Mike McDaniel is hitting the ground running at assembling his staff as head coach of the Dolphins, and he's bringing a familiar name to his new franchise. According to Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Miami is hiring Wes Welker to the offensive staff. Armando Salguero of OutKick adds that Welker will serve as the Dolphins wide receivers coach, which is the same position he held while with the 49ers staff.
Welker spent the last three seasons on the San Francisco coaching staff, so he has a strong working relationship with McDaniel, who was the Niners offensive coordinator last season.
Of course, this is also a homecoming for Welker, who played three seasons as a member of the Dolphins from 2004 to 2006. During that three-season run, Welker played primarily on special teams in 2004 but started to emerge as a receiver over the next two seasons. From 2005 to 2006, Welker caught 96 passes for 1,121 yards and a touchdown.
After the 2006 season, Welker was traded to the New England Patriots where his career exploded and he became one of the most prolific slot receivers in the league. To this day, he's the franchise's all-time leading receptions leader with 672 catches. Following that highly productive stint with the Patriots, Welker played two seasons with the Broncos and had a brief tenure with the Rams before retiring from the league following the 2015 season. Two years later, he began his coaching career by joining the Houston Texans as an offensive and special teams assistant. Welker held that role for two seasons before getting the receivers job in San Francisco.
During the 2021 regular season, the 49ers passing attack ranked 12th in the league, and both Welker and McDaniel oversaw Deebo Samuel's breakout campaign where he led the league with 18.2 yards per reception and 1,405 yards receiving. Naturally, that success they had with Samuel this season does create some excitement for what this duo could cook up with 2021 first-round receiver Jaylen Waddle in Miami in the seasons to come.
