MIAMI — The one thing the world should know about Mike McDaniel is that he marches to the beat of his own drum.

His hip style ... tap, tap, tap.

His quirky sense of humor ... rim shot.

That relatable approach is unique, and sets him apart from most individuals in the world, and that includes all NFL head coaches.

So anyone expecting the Miami Dolphins head coach to change his DNA — altering who he is at his core to satisfy the masses, or fit some agenda — is making a mistake.

McDaniel’s firmly grounded in the quirkiness that exudes from his pores, and doesn’t plan to make significant changes unless it fits his agenda.

“One thing I have to say about Mike — and some people might think this is a fault — he’s even-keeled,” said tight ends coach Jon Embree, an assistant who has spent nine seasons with McDaniel going back to their time together in Cleveland and San Francisco. “You can hear when I’m mad. Everyone knows when I’m not happy. So I think I need to be more like [McDaniel].”

Stable. Emotionally regulated. No panicking.

But a stabilized approach doesn’t mean McDaniel won’t, or hasn’t altered how he does business. Actually, every year there has been some kind of shift in his philosophies, or an adjustment made to his mind-set when it comes to playcalling, team-building, chemistry development and the formation of a football team.

Keep in mind that McDaniel made his team’s tardiness an issue in his end of the season session with players and the media. He outed himself with the hope, expectation that an admission of his own shortcoming would plant an accountability seed that grows.

The follow up has been Miami’s most-attended, voluntary offseason program since his first season with the team in 2022.

“I think Mike has done a tremendous job of creating a culture here that the players wanna be a part of,” said tailbacks coach Eric Studesville, who was a holdover from Brian Flores’ Dolphins staff.

And Studesville was actually a holdover from Adam Gase’s staff in 2018. That means he has seen the Dolphins led with three different styles, so he can compare and contrast them all.

At this point, the Dolphins seem to have a rally around one another approach.

“[It’s a culture] the coaches wanna be a part of, people in this building are a part of,” Studesville said. “People in this building are an integral part of [this], and I think that all trickles down. The fact that the players feel like [we’re in this together], I think that’s just an advantage for us.”

Even though McDaniel’s an Ivy League (Yale) graduate, that doesn’t automatically mean he’s smart. However, he’s intelligent enough to be aware of exactly where he stands in the NFL coaching hierarchy.

McDaniel’s aware the vultures are circling, but doubt has not crept in.

He’s not naive to the fact he’s one of the coaches who is entering the season on the proverbial hot seat. But that doesn’t mean he’s making wholesale changes.

“He’s done a good job of really continuing to empower the true leaders on the team, lifting them up,” Embree said, referring to McDaniel’s philosophy that he’s merely the steward of the team, which is run by the players. “I would have to say that the players have done more. They are hearing all this stuff about discipline and they are taking it personal and feeling like it’s a reflection on them.

“I feel like we’re closer as a team. I felt like last year we were more of a roster than a team,” Embree continued. “This year the feeling I’m getting out of us is more of team, the camaraderie, guys doing stuff together. Being in the building [together].”

I have covered the Dolphins since 2007, which means I have heard these exact same comments, speeches, rally-around-one another approaches before.

Last year’s offseason push was about bonding, becoming closer as teammates. The Dolphins hosted parties and dinners together. They got to know each other’s family members, but the team was still a collection of individuals.

In fact, that was a constant complaint as the season progressed.

Everyone was on their own agenda, and it wasn’t necessarily about the team’s agenda.

Sprinkle in tardiness, which was a problem that grew as the season progressed, and the on- and off-field drama, which began with Tyreek Hill and other teammates nearly being arrested hours before the season opener and ended with Hill pulling himself from the season finale and demanding a trade after a 32-20 loss to the Jets and distractions made it seem as if McDaniel ran too loose of a ship.

It doesn’t help that the Dolphins lost two of the team’s most influential leaders this offseason when Terron Armstead retired and Calais Campbell signed with the Arizona Cardinals as a free agent.

Player empowerment or not, it’s on McDaniel to hold it all together, and one of the emphasis he has made was more bonding time between units, which has been scheduled during the offseason program.

The offensive line did Pilates together. The defensive line had a paintball outing. Some units do weekly dinners.

The hope is that the bonding will forge a better team, creating one that not only rallies around each other, but fights for their head coach and his staff.

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