A Brian Flores hire, Josh Boyer stayed on for Mike McDaniel‘s first Dolphins season. The team will not keep its defensive coordinator around for 2023.
The Dolphins have fired Boyer, Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com report (on Twitter). The Dolphins have announced the move. The ex-Patriots assistant was in place for four seasons in Miami, the past three as the team’s DC.
The Dolphins have also fired outside linebackers coach Ty McKenzie, safeties coach Steve Gregory and assistant linebackers coach Steve Ferentz, per Pelissero and ESPN’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Gregory and Ferentz were holdovers from Flores’ staff, while McKenzie was a McDaniel hire from 2022.
Miami’s defense dropped from 16th to 24th in points allowed from 2021-22 and fell from 10th to 15th in DVOA. Boyer not being a McDaniel hire certainly made his seat warm coming into the season. Flores hired Boyer, a 13-year Patriots assistant, as his cornerbacks coach in 2019. After Patrick Graham left to become the Giants’ DC in 2020, Boyer stepped in. McDaniel, who did add his own OC last year, will now be responsible for the Fins’ other main coordinator hire.
Although the Dolphins ranked sixth in scoring defense during Boyer’s first DC season (2020), the team poured in major investments on the unit in the years since. The Dolphins drafted Jaelan Phillips in the 2021 first round and re-signed Emmanuel Ogbah in 2022. The team sent first- and fourth-round picks to the Broncos for Bradley Chubb at the deadline but lost Ogbah for the season soon after. Chubb recorded just 2.5 sacks in eight games as a Dolphin.
Boyer did not have the benefit of Ogbah for the season’s second half and was without Byron Jones for all of the 2022 season. The veteran cornerback underwent surgery in March 2022, and while that procedure was to have him back well before training camp, the injury lingered throughout the year. That said, NFL.com’s Cameron Wolfe tweets some Dolphins were not fans of Boyer’s scheme.
Injuries at quarterback also impacted Miami’s defense this season, but the team will sever much of its remaining Patriots ties. Gregory, an ex-Pats defensive back, has been with the team since 2021. Steve Ferentz, the son of ex-Bill Belichick coworker-turned-Iowa HC Kirk Ferentz, joined Miami’s staff in 2020.
Come 2023, the Dolphins will have employed eight combined OCs and DCs. Flores proved to be trigger-happy with his offensive play-calling post, and with McDaniel running the show on offense, the franchise will have a new play-caller on the other side soon.
Another billionaire demanding a human sacrifice because his team didn’t go as far as he hoped, and this one refuses to ever blame the GM.
Or maybe the DC that the HC inherited wasn’t who he wanted but kept him to maintain continuity after coming off a solid 2021 year and gave him a chance.
However def failed on the road consistently, one of the worst 3rd defenses and now wants to bring in his own DC(Fangio).
I could be wrong.
Given all the rumblings that even McDaniel’s job wasn’t safe, it feels like they were itching for a fall guy. Getting absolutely nothing out of one extremely high-priced corner and one whiffed first round pick corner ain’t on the DC. You might be right about McDaniel wanting his guy, but this feels like a scapegoat, and I don’t know where the Fangio connection would come from. (Evero would be a great hire if he becomes available.)
I can’t defend Greir for wetting the bed on Alex Jackson and Noah and I even would include eichenburg whom he traded away 2 3rd rounders for him but he’s also hit on a lot UDFA, Phillips, Tua, Holland, waddle,raekwan, Brandon Jones and hunt. We’re all hits.
He brought in Chubb and Hill.
True, but he also paid extravagantly to get Hill, Waddle, and Chubb.
Regarding the rumblings, the Dolphins FINALLY hit on a franchise QB (albeit with very concerning injury history/prone) and can score with any team.
That’s what everyone thought McDaniels would do and he was successful. Makes zero sense to let him go after that development. Only right to maintain continuity and build of this year.
Oh, I think moving on from McDaniel would be ridiculous, but some owners are ridiculous. It sure seems like the Jets moving on from LaFleur was an ownership call.
Boyer’s defense was nothing special this year, thus it might be as simple as McDaniel looking for someone easier to work with now that he is settled in as head coach.