As new head coach Joe Philbin re-shapes the Dolphins, the reviews from the players are reportedly positive on offense but negative on defense.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald reports that the Dolphins’ offensive players are happy that Philbin has replaced offensive coordinator Brian Daboll with Mike Sherman. Jackson cites one “prominent offensive player” as saying that Daboll would tell a player one thing about his role and playing time, then do something different on game day. So Sherman is viewed as a welcome change.
However, Jackson reports that some of the Dolphins’ defensive players are upset about switching from a 3-4 base defense to a 4-3 base defense. Those comments apparently come from players who believe they’re better suited to a 3-4, which would suggest that those players are worried their own jobs are on the line. So it’s not exactly surprising that they wouldn’t want to switch base defenses.
The good news for those players, then, is that the Dolphins might not be changing their base defense anyway. But if Philbin is going to turn things around in Miami, he may need to jettison some unhappy campers no matter what defense new coordinator Kevin Coyle plans to run.