Read the full transcript from Head Coach Mike McDaniel's press conference on December 22, 2025.
Q: I know obviously and understandably you didn't want to address whether you've been given any assurance about whether you're coming back, there is one thing I was wondering about it if you are able to answer this. Because it's generally less likely to win games with a rookie quarterback and you have two veterans on your roster, if you are indeed coaching for your job, why would you perhaps historically so lessen your chances by playing a rookie quarterback when a veteran historically would give you a better chance to win and perhaps keep your job?
"Because I mean what I say when I value over everything the finite careers of all, how important each and every game is to these guys' careers. I don't play Monopoly with people's careers. When I say I think someone gives the best chance to win, I mean it out of integrity, something I firmly believe. I think there was play displayed by Quinn (Ewers) that I thought gave us a chance to win. I think we lost as a team and you can't have a collective meltdown in the third quarter and expect to win regardless. You can't be minus three, you can't have a collective three-and-out punt and drive for touchdown, all of those things that I thought overall – with exception to the interception that Quinn threw to Jaylen Waddle, I thought the interception to Theo (Wease Jr.), I don't put on him. That's a play that either Theo has to make or you have to have a corner have DPI. The idea of not trying to win football games in football players' careers kind of triggers me. It's not directed at you; it's just more of the idea."
Q: When you decided to start QB Quinn Ewers, did you ask Chairman of the Board/Managing General Partner Stephen Ross will this be held against me if it goes poorly in terms of my job security?
"I don't try to weigh what I find is – my absolute necessity is to do the right thing for the right reasons, and I don't weigh those and decide against those because of potential ramifications or whatnot. That conversation would be clunky and wouldn't even be a consideration for me, because again I take this very serious."
Q: You talked about the interceptions, but after having a chance to watch the tape, what did you think of QB Quinn Ewers's performance overall?
"I thought he did for the team as much if not more than could be reasonably expected. The biggest thing was the idea of starting quarterback in the National Football League, especially with young guys that it's their first opportunity, you want to see the game not be too big for them. You want to see some composure, some feel, some understanding of time and space. You want to see them be able to hold onto the ball when the pocket allows but to get rid of the ball when the pocket is coming down on you, and I think he – it was impressive. It really showed one of the reasons that guys get behind him and had such high hopes for the game going into it was because the game is not too big for him. You know without that, a guy can't really perform or allow others to perform, so I thought he gave us a chance to win."
Q: Staying on the quarterbacks, why is QB Tua Tagovailoa the No. 3 as opposed to the No. 2 and what does that mean about his chances of being on the roster next season?
"I thought it was the best thing for all parties involved. You talk about losing your starting job and then the forecast of him taking less reps and then throwing him out there I thought was setting him up for failure. I'm very, very confident in Zach (Wilson) and you guys obviously know by my decision making that I'm very confident in Quinn (Ewers). I think it's best for all parties and that's where I left it, what I said the other day."
Q: Is there an update on S Minkah Fitzpatrick's status? Week to week, so after one week, where does he stand?
"It's still week to week. The injury that he sustained is one of those that you're risking an early exit that could be a long-term thing if you don't handle it appropriately, but he's done literally everything we've asked to try to get back on the field. It's feeling week to week."
Q: So with two weeks left, is that out this week, we'll see about the finale? Is that where you stand right now?
"I stopped short of saying blindly out, I'm not optimistic about this week, but there's a reason that we haven't shut him down."
Q: I wanted to ask you just thoughts on what was your most valued offseason signing, OL James Daniels. A – is he out for the year? And B – even though I totally respect you don't want to look ahead to next year, is he someone if you have a say about it that you would like on the team? Or would you throw him into a bucket of we've just got to make decisions on everybody?
"With regard to his season, I don't see him playing this year. Beyond that, again I try not to extrapolate post-2025 team while in 2025 team business because I just think it's undercutting and kind of disrespectful to what my focus and intentions are on and need to be 100 percent, specifically after the last two games."
Q: Pro Bowl teams will be announced, I believe, tomorrow morning. I wanted to get four of your players, I'll ask them two at a time. Offensively, RB De'Von Achane and OL Aaron Brewer, what do you think about their seasons?
"I think they're putting together very, very worthy nominations. They're very deserving. I'll be surprised I think at both if they don't get a spot. De'Von (Achane) has found a way to improve his close quarter yards and has new level of confidence with his vision. When we're able to get him to one defender where he just has to make one defender miss, he's consistently doing that at an explosive rate. Aaron Brewer I think is playing a different type of center than anyone around the league. I think we're able to do a lot of things with him in both the run game and protection that haven't been able to do before just because of his range. Typically, if a lot of plays the center, his target is the Mike linebacker and there's times where you're assuming the center is out-leveraged because the Mike is over the 3-technique, two-far play side – long story short, he's had me see defense and his abilities have allowed me to change and evolve into different sort of concepts because of his skill set. It's rare you have a center impact the game as much as he does, and he's at the forefront of all the things that have gone right with regard to the offensive line and the run game specifically."
Q: How about LB Jordyn Brooks and P Jake Bailey?
"Jordyn Brooks, I think you couldn't be – you're going to struggle to be around an NFL season where you see a guy physically impose his will like Jordyn does. He not only is playing very physical and violent, but he's covering a lot of ground while leading a team and unearthing a new level of leadership. I think he's taken a gigantic leap in his career. I think his confidence is high. He's always been a good player, but he's definitely taken a step and upward trajectory this season and someone we depend on vitally who earns the 'C' every week regardless of win or loss. Then Jake (Bailey) I think is really playing the best ball that I've seen him play. I think he responded in the best fashion with some competition this offseason and really took on a new place within the locker room. He's had a lot of timely punts where he's pinned the opponent back over the course of the season and created momentum in a very positive way."
Q: How's WR Dee Eskridge doing after exiting early yesterday?
"I've got to still accumulate more information on him, but he's getting looked at and we'll be keeping you abreast but as of right now, I don't have enough information to categorize day to day or week to week."
Q: In what ways does QB Quinn Ewers's mobility allow you to expand what you want to do? Obviously, you had the quarterback sneak yesterday which is new but obviously not being a risk of injury, how much more can you do with that aspect?
"I think everybody's skill set is a little different. I think you saw on Sunday there's some stuff that he can do outside the pocket and he's very comfortable with that puts some stress on the defense. Every quarterback has certain directions, certain depths that they like to throw and that they're confident in throwing. I thought the biggest thing was his consistency in the pocket, being able to take advantage of the pockets that were set and were firm. There was a couple times he waited on some stuff to develop because there was an extra defender reroute, so I think he has a lot of room to grow but shows the things that you can't necessarily teach. Guys rally around him and believe in him, that's for sure, so I look forward to seeing the next opportunity because the hardest one is the first."
Q: Did the tape reveal if he missed many open guys in progressions or was everyone closely defended where you don't think there were too many examples of that?
"There was one or two times that I think he could've gotten a completion a little earlier and there was a third-down throw to (Jaylen) Waddle that he waited appropriately, but we could've had an explosive on the right sideline if he hits exactly where Waddle is coming out and I think that will improve with time. I think he showed the capability of hitting all the throws I needed him to make. He appropriately read there was a deeper one in 22 personnel where Greg (Dulcich) was running down the field, and he was forced to read the levels of defense 30 yards away. You think you know going into the game, but you don't know if – a lot of times that's a difficult one in space and time for guys to make a decision on. He ripped it appropriately so there was a lot of positive to build upon, so I was encouraged with that."
Q: You also tried a quarterback sneak with him, which is something that hadn't really been shown with this offense this season. Although it didn't work, was that something you thought could catch the defense off guard since it hadn't been run by you guys?
"I think that unfortunately there's some nuance to your footwork that it wasn't the exact way he practiced and we were on the painted logo, he slipped, which I thought he made a good decision to where to go on the sneak and we would've had a chance to convert if it would have been executed to the standard. Those always cut for a quarterback when you have the ball and it's fourth down and you don't convert and the defense has to come on the field. He's got to take that lesson with several other lessons because the game of quarterback is about learning, building upon and growing your game which is what we're excited for."
Q: When you talk about draft and develop, I'm wondering what you've seen from the left side of the offensive line this year with OL Jonah Savaiinaea and T Patrick Paul? Especially Jonah considering I think yesterday he was the only offensive player to have played all 813 snaps.
"I think we were really relying upon a rookie and a second-year player who got some time at the end of the year, but we knew there was going to be a lot of growing. I've been very, very encouraged with their ability, their consistency but I know they've only tasted their productivity. There's plenty of things that they've both learned together, but we've had to rely upon them in a real way, and they've had a real healthy dose of the length of the NFL season and what goes into executing over the long haul. The biggest thing with them is they've pushed through a period in time where it wasn't to their standard of performance, strung together some games where they've really built some confidence and then it really goes back to the natural NFL journey where you get that confidence and all the sudden you get a nice dose of reality and you get humbled a little bit and you have to pick yourself back up and go attack it with vigor and confidence. I haven't seen them lose any confidence, only gain it which is gigantic for what we're trying to do and what we need them to be, and they've really come through on a team that didn't have any room for error with that side, so I've been pleased with that. They are the types of people that I think you win with."
Q: Fans know more about the game probably than ever before so we get some very specific questions. This one several people have asked seeing analytics about this before the season that you run a lot of short yardage in bunch and that the numbers before this year have been better when you're spread out. I guess the question is then why don't you spread out more with three receivers that's third- and fourth-and-short as opposed to bunch, tight formations?
"Those are great questions. The problem solving comes through the very specific defensive tendencies and what they have in their defensive system and how a lot of times you're trying to add a gap for them to defend. If you bring people in tight, sometimes the blitzers, if they blitz in that situation, you can keep them one gap further away from the mesh point or the handoff. I think realistically football is a humbling game. I kind of appreciate it from a standpoint of everything is always on the table. When things don't work, it's not wrong to say do the opposite, but you have to have reasons and whys in how you do everything. Every single time you have a failure or if you have a combination of failures, the important thing is not to be hardheaded, it's to really problem solve, attack and do things for the right reason. You don't just do the opposite and hope; you open your mind to all things including could we have spread them out more, what implications will that have on our tackles and what defenses – this past defense in particular, they like to go a set heavier than whatever you're in so if you're in 11 (personnel), they like to play base. You go 12 (personnel) or 21 (personnel) and they like to play heavy. Different set of problems to solve each and every week, but the idea is to do the best that you can with the information and you're vulnerable to any sort of questioning when the results aren't what you want."
