49ers news: Mike McDaniel hire by Dolphins will net 2 more NFL Draft picks

The 49ers are losing their offensive coordinator, Mike McDaniel, to the Dolphins to become their head coach, but the Niners receive NFL Draft compensation as a result.

It’s hard to envision a scenario where the San Francisco 49ers are happy to lose their offensive coordinator, Mike McDaniel, this offseason.

McDaniel, of course, is officially joining the Miami Dolphins as their next coach in the wake of Miami parting ways with former head coach Brian Flores earlier this offseason. And while McDaniel was a relative unknown prior to him being promoted from the Niners’ run-game coordinator position early in 2021, the intrigue of him being able to carry over head coach Kyle Shanahan’s system into a Dolphins offense that truly needs a spark in future seasons was surely an attractive one.

Even if it means San Francisco will have to continue shuffling its own coaching staff under Shanahan entering 2022.

Nevertheless, the 49ers are poised to benefit from McDaniel’s hiring in another way, the NFL Draft.

49ers to receive 2 compensatory picks for the NFL Draft

Thanks to the NFL’s rule that rewards teams for developing minority assistants into roles of either being a head coach or general manager, the Niners will be receiving two compensatory third-round selections in the NFL Draft, the first in 2022 and the second in 2023.

San Francisco was already poised to have eight selections in the 2022 draft, after subtracting its own first-round selection and another Round 3 compensatory selection, both of which were sent to the Dolphins last year as part of the package used to select quarterback Trey Lance at No. 3 overall.

With the additional compensatory pick awarded in the wake of McDaniel’s hiring, the 49ers’ list of total selections in 2022 will be as follows:

• Round 2, No. 61 overall
• Round 3, No. 93 overall
• Round 3 (compensatory)
• Round 4, No. 130 overall
• Round 5, No. 170 overall
• Round 6, No. 186 overall (from Broncos)
• Round 7, No. 251 overall (compensatory)
• Round 7, No. 254 overall (compensatory)
• Round 7, No. 260 overall (compensatory)

Read More: 5 Niners players who may follow Mike McDaniel to Dolphins

The exact spot of the newly generated comp pick isn’t known yet, but compensatory selections always fall towards the end of the respective rounds anyway.

A year ago, in the wake of former Niners defensive coordinator Robert Saleh leaving the team to take over as the New York Jets head coach, San Francisco also received compensatory selections, one of them being used as part of the aforementioned deal for Lance.

McDaniel’s hiring now gets that selection back.