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So, the Dolphins, like virtually every other NFL team, every year, have retooled their coaching staff, replacing both their offensive and defensive coordinators, as well as several position coaches. Chan Gailey replaces Chad ‘Bird of Prey’ O’Shea as the team’s offensive coordinator, while Josh Boyer replaces Patrick Graham as Miami’s new DC.
It’s amazing the way so many Dolphin fans could repeatedly refer to Patrick Graham as ‘Fatrick’ during the season, but now that he’s gone, the sky is falling. I got ripped six ways from Sunday for poking playful fun at Josh Rosen’s nose (you’ve got to admit, he’d have made a great mascot for the Cardinals); heck, I even compared him to Joe Namath, but we were calling Graham ‘Fatrick’ week after week throughout the 2019 season.
Welcome to the new state of the franchise, in which the future looks so bright that we have to search hard to find something to complain about. Next, we’ll probably lament that the Dolphins have drafted too many talented players this Spring, or that Ross has made too many improvements to Hard Rock Stadium. If this is the new paradigm for being a Miami Dolphins fan, count me in.
There are at least a few voices of reason among the sea of pitchforks out there in Dolphin Nation. One guy suggested that the reason Brian Flores is setting his staff up this way is to groom future coordinators from within the team’s current staff members, New England Patriots style. I think that sounds plausible. Either way, Miami needs good players, and lots of them, to make a run at the postseason.
We don’t yet know how well this staff will coalesce going forward, or whether or not they’ll get what will be the youngest roster in the NFL to play up to its potential, but what we do know is this: all NFL teams run, essentially, the same plays. It’s what they call at a given time and in a specific down and distance situation, and how well the players execute the play, that determines success. Let’s see how the Dolphins do in the draft, and with a bumper crop of young talent on the field next season, before we judge the new coordinators and coaches the team has brought in.