from Head Coach Mike McDaniel's press conference on December 17, 2025.
Q: Why the decision to go with QB Quinn Ewers and also who will be your No. 2 this weekend?
"The decision is complicated but simple; the simple piece is I think Quinn (Ewers) gives this team the best chance to win. Our focus is obviously to win the next three games but in particular, like I tell the players, we are focused on beating the Bengals so that was the motivation. Zach (Wilson) will be backing him up and Tua (Tagovailoa) will be the emergency third."
Q: What was the thinking in having QB Tua Tagovailoa be the third as opposed to the backup?
"I think it was the best for all parties involved, Quinn, Zach and Tua."
Q: What was the reaction from actually all three quarterbacks individually, if you could break it down?
"All three quarterbacks, built through the relationship that you build together day-in, day-out, I think they understood that my intent and my motivation is concretely to do the best thing for the team. That being said, obviously Quinn's conversation was different than Tua's and Zach's. Starting with Tua, I think it wasn't easy for him to hear. It was a tough conversation, but also I think he exhibited what makes him a captain and a leader on this team is he understood what that means for his contribution to the team and how he's going to help Quinn prepare for his first start. He displayed leadership skills by understanding, but as a competitor, it's tough. Then Zach, I think he as a competitor was very disappointed and again I took the time to talk through the various reasons that ultimately I just flat out as easy as, I think Quinn, his disposition, understanding that it's uncharted territory as a rookie starting, but his relationship with his teammates and the motivation, I think our team with him starting at the quarterback position gives us the best opportunity to beat the Bengals. Tough conversations, these aren't easy decisions that I take lightly, but one of the things is that I understand exactly what my role is as the head coach; the point is to make the hard decisions, and I never deviate from doing what's best for the collective and the organization because that's what everyone is depending on me to do."
Q: QB Quinn Ewers, was he excited or was he reserved?
"I would say Quinn has a natural disposition of confidence, not cockiness but confidence, and I think if you saw his face on draft day, he's a competitor that believes in himself. I think he was very excited for the opportunity but also very understanding of what that means. He left my office and went to work."
Q: Having QB Quinn Ewers leapfrog QB Zach Wilson, was there an element to wanting to see the rookie in game when there is a body of work for Zach in this league?
"I don't trivialize seasons, games – this 2025 team needed me to make the decision solely for what gives us the best chance to win, that includes all players. I understand the pros and cons of all the different formats of the way I could play this out, but I need convicted quarterback play, this team needs convicted quarterback play. I thought Quinn gave us the best chance to do that and that's why I did it."
Q: Did Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner Stephen Ross have input on the decision?
"Since the day that he hired me, he hired a head coach to make these types of decisions. He got to where he is in business to hire experts for things, I think he's super competitive and he is very interested in the preparation and then after the outcome, the whys and what fors. I think he's very tactful in not trying to sway me because he wants me to do the right thing for the right reasons, not pretending to know the ins and outs of the daily activity that we spend our lives doing."
Q: Why did you decide to make this decision at this point in the season? Was there any consideration given to putting QB Quinn Ewers in earlier or did this have anything to do with being eliminated from the playoffs on Monday?
"I don't coach with a pessimistic forecast. I coach to try to reach people. I believe in the players that are on the team. My job is to react and respond to situations and when I have the conviction that a change needs to be made, I need to take action and not trivialize any game. These are players with a finite career. There's games to be played in front of fans that paid to see them and you have to do what's right when the time is right. I wasn't pretending to see this coming nor was I pushing against it. I used all of my information, resources, input, all factors, weighing them all understanding the gravity of making this decision. I also understand that people are depending on me with the right intentions to do the best thing for the team, so that's what I did."
Q: The full circle moment with you making that call from Day 1 of your coaching career here with the Dolphins to pushing that extension for QB Tua Tagovailoa and now, are you disappointed that it ends like this in a benching moment for him? Is there a chance that things could be reversed during the offseason because there's still that contract that he just signed with all that money on the line as well?
"Out of principle, I try with all the integrity that I can possibly conjure up to do and think and be about the 2025 Dolphins. I don't minimize any of that, and the way my brain works is I'm not – you're talking about emotions. I have no idea – emotions are not part of my duty and in times where there's tough decisions to be made, the furthest thing from my scope is how I feel. People are depending on me to do with full intentionality everything as best as I can do it. Thinking about those broad scopes, that's dismissive to the players in that locker room, that's dismissive to this team. I don't go there, not because it doesn't exist but because people are counting on me not to go there."
Q: Why does QB Quinn Ewers give the team a better chance to win over QB Tua Tagovailoa this week?
"I said it before but ultimately, the team needs, and I'm looking for, conviction in quarterback play. Understanding that he is a rookie, I felt that he would play the position most convicted which impacts every player on the field. Realistically, that's what I was looking for. I needed more convicted play from the quarterback position, and I thought Quinn could deliver on that best."
Q: What happened to QB Tua Tagovailoa where he didn't have that conviction in his play?
"I think playing quarterback and being a starting quarterback and then being a franchise quarterback, these are all things that are very complex. I think this is a player that his MO had been growth and exceptional learner and he's always evolving. There's compounding variables that you can't just pinpoint one or two things. I still believe that his growth can continue, but I couldn't responsibly play this next game when I thought what the team needed was available and live and hope and wish and stuff. I'm not abstractly saying that I'm Nostradamus and it was because of this and this will happen. Flat out, I'm focused on the big decision that you have to make each and every week on who should get opportunities, who should be playing, the biggest one being the quarterback and I rested on that conviction which is what I'm asking every player. It just lives by the standard with which I ask of every other player to play with conviction. You guys have heard me talk about it a ton, and I think he's now going to be focused on figuring that out."
Q: Seeing the QB Tua Tagovailoa hip injury, he had one in college and the concussions, do you think any of these aliments have contributed to his play this year?
"It would be super irresponsible for me to project that. I think the part of coaching is I'm trying to reach people. When I'm trying to improve stuff and it doesn't work, then I try something else. Correlation causation, I think that would be irresponsible for me to pinpoint. The fact of the matter is that to beat the Bengals, to start at the quarterback position for the Miami Dolphins, I was convicted in Quinn (Ewers) being the choice this week. I don't know a lot of the far-reaching answers and questions that I can understand that you guys are interested in, because I don't allow myself to live there. I've been trying to coach and trying to improve, and when things aren't to the standard, I have to change it."
Q: How do you keep morale up with three weeks left of the season, your starting quarterback got benched and you guys are eliminated from the playoffs?
"I would say the same way that we kept morale up when we were 1-6 or 2-7. I think we weren't chasing anything, we're a team of players that are invested in each other and the journey of going through things and then coming together and playing an opponent and trying to win. We weren't talking about whether or not we were in the playoffs after we lost to Cleveland; we were focused on the same things that we are focused on today, which is playing convicted football and coming together as a group. Usually, you have to do that in NFL seasons with all sorts of things. The playoffs, although it's – guys want to continue to play together on this team, however I think guys are motivated by this team and their role within it. My expectation is that we hit the ground running and prepare for this. These are invaluable opportunities that are finite NFL games. Our job is to go after it, and I think that's why there's clarity for them."
Q: How do you go about coaching and managing your relationship with QB Tua Tagovailoa given the uniqueness of the situation, his tied money into 2026 and then obviously all that you've done to build him to where he is now?
"Well again, it comes back to real relationships are built on trust. The conversations explicitly with the guys that I knew the news wasn't going to be exactly the best thing they'd want to hear, but they know my intent, and right, wrong or indifferent, my intent is to do what the team needs me to do. Within that, you grow through hard times. It's as awkward as you want to make it, and I think each and every one of them understands what their job is to do this week and be on that. I think our relationships are earned, created and the point is to go through hard times and be able to understand there's a difference in intent and action."
Q: The LB Matthew Judon move, just if we can get one question on a different topic, was that about letting him go to a team in contention as a veteran here at the end?
"It's in the same vein of the best thing for the team to beat the Bengals. One of those things was as I saw a couple other players contributing and the forecast of him being inactive, I didn't think it was the best in our interest nor his to be an inactive viewer."
