Two weeks ago in this space, we reported that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is undecided on the future of his football operation. As of last week, one key decision reportedly had been made. Ross now needs to make one more.
V.P. of football operations Mike Tannenbaum is all but certain to be out, as Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald reported last week. The future of coach Adam Gase continues to be uncertain, for various reasons. Apart from Ross having a strong interest in Ravens coach John Harbaugh, the post-Tannenbaum front office could be impossible to staff, given that Gase holds full control over the football operation.
And so the final day of the season has arrived, and the time has come for coaches to be fired or not fired, and as everyone looks for a surprise, some are suggesting that a Gase firing could be that surprise. While Gase may indeed be fired, it definitely shouldn’t be regarded as a surprise.
The surprise could be what happens next. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media suggests that Gase could be one of the top head-coaching candidates on the market, linking Gase specifically to Cleveland.
That’s not as crazy as it would seem; the Browns have pursued Gase aggressively in the past. The real question becomes whether the team could sell Gase to the fan base and the local media after a pair of superficially lackluster seasons in South Florida, at a time when Gregg Williams has pulled the team to a final record of 7-8-1 or 8-7-1.
Earlier this week, when discussing the future of the Cleveland coaching staff, I suggested that the best possible outcome for the Browns would be Nick Saban as head coach and Gase, a former Saban protege, as offensive coordinator. While Saban continues to sound like a guy who won’t leave Tuscaloosa, Cleveland could be Saban’s last, best chance to remove the biggest blemish from his coaching career, and it would be fitting to see a couple of former Dolphins coaches come together in an effort to make the Browns the kind of team that could eventually threaten Miami’s 1972 perfect season.
So maybe the Browns would take only Gase. His work with Ryan Tannehill was impressive. The only problem is that Tannehill couldn’t stay on the field. Baker Mayfield can, and given what Gase has done with Tannehill, Jay Cutler, Peyton Manning, and even Tim Tebow, Gase could end up being the perfect guy to harness and refine a skill set and attitude that could make Mayfield one of the best to ever play the game.