Dolphins send interview requests, including former head coaches, Tua Tagovailoa’s former OC
The Dolphins have begun their search for a new head coach after firing Brian Flores on Monday.
According to multiple reports, the Dolphins have requested permission to interview the following: Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Kellen Moore and Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.
It’s a wide net of fast-rising assistants, former head coaches and some with ties to the organization. All potential interviewees are part of teams preparing for postseason games this weekend.
Vance Joseph
Joseph, 49, is in his third season with the Cardinals after a two-year stint with the Denver Broncos (2017-18) in which he was fired after accumulating an 11-21 record. His time in Denver was preceded by a one-year stint as the Dolphins defensive coordinator. Arizona’s defense has ranked in the top half of the league in yards and scoring defense the last two seasons under Joseph.
The NFL’s update to the Rooney Rule requires teams to interview at least two external minority candidates for head coaching jobs. Joseph, who is Black, is the first minority candidate to be reported as a potential interviewee.
Kellen Moore
Moore, 33, is in his third season as the Cowboys offensive coordinator after spending the 2018 season as Dallas’ quarterbacks coach. A former undrafted quarterback out of Boise State who carved out a six-year career with the Cowboys and Detroit Lions, Moore has been credited with having a hand in the development of quarterback Dak Prescott in recent years. The Cowboys offense ranks first in points and total yards this season.
Moore was notably the last left-handed quarterback to throw a pass in an NFL game until Tua Tagovailoa was drafted in 2020.
Dan Quinn
Quinn, 51, is in his first season with the Cowboys after spending the previous six seasons as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. He compiled a 43-42 record in Atlanta and led the team to Super Bowl 51, the infamous 28-3 blown lead to the New England Patriots.
Quinn, who also had a two-year stint as defensive line coach for the Dolphins (2005-06), has transformed the Cowboys defense from a below-average unit in 2020 to one that led the NFL in takeaways this season. He also spent time as defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks from 2013 to 2014, which featured the “Legion of Boom” defenses with players such as Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor.
Quinn marks an experienced option with a history of assembling a successful offensive coaching staff, which Flores struggled to do. Notable offensive assistants for Quinn during the Falcons’ run to the Super Bowl during the 2016 season include Kyle Shanahan (offensive coordinator), Matt LaFleur (quarterbacks coach), and Raheem Morris (assistant head coach/wide receivers coach).
Mike McDaniel
McDaniel, 38, is in his first season as 49ers offensive coordinator after serving as run game coordinator in San Francisco from 2017 to 2020.
A Yale graduate, McDaniel got his start in coaching in 2005 as an intern for the Denver Broncos under head coach Mike Shanahan. Mike Shanahan is the father of Kyle Shanahan, head coach of the 49ers. McDaniel was an offensive assistant for the Houston Texans (2006-08) and had stints with the Washington Football Team, Cleveland Browns and Falcons under Quinn before joining Kyle Shanahan’s staff in San Francisco. McDaniel was promoted to offensive coordinator after Mike LaFleur left to join Robert Saleh’s staff with the New York Jets.
McDaniel does not call the plays in San Francisco but under the stewardship of himself and Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers have produced some of the best running games in the NFL in recent years, heavily using an outside zone running scheme. San Francisco ranked seventh in rushing yards per game this season (127.4) and second in 2019 (144.1).
Brian Daboll
Daboll, 46, is regarded as one of the NFL’s top offensive minds with two decades worth of NFL coaching experience, which includes stints as offensive coordinator for the Browns (2009-10), Kansas City Chiefs (2012) and Dolphins (2011). He has played a pivotal role in the growth of quarterback Josh Allen, who has developed from a raw prospect out of Wyoming into one of the league’s best young signal-callers. Daboll also has a relationship with Tagovailoa, serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Alabama for the 2017 season, when Tagovailoa was a freshman.
Owner Stephen Ross said Monday that the quarterback position did not play a role in his decision to fire Flores and that any decisions about the future of the position would be in the hands of the team’s next coach and not general manager Chris Grier, whom he suggested he will retain.
In 2020 and 2021, the Bills offense has ranked in the top 10 in yards per play and scoring. Since joining coach Sean McDermott’s staff in 2018, Daboll’s units have generally improved. In 2018, Football Outsiders’ efficiency metrics ranked the Bills offense 31st. In 2019, it ranked 21st and in 2020, it ranked fifth before dropping to 10th in 2021.
The Dolphins were one of the least explosive offenses in the NFL this season, ranking 29th in yards per play (4.8) and 22nd in points per game (20.1).
Daboll, the Associated Press Assistant Coach of the Year in 2020, got his start in the NFL as a defensive assistant for the Patriots in 2000 and then served as wide receivers coach before joining the Jets as quarterbacks coach in 2007. He interviewed for the Jets and Los Angeles Chargers vacancies in last season’s hiring cycle.
Note
The Dolphins on Tuesday signed the following players to a reserve/futures contract: wide receiver Cody Core, cornerback Javaris Davis and offensive tackles Adam Pankey and Kion Smith.
All four ended the season on the Dolphins’ practice squad. Davis and Pankey each appeared in one game. Players signed to a reserve/futures contract will not have their deals count against the team’s salary cap and 90-player offseason roster limit until the start of the new league year at 4 p.m. March 16.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 9:40 PM.
