How Flores’ Dolphins assistant coaches got more results from some of these players
As a first-time head coach who was leaving the most successful franchise in modern NFL history, Brian Flores needed to be somewhat resourceful to cobble together a coaching staff. After all, he couldn’t realistically ask Patriots assistants to join the Dolphins for a similar job.
So instead, he got creative, hiring Patriots coaches for better jobs (including offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea, who had been the Patriots’ receivers coach), plucking coaches who previously worked for the Patriots earlier in the decade (including defensive coordinator Patrick Graham) and others with whom he had crossed paths or been recommended to him (such as receivers coach Karl Dorrell). He also kept two of Adam Gase’s assistants: running backs coach Eric Studesville and safeties coach Tony Oden.
What seems apparent, with the season ending Sunday, is Flores has found a group of assistants that have seemingly maximized the roster’s modest talent, which one prominent agent on Twitter compared to a Canadian Football League team.
The coaches have blamed themselves for not being able to fix several problems, including a tepid pass rush that was supposed to create more pressure on the quarterback simply by changing fronts and keeping offenses off balance. That never happened until the Bengals game, which was disappointing.
But players appreciate the good work from this staff — from Josh Boyer prodding a group of undrafted cornerbacks to be competitive, to Dorrell helping develop rookie receiver Preston Williams before his injury and getting DeVante Parker to another level, to Rob Leonard working to mold pass-rushing linebacker Vince Biegel, to George Godsey extracting more from tight end Mike Gesicki than the previous staff could.
And though the players who have improved deserve much of the credit, they acknowledge the difference this staff has made with player development.
“George deserves a ton of credit,” Gesicki said of his own improvement. “He’s getting everything out of me. I will run a route I think is good and he will critique me. This coaching staff has done a great job understanding everybody’s strengths and weaknesses and putting everybody in position to be successful based on what they do well.”
So how did Godsey do it with Gesicki?
“Just showing him on tape that we could be better at releases, at route stems... We can communicate better with our teammates — the quarterback specifically. We can catch the ball more before and after practice,” Godsey said.
“To his credit, he’s accepted all of that. He’s worked hard. He’s taken countless reps in practice to improve his traits. I’m happy that he’s able to go out there and perform.”
Every week, Godsey goes over a list of areas for Gesicki to improve, “whether it’s finishing to the whistle. It could be in the run game; it could be some things mentally that we may have missed during the game,” Godsey said. That approach has clearly worked.
Meanwhile, Parker credits Dorrell for helping him learn what to look for when watching tape.
Dorrell said when he arrived he watched every snap Parker took last season — and his other receivers — “and I made notes about where we can improve. He and I hit it off right from the start when we had our first meeting about ‘I’m coaching you the player from this point forward and not looking backwards;’ and I think he respected that and liked that approach. And then ever since that first meeting, he’s been taking off.
“He has [had] to prove to me that he’s going to be the type of player that I’ve envisioned him to be when he came out of Louisville. So right now I think I’m winning that battle. He’s developing into the player that everybody thought he could be.”
Boyer, meantime, has had a major hand in getting a group of undrafted cornerbacks to avoid being embarrassed on a weekly basis. Flores said Boyer and Graham “did a great job developing young players” at that position.
“Josh makes it as simple as possible,” said one of those cornerbacks, Ryan Lewis. “He makes learning easy, is a good teacher, works with us after practice.”
Cornerback Jomal Wiltz — who, like Lewis, worked with Boyer in New England — said: “He stays on us, pushes us to get better every day. There’s a lot of teaching.”
Leonard — who has done good work with Biegel and others — “is good at seeing things from all points of view,” linebacker Sam Eguavoen said. “You don’t get just coachspeak. He dives in deep in the gray areas — there are a lot of gray areas in the NFL — and sees things how we see things.”
O’Shea, meanwhile, probably would love to have back a couple of goal-line plays - including the odd Kenyan Drake play on the game-ending failed two-point conversion attempt against Washington — but he has injected some creative play calls and maximized the strengths of Parker and Gesicki.
“Chad does a good job of playing to players’ strengths,” receiver Allen Hurns said.
One common quality with this staff: Constantly pushing for more.
“There’s not a day he’s not going to be on our [butt],” undrafted rookie cornerback Nik Needham said of Boyer. “‘When I lost the weight [12 pounds in recent months], if I had a bag of chips, he’s on me. I appreciate that. He definitely has helped me develop a lot.”
This staff probably cannot be judged fully until Miami has a better team. But with four wins — and being competitive in a lot of games — the Dolphins have exceeded what seemed realistic with a roster that — beyond Parker — has lacked a clearly above average player at any position since cornerback Xavien Howard went on injured reserve in late October.
▪ Flores said every player who’s not on injured reserve will be available to play Sunday at New England except slot cornerback Wiltz, who has a shoulder injury.
This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 1:43 PM.
