The Miami Dolphins’ unexpected offensive coordinator change has left fans scrambling to try to decipher what this means for the Dolphins’ offense in 2020. How will the personnel change? What new traits and qualities need to be accounted for in free agents and the draft? Will there be prominent tendencies in how the Dolphins’ offense operates?
These are all great questions — and don’t come with timely answers as Miami shifts into offseason mode and faces a 10-week lull before the opening of free agency in March. For any clues as to what the hiring means for Miami, fans must look into the past. And, fortunately for those eager for clues, new Dolphins OC Chan Gailey has worked with Miami’s quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, before. Several times as a matter of fact.
So what do past soundbites offer in the way of perspective? Here’s what Ryan Fitzpatrick had to say about Chan Gailey’s offense back in 2015, when the two were reunited in New York with the Jets.
“I was excited to reunite with Chan and this is an offense I’ve had a lot of history in and really enjoyed playing in it,” said Fitzpatrick.
“It’s a fun offense to be in. He does a great job of highlighting his talent. We’ve got some talented receivers here, we’ve got some talented guys in the backfield…he does a great job of utilizing team strengths and putting them in the best possible situation to win. And that sounds funny because you would think everybody does that but he’s got a knack for finding way to get your players the ball.”
That’s great news for the likes of DeVante Parker and Mike Gesicki, for starters. The duo of young pass catchers teamed up to combine for 1,772 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns on the season for Miami — and with Gailey’s high utilization of spread sets, Gesicki figures to continue to benefit from this move. The expectation should be that Gesicki spends even less time attached to the line of scrimmage and even more time where he won in college — flexed into the slot.
As far as the rest of the personnel? Well, we’re going to need more time to comb through the clues and find out what missing pieces the Dolphins are looking to address this offseason.