In the red corner, a flurry of reports that Vic Fangio will become the next defensive coordinator of the Dolphins. In the blue corner, Fangio himself has repeatedly said it’s not a done deal yet.
While it’s entirely possible that Fangio will sign the contract and become the next defensive coordinator of the Dolphins, no deal is done until it’s done. We learned this (or at least we should have) five years ago, when Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was supposed to become the next head coach of the Colts — until he didn’t.
On Sunday, Fangio told both Mike Klis of 9News.com and Mike Silver of the San Francisco Chronicle that the deal isn’t done.
Silver posted earlier today that Fangio said, last Sunday night, “Nothing has been decided on my end.”
Silver also pointed out that “there is a huge amount of mutual respect between [49ers coach] Kyle Shanahan and Fangio.” Fangio served as 49ers defensive coordinator in the past, under Jim Harbaugh. And it looks as if the 49ers will have a vacancy at that position, soon.
Bottom line? This isn’t a battle between reporters who are pushing conflicting information from unnamed sources. Fangio himself is saying the deal isn’t done. It would be seventh-level stupid to ignore the words from his own mouth.