After an offensive season to forget in 2024, the Miami Dolphins are adjusting their coaching staff in an effort to improve their slumping run game.
Chandler Henley, an assistant coach under head coach Mike McDaniel since 2022, was promoted to run-game specialist ahead of the start of training camp.
Henley has been an assistant coach for 14 years, including eight years in the NFL. He was promoted from assistant quarterbacks coach to senior offensive assistant in 2024 before being promoted again this week.
What Do The Dolphins Expect Chandler Henley To Do?
Simply put, Henley should be expected to help McDaniel, offensive coordinator Frank Smith and passing-game coordinator Darrell Bevell get the most out of Miami’s offense, which regressed in 2024.
As assistant QBs coach, Henley helped quarterback Tua Tagovailoa become the youngest quarterback to lead the league in quarterback rating (105.5), which he did as a 24-year-old in 2022.
Then last year, Tagovailoa set the Dolphins single-season record for completion percentage 72.9 percent, even though injuries led to him playing only 11 games. That mark was the third-best percentage of any qualifying QB in NFL history.
Yet, as Tagovailoa efficiently led the team’s passing game, the Dolphins run game took a step back last season. After rushing for 800 yards, eight touchdowns and 7.8 yards per attempt in his rookie season, De’Von Achane regressed in his second year by rushing for 905 yards on just 4.5 yards per carry, 53.4 yards per game and only six rushing TDs in 17 games.
The Dolphins rushing attack, which was sixth in the NFL in 2023, fell to 21st in the NFL (105.6 yards per game) last season. After ranking second in the NFL in points per game (29.2) in 2023, the Dolphins fell to 22nd (20.3) and went 8-9 and missed the playoffs.
So as run-game specialist, Henley will undoubtedly try to get Miami’s run game back to the top-half of the NFL in 2024.
Who Is Chandler Henley?
Henley is from Littleton, Colorado, a suburb of Denver and adjacent to McDaniel’s hometown of Aurora, Colorado. Like McDaniel, Henley also was a wide receiver at Yale with the Dolphins head coach from 2002-04 — when McDaniel graduated.
McDaniel went on to become a coaching intern in the NFL, and Henley went to Vanderbilt to get his masters’ degree in higher education. He worked in sales at IBM and Google and was a part-time researcher with Football Night In America.
But he pivoted to coaching in 2012, returning to Vandy to start his coaching career before returning to Yale to coach the Bulldogs tight ends in 2015. In 2018, he made his NFL debut with the Tennessee Titans as offensive quality-control coach and stayed there until 2021.
Henley was a part of the Titans coaching staff that guided the team to the AFC Championship Game in 2019-20 — and ended the Tom Brady era with the New England Patriots. Over his tenure in Tennessee, and led by All-Pro Derrick Henry, the Titans rushed for 144.6 yards per game.
Henley moved on in 2021 when he started as assistant line coach for the Atlanta Falcons. But when McDaniel joined the Dolphins staff, they were reunited in South Florida.
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