The Miami Dolphins made one of the best moves of the offseason when they hired former Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio to replace Josh Boyer as their defensive coordinator for the foreseeable future.
Fangio is one of the most well-respected coaches in the league and comes with roughly 35 years of NFL coaching experience.
Most recently, Fangio spent part of the 2022 season as a consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter believes that if it weren’t for the tampering situation with the Arizona Cardinals hiring former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, Fangio may have accepted Philadelphia’s offer rather than Miami’s.
“The interesting part about it would be this, I think it impacted a lot of peoples’ lives. Vic Fangio, for example, probably would not have taken the Dolphins defensive coordinator job and would be the defensive coordinator in Philadelphia today if everything was on the up and up,” Schefter said on the “John Kincade Show” last month.
Following their final mandatory minicamp session of the offseason, Fangio had his first opportunity to speak to the media, and the Miami Herald’s Daniel Oyefusi asked him about Schefter’s remarks.
“That’s possible,” he replied. “But, I’ll neither confirm nor deny it.”
Vic Fangio gave an INTERESTING answer when asked by @DanielOyefusi about an ESPN report that stated he likely would be the Eagles DC right now if not for the Cardinals/Gannon tampering situation. pic.twitter.com/UbuRP7VdEN
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) June 8, 2023
Miami has some familiarity with tampering allegations, as they were docked multiple draft picks for making impermissible contact with now-retired quarterback Tom Brady.
While they certainly benefit from that situation, they definitely did from the Eagles-Cardinals situation. Having Fangio in South Florida is expected to get this defense playing at the level that they’re capable of again. Don’t be surprised if his unit is one of the league’s best by the end of 2023.
