Clarity on Vic Fangio Contract Delay Emerges. Will Join the Miami Dolphins’ Coaching Staff Tomorrow.

The Miami Dolphins have already had an interesting off-season, and they haven’t even hit free agency yet. Back on January 29th, it was reported that Vic Fangio would join the Dolphins’ coaching staff and become the highest-paid defensive coordinator in the NFL. There was a ton of excitement around the move and fans were happy with Mr. Ross for opening his checkbook.

Well, not so fast. Fangio didn’t sign that contract for the following days or weeks with little to no explanation. This acted as chum in the water for every “NFL insider” and random Twitter account with “sources around the league.” We heard every rumor from Fangio joining a Denver organization that fired him the previous offseason to Vic taking over for DeMeco Ryans in San Francisco. Well, things just became a lot more clear...

It was announced that Fangio was going to sign with the Miami Dolphins on January 29th. The Philadelphia Eagles also defeated the 49ers on January 29th and punched their ticket to the Superbowl. Fangio couldn’t sign with the Dolphins at that point because he was in the process of signing a two-week contract with the Eagles. Had the Eagles lost that contest, it’s likely that Fangio would have joined the Dolphins staff in an official capacity that week (and saved many overzealous fans some heartache).

Per Ian Rapoport (article link here), Fangio was brought on to help prepare the Philadelphia offense for Steve Spagnuolo’s defense. This is interesting as Fangio has a very different defensive philosophy and background from Spagnuolo. With that said, Fangio has several connections with the Eagle’s staff and is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable defensive minds in the NFL.

Well Dolphins fans, you will (should) be able to let out a collective sigh tomorrow. What fans can now start to look forward to is seeing how Fangio reshapes this defense. His two high shell, cover 6 defense is going to be significantly different from the man/blitz-heavy scheme the Dolphins have been running for the past four years. For some players it could spell a career revitalization, for others, it could mean the end of their time in a Dolphins uniform.

Either way, the Dolphins are on track to win back-to-back offseasons. It would be great if they made a trophy for that. Though with Fangio running the defense, they could end up in contention for other, more prestigious ones.