Some context into the Dolphins' decision to fire Mike McDaniel, per multiple people involved in the decision: Owner Steve Ross met with McDaniel on Tuesday, and the outcome of the meeting left Ross very conflicted. He really likes Mike -- "loves his intelligence and offensive mind" -- but Tuesday's meeting resulted in some hard thoughts. Ross didn't feel like the results were there, and despite the end-of-year production, Ross simply wasn't comfortable moving forward with the "status quo." Now for the elephant in the room: I'm told the Dolphins have not yet been in touch with John Harbaugh or anyone in his camp, and people close to the decision are adamant this decision to move away from McDaniel is independent of Harbaugh's availability. I'm told the Dolphins will conduct the head coaching search after a GM is in place, which should be in the next few days. Yes, it obviously could lead to discussions with Harbaugh. And yes, one of the GM candidates (Chad Alexander) is very close to Harbaugh. But people close to the situation tell me this decision to fire Mike would have been made either way.