Miami Dolphins Joe Philbin An Afterthought?

With the Dolphins posting a lot of videos of their war room and their selections and whatever else they happen to find worthy of being internet published there seems to be a significant member of the staff missing. Joe Philbin. Has he become an afterthought through all of this structural change?

More from Dolphins News

• 4 offensive tackles Miami Dolphins could draft at 51
• Miami Dolphins don’t need CB help but these 5 could be available at 51
• 4 players that could replace Wilkins if Miami Dolphins don’t re-sign him
• Miami Dolphins have a starting point with Wilkins after Simmons deal
• The Miami Dolphins should not take a running back in the draft

Throughout the myriad of video coverage that has been presented to fans, Philbin looks like the outsider. In one specific video, an inside look at the DeVante Parker pick (at the 1:00 minute mark the draft room starts). In the video several interesting things occur but nothing really stresses that Philbin is not as involved or is involved. He just seems like another guy in the room.

At one point Philbin, seated to Dennis Hickey’s right is talking with the GM and it appears that Hickey is trying to reassure Philbin of something or explain something to him. In fact he holds his hand up to Philbin as if to say, “it’s o.k.”.

Later in the video we see Mike Tannenbaum and owner Stephen Ross high-fiveing. Dennis Hickey is standing behind them. Ross gets excited and slaps the hand of Tannenbaum, Tannenbaum turns and shakes Hickey’s hand, then Hickey shakes Ross’ hand. In the next cut we see Tannenbaum reach across the empty seat beside him to shake Philbin’s hand, Philbin looks to say “good job”. He says the same thing when Hickey shakes his hand.

The look on Philbin’s face shows no excitement, no emotion. Then again, he rarely does. Of course even Bill Belichick has been known to crack a grin once in awhile. In other videos Philbin is behind the major players if he is in them at all. At the introductory presser, Philbin was not at the table of four that had Tannenbaum, Parker, Ross, and Hickey.

It’s very possible that this is no more than a simple priority of videotaping the moments of the draft but it does show that the teams head coach is not very high on the pecking order of important people. That is the way it is in a lot of NFL draft rooms. But the coaches do seem to be slightly more involved than Philbin appears in Miami.

The lack of Philbin’s presence makes you wonder if he has much say in the decisions that are made with the team these days.

For what it’s worth. I’m not really a Philbin fan and while this is not an attack on Philbin in any way or meant to be demeaning to him, it’s my observation of the videos that I have watched and because I’m not a fan perhaps I’m simply reading too much into it.

Regardless, the Dolphins got the player they wanted.