Fallout From Dolphins’ Adam Gase Hiring

The lead conductor of the Dolphins’ coaching search, Mike Tannenbaum, initially preferred Doug Marrone before the franchise decided to offer its head-coaching job to Adam Gase, Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald tweets.

Marrone interviewed for the position, but the 37-year-old Gase became the “unanimous favorite,” according to Dolphins owner Stephen Ross (via SportsTalk 1040 The Team’s Jenna Laine, on Twitter).

[RELATED: Dolphins hire Adam Gase as head coach.]

“(Gase) has worked extremely hard his entire career and is very deserving of this opportunity. I wish he could stay with us in Chicago, but everyone has a journey and this is the next part of his,” Jay Cutler told media, including Larry Meyer of ChicagoBears.com. “His work with quarterbacks is well documented and I know firsthand how good he is.“

Here is some more news on Marrone, Gase and more from the Eastern divisions.

• New Dolphins GM Chris Grier will have control over whom the team signs, but Gase will be in charge of determining the 53-man roster, Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald reports (on Twitter). A fair amount of power will come for the new youngest head coach in the game. Fewer than 10 coaches currently possess that control, according to NFL.com’s Albert Breer (on Twitter). Tannenbaum’s presence still looms, however, so the Fins could have a complex power structure this season.
• As expected, Gase will call plays for the Dolphins this season, as he’s done for the Broncos (in 2013-14) and Bears in 2015, James Walker of ESPN.com tweets. Gase’s offenses ranked first, fourth and 21st over the past three seasons, with the injury-ravaged Bears being the only one of his units to fall out of the top five.
• Beasley tweets the Dolphins, per Tannenbaum, considered 25 coaches for the position before settling on seven for interviews.
• Peyton Manning also endorsed Gase (per Zac Jackson of Pro Football Talk), focusing on the 37-year-old’s attention to detail. “He’s an extremely hard worker, a grinder,” Manning said. “He’s extremely bright on all things football, an excellent communicator and always eager to learn more. He asks a lot of questions and writes everything down. I’ve always been impressed with his work ethic and his eagerness to learn more.” Although he passed over the wunderkind offensive mind in favor of Gary Kubiak last offseason, John Elway also endorsed the Broncos’ former offensive coordinator from 2013-14. Gase, of course, guided Manning to the record-setting 55-touchdown pass campaign two seasons ago after serving as the Broncos’ quarterback coach in 2011, when the team orchestrated a midseason overhaul of its offense for Tim Tebow.
• Gase could take Bears quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains to Miami with him, Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune reports, or John Fox could promote him to Gase’s old position. The former Titans OC contributed to Gase’s play-calling this season. Both Cutler and John Fox hold Loggains in high regard, Campbell reports. Either way, this season will bring Cutler’s sixth offensive coordinator since he was traded to Chicago.
• Loggains would create the least disruption for the Bears, the Tribune’s Brad Biggs tweets. But the Chicago reporter also notes Fox could pursue newly unemployed offensive bosses Ken Whisenhunt or Pat Shurmur (Twitter link).

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