Ex-NFL star Merriman casts gloom over Dolphins ahead of Bills clash

The Miami Dolphins opened the 2025 season with back-to-back losses to the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots, leaving the team with the second-worst point differential in the NFL at minus 31 as they prepare for a Week 3 matchup with the Buffalo Bills.

Shawne Merriman, the former NFL star linebacker, urged that upheaval could be looming in Miami. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Merriman said, "That team is going to get dismantled here soon, and I think it’s going to start with the head coach, Mike McDaniel." He added that the franchise could begin trading or cutting some of its most frustrated players, noting that Tyreek Hill is a central locker-room figure. "So, when you see him frustrated, and things like that happening … him being frustrated alone can trickle down to a lot of guys, and it could be a bad situation for him. And it could be a bad situation for the organization."

Merriman also said he was not impressed with McDaniel’s postgame remarks after the loss to the Patriots. "I don’t know if Mike McDaniel is making it through the season," he told Fox News Digital. "I’d hate to see anybody get fired. But just seeing what I’ve seen at his press conferences, and I’ve seen it before. And this happened with (former Chargers coach Brandon Staley). This is when you know if certain coaches are not ready to be in that position as a head coach by how they handle the worst adversity at a time. Some of the answers that Mike McDaniel is screaming 'He’s not ready to be in that position just yet.’ Not because he can’t coach, but he’s a really good coordinator that doesn’t know how to run a team yet, and he needs to learn how to be in that position before he’s another head coach."

Dolphins legend Dan Marino offered a sunnier outlook to Fox News Digital earlier in the week. "I think it’s a group effort, obviously. Mike is a brilliant offensive mind. He’s proven that," Marino said. "Yesterday (Sunday), it’s just at the end, like all the games in the NFL, come down to the fourth quarter. Almost all of them are like that, and you have to play all four quarters. We did, and we had a chance to win. The Dolphins, if (De’Von) Achane didn’t step out of bounds, I really feel like we would’ve won that game. That happened, there’s a couple mistakes, and next thing you know you lose the game. That’s why it’s so critical at the end, especially, to play mistake-free football. But Mike’s a very good football coach."

Week 3 adds historical heft: the Dolphins are entering the Bills game on a six-game losing streak to Buffalo and haven’t beaten the Bills since Sept. 25, 2022. It is Miami’s only win against Buffalo since Dec. 2, 2018, and the team has not won in Buffalo since Christmas Eve 2016.

The Bills game represents a potential turning point, but it is approached with caution in Miami, where the roster still features a number of high-profile players and a coaching staff that has shown flashes of brilliance but also recent vulnerability in late-game decision making.