Miami Dolphins headed for HBO's In-Season 'Hard Knocks'

MIAMI GARDENS — A day after the Dolphins took more than their share of hard knocks against the Philadelphia Eagles, they gathered at the team facility and heard coach Mike McDaniel inform them they’re about to be the featured team on HBO’s “Hard Knocks In-Season.”

The Dolphins, HBO and NFL Films made the joint announcement Monday afternoon but are keeping nearly all details private until possibly later this week.

McDaniel said cameras won’t begin rolling, offering fans an all-access look at coaches and players as they prepare for each game, until the Dolphins return from their Nov. 5 game in Germany against the Kansas City Chiefs. McDaniel expects the series to continue “through the finality of the season,” whenever that may be.

Obviously, the league and HBO are intrigued by the Dolphins for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that McDaniel has become a charismatic, quotable and innovative coach. The Dolphins are a team of stars including quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and receiver Tyreek Hill. And they feature the most explosive offense in the league.

“The bottom line is if you’re getting done what your mission statement is, it’s going to be done under the spotlight,” McDaniel said. “And so getting used to having a weekly spotlight for this young team isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

More: Dolphins fail to make that statement win vs. Eagles | Habib

The Dolphins appeared on "Hard Knocks" in the 2012 preseason when Joe Philbin was coach and Ryan Tannehill was a rookie quarterback.

The Dolphins are the third NFL team to take part in the in-season HBO series, following the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals. The New York Jets and quarterback Aaron Rodgers were 2023's preseason "Hard Knocks" team.

Mike McDaniel doesn't call it ‘a team decision'

McDaniel’s job is wins and losses, so his initial reaction was concern over whether prying eyes would hamper the team from achieving its ultimate goal. He even cited “there’s enough distractions” during the season as it is.

“I wouldn’t call it a team decision,” McDaniel said. “But at the same time, you guys know me well enough to know that I steer clear of worrying about things that we can’t control.”

With that, McDaniel began searching for ways to look at the news positively.

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing for people to see our day-in, day-out hard, hard work,” he said. “I know there’s a lot of guys on this team that will garner interest and I think that’s a platform for them to showcase who they are and really the fan base to get to know the players and coaches better.”

McDaniel had limited meetings about the project with filmmakers. His immediate concern was to be expected.

“The decision, you know, it’s kind of made for you,” McDaniel said. “You’re worried about some of the football competitive advantages leaving the building and being more accessible. I think in our short talks with the league and HBO, we’ve had that concern suppressed, knowing that we’ll be able to protect our team and anything that’s a competitive disadvantage that may come up, we’ll be able to keep that from hitting the final copy.”

He expects those critical, final editing decisions to be mutually agreed upon.

“NFL Films is heavily involved, invested in this process,” he said. “And that’s one thing I can attest to just watching from when I was 5 years old — how their first and foremost objective is to document history and how good a job they do with that. So this will be a working relationship. So it should be very amicable as I understand it.”

Dolphins reporter Hal Habib can be reached at  hhabib@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @gunnerhal.