Coaching Changes Will Affect Miami Too
By Brian Miller
The NFL annually posts it’s head coaching vacancies in, oh, about 2 days. This year the end of the NFL regular season comes one day before the end of the calendar season…or year. Sometime after today, the NFL will begin posting their coaching vacancies and while the Miami Dolphins will not go looking for a new HC this off-season or for that matter a coordinator, the changes around the NFL will have implications for the Dolphins as well.
Consider that in New York, the Jets may part ways with Rex Ryan. At the very least it appears that the teams DC will be gone, Mike Westoff the special teams coach is retiring, and it is a foregone conclusion that Tony Sparano will be fired as well. Add in GM Mike Tannenbaum and the changes in NY could set the team back another year or two…to say nothing about the personnel changes on the field.
A couple of weeks ago it appeared that the Buffalo Bills would make some changes to their coaching staff but Chan Gailey appeared at the time to be safe. Not anymore. According to word out of Buffalo an entire organizational overhaul could happen in the next week. Dave Wannstedt…gone, Chan Gailey…Gone, GM Buddy Nix…Gone. Along with everyone else including QB Ryan Fitzpatrick. After 13 years without a playoff birth, the longest currently in the NFL, a 14th season is likely.
Outside of the AFC East more changes are expected.
Philadelphia is expected to part ways with Andy Reid. Mike Holmgren in Cleveland has already stepped down effective at the end of the season. It’s possible that the head coach, Pat Shurmur could follow. In San Diego Norv Turner is out the door and the teams GM may be following closely behind. Skip back to the east and Ron Rivera may be out in Carolina two years after taking over the team. The Panthers have already started firing coordinators and coaches a few weeks ago.
Arizona could lose Ken Whisenhunt after another horrible season with the Cardinals. In Kansas City it appears that GM Scott Pioli will return and that may be good news for HC Romeo Crennell. Crennell has done nothing with his head coaching career in both Kansas City and Cleveland.
All told, 7 teams could lose their head coaches this off-season and another three teams could lose their general managers. It’s a rough world, the business of the NFL. Most of these head coaches will land another gig as a teams offensive or defensive coordinator. Miami isn’t in the market for coordinators so I wouldn’t expect any of the free agent coaches to land in south Florida.
Regardless of what happens, the AFC East next season will have some new faces on the other side of the field. As most Dolphins fans will attest, it will be much nicer when that new face across the field is on the team the Dolphins face today. The New England Patriots.