As Black Monday approached, Dolphins fans seemed to have nothing to worry about — after all, this team had overachieved but they were still 5-11, the coaching staff didn’t appear set to lose any critical pieces. And then news broke that offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea and two other assistants had been fired. The decision is a surprising one for Miami, catching a lot of folks off guard.
But there may be a method to the madness.
When Brian Flores was brought in as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, he poached O’Shea, who was the wide receiver coach of the New England Patriots. Flores is well versed in the art of poaching assistants, which may well be the reason he fired O’Shea.
The Dolphins’ coaching staff thinks very highly — and rightfully so — of assistant quarterback coach Jerry Schuplinski. Schuplinski, who served as Miami’s full-time quarterback coach this season in the absence of Jim Caldwell, may well have been under siege from another potential head coaching hire elsewhere this winter.
That man is New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Heck, back in 2018, Schuplinski was reported to be McDaniels’ choice for offensive coordinator with the Colts before McDaniels bailed on the gig. When McDaniels did not take the job, Schuplinski remained the assistant quarterback coach of the Patriots.
According to ESPN insider Adam Schefter, Josh McDaniels is up for three different head coaching jobs again this offseason. Two of these jobs have young quarterbacks that need to be developed, which means Schuplinski would have appeal to McDaniels once more.
Giants and Panthers now have requested permission to interview Patriots' OC Josh McDaniels for their vacant HC job, per source. Browns already have requested permission as well, so that's three potential opportunities.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 30, 2019
Cleveland Browns requested permission to interview Patriots’ OC Josh McDaniels for their head-coaching vacancy, per source. Panthers also expected to request interview.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 30, 2019
Now that Flores has fired O’Shea, the Dolphins are positioned to promote Schuplinksi to offensive coordinator, should they so desire. By doing so, Brian Flores can now protect himself and the Dolphins staff by having the ability to block interviews for a lateral job change, thus blocking any coach — namely McDaniels — from poaching him.
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