When the decision was made to fire Joe Philbin, the Miami Dolphins gathered the entire defensive staff and made it clear to everyone: The team would study the idea of moving in another direction with its coordinator and in doing that would be reaching out to candidates both inside and outside the organization.
[Update: And this just in ... there are possible changes on the offensive staff being considered as well.]
And that's what's happening at this hour.
Interim head coach Dan Campbell has talked to players and coaches. Executive vice president Mike Tannenbaum has spoken to defensive coordinator candidates outside the organization.
No decision has been made right now so Kevin Coyle remains in place for now.
A final decision on the direction to be taken may come within the next 24-48 hours.
And, yes, one of the possible decisions the team may make is to keep Coyle in his current job as defensive coordinator. Yeah, he also might be fired. And he knows that.
(The Dolphins say they are aware some players do not like Coyle. The Dolphins say they are aware some players like Coyle just a lot.)
[Update: Relative to the possible offensive changes, you have to understand the Dolphins are averaging two offensive touchdowns per game. That's not good enough. So no one is safe there, either, for now.]
It's all a matter of what is in the best interest of the organization, I am told. The staff is aware they are being evaluated at this stage, four games into a season that has so far delivered a 1-3 record at the bye week.
I am told if the Dolphins do hire from the outside, they will continue to run a 4-3 defense. And whomever comes in new must agree to learn the current terminology because one person learning new terminology is better than two dozen players learning new terminology.
So what is the point of all this?
The Dolphins sincerely think they can salvage this season. And they see this decision about the defensive staff as pivotal in whether that happens or not.
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