The Miami Dolphins are in the market for a new offensive play caller — and this week appears to be a big week on that front. With the Dolphins set to begin conducting external interviews for the position, Miami will hope to get some clarity on the offensive approach this team will run in 2021 (and hopefully beyond). One of the most intriguing candidates for the position, former Penn State and Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien, appears to be off the market and headed to the Alabama Crimson Tide — where he will replace Steve Sarkisian, the new head coach of the Texas Longhorns.
It’s January, which means it is musical chairs season for coaches. For the Dolphins, that may not be a bad thing — because there are a number of candidates available for an offensive coordinator role that would appear to check the boxes Miami has gone after in their senior-most offensive coach in the past under Brian Flores.
In 2019, it was assistant head coach Jim Caldwell who Miami tried to hire to boost the offensive staff. But before the season, Caldwell took a medical leave of absence, never coached a down and then the Dolphins replaced him (and also Chad O’Shea, who was Miami’s actual offensive coordinator) with Chan Gailey.
What are those criteria?
- A former head coach
- Prior experience calling plays
- 15+ years of experience at the NFL level
If the Dolphins want to stay committed to this approach, it will indicate that Brian Flores would like to continue to delegate his offense to someone who has been around the block and has experience with managing an entire group and side of the football. There’s plenty to admire about such a role — as knowing what you don’t know is a fatal flaw for many leaders. That isn’t to say Brian Flores won’t be present in decision making for game plans and have input on game days. But being able to trust whoever is heading up the effort on the offensive side of the football has been a point of emphasis in the past.
We’ll know based off of who the Dolphins bring in for interviews this week if that is still the case.