Kyle Shanahan has gotten most of the credit for the extremely successful outside zone run scheme in San Francisco, but Mike McDaniel has played a key part in that success, and will bring that scheme to the Dolphins in 2022.
Kyle Juszczyk has been part of the 49ers backfield since Mike McDaniel began his 4-year tenure as run game coordinator before he became the OC this past season. There is wide belief that he has been the guru of that run game.
Juszczyk had high praise of McDaniel as he left the team; he highlighted his creativity and ingenuity, and noted that he had a big impact on the offense’s overall success.
According to PFF, since Shanahan and McDaniel joined SF in 2017, the 49ers have had the 6th best overall run blocking grade or better. They were 2nd in the league over the last two seasons. The Dolphins were dead last this past season, and ranked 30th or worse 4 of the last 5 seasons.
Shanahan has literally taken McDaniel to every coaching destination he’s been over the last 14 years, according to Albert Breer on the Dan Patrick show. Breer also mentioned that McDaniel had full responsibility of installing the weekly run game in San Francisco while Shanahan worked on the pass game.
Whoever ends up as Miami’s primary back will be someone I will be very interested in for fantasy purposes. Gaskin is still under contract for one more year, and Salvon Ahmed is an exclusive rights free agent, so he might be back. I’m not sure either are great fits for the new zone run scheme, but I do believe they should pursue bringing Duke Johnson back if possible.