Off-Season Key For Miami Dolphins Could Be Tom Gamble

Last year the Miami Dolphins wanted to hire Tom Gamble, Director of Player Personnel of the Philadelphia Eagles as the teams GM. Initially Gamble agree to the interview but his fathers health deteriorated and Gamble declined. His father died shortly thereafter. You would think that Gamble’s name wouldn’t be a factor this year but that may not be the case as Dave Hyde of the Sun-Sentinel reports.

According to Hyde the Dolphins owner, Stephen Ross, is looking hard at Jim Harbaugh to replace Joe Philbin who could still return as the teams head coach. Harbaugh is clearly the top choice of Ross and that will way very heavily on his decision to keep Philbin at seasons end. So where does Gamble come into this?

For starters Gamble and Harbaugh have a very solid working relationship and are friends so if Harbaugh were to come to Miami, Ross might want to try and get Gamble to come as well. Would this mean a one and done for Dennis Hickey? Maybe not as the Dolphins could hire Gamble for another position giving him more power than he does in Philly. The attraction of landing both men would be a huge hit for Stephen Ross. Ross needs to do something to regenerate fan interest in his team after a second consecutive season of collapsing at the end.

Ross is in position to make something happen and should he be able to land both Harbaugh and Gamble some continuity could continue on the offensive side of the ball where OC Bill Lazor is no stranger to Gamble having worked with him in Philadelphia while under Chip Kelly. That is of course if Harbaugh wanted to stay the course with that side of the ball.

A lot of this will depend on whether or not he can land Jim Harbaugh and will he need to land Tom Gamble first? If he lands Harbaugh is that door that closes on Dennis Hickey? Is Dennis Hickey’s job in danger at all? Should it be? On the surface the answer is no but this is the NFL and it’s a business.

It is going to get very interesting as the season comes to a conclusion in less than two weeks. In fact Joe Philbin could be fired as soon as a week from this Monday. What happens next is anyones guess but as Hyde points out, there are some  options still out there for Stephen Ross.