Dolphins lose defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to the Giants, promote assistant

The Miami Dolphins will have new offensive and defensive coordinators in 2020.

That’s because the New York Giants hired Patrick Graham, who ran Miami’s defense in 2019 to same position the Miami Herald has confirmed.

Graham landed a new job even though his Dolphins defense ranked last in points (30.9 per game) and 30th in yards allowed (397.8) last year. He led one of the league’s worst pass rushes, with the Dolphins managing just 23 sacks in 2019, the fewest in the league.

The Dolphins will not be conducting a search for a new defensive coordinator. The plan is to promote cornerbacks and defensive pass game coordinator Josh Boyer to the position.

Boyer followed Flores to Miami from New England last year and served as the team’s passing game/cornerbacks coach in 2019.

He made the most of a difficult year marred by a series of injuries, most notably to Pro Bowler Xavien Howard. Unheralded defenders like Nik Needham, Nate Brooks and Jomal Wiltz were thrust into significant roles in the second half of the season, and acquitted themselves well.

By picking Boyer — a well-respected assistant who spent 13 seasons as an assistant in New England — instead of conducting an external search, the Dolphins show they value a continuity of scheme on defense. They will run a different offense under new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, but Boyer and Flores will presumably keep things similar on defense.

Boyer will be the Dolphins’ sixth different defensive coordinator in as many seasons.

Graham’s move to New York is a fascinating development, considering it is a lateral one, which is rare in the NFL. The Dolphins had to have given permission to Graham for the move to happen.

This comes on the heels of Brian Flores firing Chad O’Shea a day after season ended. He replaced him quickly with former NFL head coach Gailey.

QUARTERBACKS COACH NAMED

According to a league source, the Dolphins are hiring Robby Brown as quarterbacks coach, filling a position that was unfilled after Jim Caldwell left on medical leave before the season.

Jerry Schlupinski remains under contract as assistant quarterbacks coach.

Brown spent last season with the West Virginia Mountaineer coaching staff as the special assistant to the head coach for football and senior analyst (offense) in March 2019.

Brown came to West Virginia after serving as the offensive quality control and defensive assistant coach with the New York Jets since 2015, where he worked with new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey.

While with the Jets, Brown assisted the offensive and defensive coordinator in all aspects of day-to-day operations and also assisted the wide receiver and outside linebacker coaches.

Prior to that, Brown served as the run game coordinator and running backs coach at South Alabama (2014) and was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Northwestern State in (2013) and offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator at Valdosta State for four years (2009-12) and offensive coordinator at Henderson State.

This story was originally published January 12, 2020 at 5:44 PM.