Raheem Mostert’s criticism of Mike McDaniel raised eyebrows, but former Dolphins star Jarvis Landry insists the real issue lies elsewhere. It could be a reason why the Dolphins took steps to carry a record-setting dead cap into 2026, as they HAD TO clean house.

“Based on a comment that Raheem gave, I think it answers the question of what was the problem with the Miami Dolphins throughout this little era, where people couldn’t figure out how they had the talent.” Appearing on the 4th and South podcast, Jarvis Landry redirected the conversation entirely to the locker room.

Landry, a 5x Pro Bowl WR, led the NFL in receptions (112) during his final season with the Dolphins, understands that more than the lack of leadership, it’s also a culture problem within the locker room.

“It goes to show you that the problem is also a culture problem. This tells me they didn’t have enough leaders in the locker room. If we’re dependent on a coach to lay the hammer down and be this tough presence around the team, it tells me that they didn’t have enough leaders inside of the organization.”

Wide receiver Tyreek Hill arrived each offseason with the expectation that his voice and his production would anchor something. But in 2025, he was done by Week 4, a dislocated knee with torn ligaments, including his ACL, ended his season right when it started gaining momentum.

But considering Hill’s legal history and a very public request to be traded following Miami’s 2024 loss, Mike McDaniel’s tenure as an HC definitely saw more lows than highs.

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, already managing years of concussion history, turned in his worst season under McDaniel: 2,660 yards, 12 interceptions (2nd most in the league). He was benched in Week 16 with the team at 6-8. 

Miami finished 7-10 and parted ways with Tagovailoa, who had publicly called out his teammates earlier in Week 6 for not attending the players-only meetings and later apologized. 

The Dolphins didn’t just lack a tough coach; they lacked anyone left standing to hold the room together. And seeing this, Jarvis Landry doubled down with what the team needs the most.

“I think great teams and great players, they put that on themselves,” Landry continued. “They lean into being an extension of the coach. The coach is really there to create an environment for people to feel comfortable under pressure. I’m not saying the coach is not going to hold you accountable, but the coach shouldn’t have to yell.”

Landry’s comments take us back to what Raheem highlighted; it was Mike McDaniel’s nonchalance that led to the cultural offset in Miami.

“When you’re dealing with a coach that’s so nonchalant, laid back, wants to be, you know, the catalyst behind being a player’s coach, it kind of shifts that organization and the pivot within that system,” Mostert said on The Herd with Colin Cowherd. 

“When you’re dealing with something like that, as a player, you’re like, no, I need somebody, you know, tough that’s going to lay the hammer down when it needs to be down, and tell other players to get in line. When you don’t have that, that impact can definitely be detrimental.”

Whether the new Dolphins locker room functions better under new head coach Jeff Hafley, we’ll have to wait and see. And while Raheem Mostert’s words did raise legitimate questions about Miami’s leadership, Landry wonders if Mostert’s take would have been the same had he been part of another system.

“If you look at some of our great coaches that we all love and respect, I wonder if Raheem Mostert would say this if he was playing for Andy Reid,” Landry concluded. “Andy Reid doesn’t seem like he’s a coach that’s yelling. He holds you accountable, gets the job done as next man up.”

The Kansas City Chiefs have won three Super Bowls under head coach Andy Reid and made four appearances. But Reid doesn’t demand volume from his roster. Franchise quarterback Patrick Mahomes and star tight end Travis Kelce enforce the standard before Reid walks in the room. That’s the player-led locker room that Miami could never build for itself. The veterans who hold teams accountable on their own never took root in South Beach.

Raheem Mostert and Jarvis Landry were some of those veterans. So was Cedric Thompson, and his story makes the same point, a decade earlier, without meaning to.

When no one was watching in Miami

Former Dolphins safety Cedric Thompson recently detailed, in a candid Instagram reel, exactly what Miami’s locker room looked like under Joe Philbin. The problem he revealed predated the entire conversation around Mike McDaniel and the current Dolphins.

“I blew my opportunity in the NFL, even though I was drafted, and here’s what happened,” Thompson said. “This is my coach, Joe Philbin. Me and him did not get along. One time, I got into an argument with him at practice in front of everybody, and I tarnished our relationship really early in the preseason.”

Joe Philbin was notably fired mid-season after a 1-3 start in 2015, and Dan Campbell took over with a mission to revamp Miami. But Thompson only made it worse with a shoving match with fellow rookie Jarvis Landry at the practice after the coaching change.

Thompson’s preseason PFF grade ranked 12th-lowest among 159 safeties. When Louis Delmas suffered a season-ending knee injury, Thompson still couldn’t claim the stop. He never played a regular-season game for Miami and retired in 2018 at just 25. Thompson traced it all back to one structural failure: the absence of anyone guiding him.

“I believe if I had somebody guiding me, I’d be playing to this day right now, but I had no mentors,” Cedric admitted. “I had nobody telling me what to do, and this caused me to be a journeyman in the NFL and have a really hard couple of years.”

Different coaches, different rosters, the same structural hole. Nobody inside the building was doing the daily leadership work that a coaching staff cannot provide. If the players needed the head coach to supply toughness that the locker room should have already owned, the problem was never just the coach. Cedric Thompson and Jarvis Landry, a decade apart, are saying the same thing. The room has failed itself again.