Mike McDaniel responds to Troy Aikman criticism as ESPN makes decision on analyst’s future

Mike McDaniel has played down being bothered by the appointment of Troy Aikman as a consultant after his criticism of the Miami Dolphins’ head coach in their defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers earlier this season.

On Friday it was announced that the Fins had hired the former Dallas Cowboys‘ Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback turned ESPN analyst as a consultant to help in the organization’s search of a new general manager.

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Former GM Chris Grier was fired on Halloween after the Dolphins fell to 2-7 in the first half of the 2025 NFL season after a humbling loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night Football.

McDaniel – whose job has also been deemed very much under fire for much of the campaign – was spared, at least for the remainder of the season.

But quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was not after he was benched later on in the season for rookie Quinn Ewers amid speculation that the Fins will look to trade the $212 million signal caller.

With the realization that the appointment of Aikman by Miami had the potential to be awkward after his public criticism of McDaniel, the Dolphins head coach chalked it down to just being part of the business they work in.

“When I signed up for this job, this just in: when things work, people will applaud. When they don’t work, they’ll have critiques…and if I expect anything else, that’s a level of entitlement that doesn’t really hit me correctly,” McDaniel said on Friday.

“It’s kind of the nature of the biz. So you’re telling me he didn’t like us not scoring points and taking up too much time. Neither did I, that was not the intent.

“He’s doing his job and when I signed up for this job, it was inherent that results dictate all narratives regardless of if something was good, bad, or whatever.

“It doesn’t bother me in the least, as a matter of fact I’d think it would be funny if it did.”

Aikman blasted McDaniel’s decision-making in the Dolphins’ 28-15 defeat to the Steelers in Week 15.

“I’m flabbergasted with what we’ve witnessed in this fourth quarter with the Dolphins and now they want to call timeouts?” Aikman said after McDaniel opted to use their timeouts despite a slim chance of a potential comeback with the ball in their hands.

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“It is about as ridiculous a fourth quarter as I’ve seen in a long time.”

Aikman’s role with ESPN confirmed

In the wake of the announcement of his new role, ESPN have revealed that Aikman’s part-time and “temporary” consulting gig will have no impact on his role as Monday Night Football’s game analyst.

“It doesn’t interfere with his responsibilities with us,” ESPN told Front Office Sports. “His schedule remains unchanged.”

FOS also noted that the dynamic around Aikman is just the latest indication that “conflict of interest concerns usually don’t apply to the biggest sports TV personalities.”

Many top analysts also hold executive roles or ownership positions within teams that they cover, with the most notable of that being Tom Brady.

The all-time great quarterback became a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders after he signed a 10-year, $375 million deal to be a FOX Sports color analyst, and has had rules tailor made around him as it pertains to production meetings with other NFL teams.

The three-time Super Bowl champion will be on the call with Joe Buck, Lisa Salters and Laura Rutledge for ESPN’s broadcast of the NFC West showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks.

The winner of that contest will secure the NFC’s No. 1 overall seed – and a crucial first-round bye – for the playoffs.

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