John Lynch was praising Mike McDaniel at the podium. Listening in, unbeknownst to John, was Mike McDaniel. This is what it looked like. This is beautiful. pic.twitter.com/avaiakwmek
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) March 2, 2022
Dolphins head coach and former 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel is funny.
He’s not funny in the usual NFL head coach sense where he’s either unintentionally funny or not very funny but people laugh at his jokes in press conferences because pressers are a little uncomfortable.
McDaniel is actually funny.
He displayed that regularly in press conferences with the 49ers and hasn’t lost that sense of humor as the new head coach in Miami. He was on hand Wednesday as 49ers general manager John Lynch praised his former OC, and McDaniel had a very on-brand reaction to the praise that included calling plenty of attention to the fact he was in the room.
Lynch gushed about McDaniel when asked about him, and some of that comes across in the video above. Here’s the full answer prior to McDaniel’s brief interjection at the end, via transcript from the 49ers:
Yeah, I think Mike’s got some special qualities. First of all, he’s uniquely intelligent. He really is. Uniquely creative. He’s as hard of a worker as I’ve seen. I’m an early riser, but I can’t hang with Mike and I respect it. I don’t come to the office at 3:30, but Mike will. And Mike does. He’s a tireless worker. I think he’s been exposed to some tremendous people. He’s worked under [former NFL head coach] Mike Shanahan, [former NFL head coach] Gary Kubiak, Kyle Shanahan, all those wonder kids that were in Washington. He has been around them all. He’s got a great way with people. His challenge, like most coaches is he hadn’t been out front and so now he’s going to be out front, but I’m excited to watch him take that next jump. I’m good friends with [Miami Dolphins general manager] Chris Grier. I think they’ll mesh well together. I’m really excited. I also know there’s a lot of value behind bringing [Miami Dolphins wide receivers coach] Wes Welker and [Miami Dolphins assistant head coach and tight ends coach] Jon Embree in and some of the people that he’s brought with him from our place that I think will really help him. And it looks like they’ve put together a heck of a staff and I’m excited for Mike. I really am. I think highly of him as a person, as a friend. I have known him since he was a ballboy on my teams with the Denver Broncos. I’m pulling for the guy. I think we all are because Mike’s a special person, aside from being a special football coach.
McDaniel joined the 49ers coaching staff as the run game coordinator in 2017 when head coach Kyle Shanahan and Lynch arrived. He held that position for four seasons before a promotion to offensive coordinator before the 2021 campaign.
