Chan Gailey was enjoying retirement with his grandchildren when he received a call from head coach Brian Flores asking him to be the new offensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins.
He wasn’t looking for a job so he could return to the NFL.
He wasn’t waiting by the phone hoping for a phone call from one of his former colleagues.
He was done.
“I was doing really no football,” said Gailey. “My son coaches high school football. I hung out around there a little bit, and I watched football on TV some – college and pro. I watched some games; but working in football or doing anything, no, I wasn’t really doing that.”
Gailey concluded his NFL career. He was satisfied with what he had achieved, didn’t achieve, organizations he’s worked for, coaches he’s worked with, plays he’s called, players he’s coached, and the two NFL teams he’s had the honor of being a head coach.
He was done with all of that stuff…
That was until Miami Dolphins’ second-year head coach Brian Flores called him up asking him to return to the NFL, coach, and call plays—once again— for a very young Miami Dolphins football team.
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Gailey hasn’t called plays for the last 3 seasons, not since being the New York Jets offensive coordinator in 2016. That was also the year he and quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick last worked together. The two are once again united and projected to have success in 2020.
What has he been doing for the last 3 NFL seasons?
“I have five grandsons and I was watching them play all the sports that they play and going to school events and playing a decent amount of golf for the last three years. So that’s what I’ve been doing.”
This was my concern when the Dolphins originally hired Gailey sometime after the conclusion of their 2019 season.
My concern was something that very few, if any, want to talk about.
And that’s whether or not the Dolphins got a veteran offensive coordinator who was itching for a comeback like a Dick Vermeil, or an old coach who was mentally checked out.
And the answer, right now, to me, sounds like the latter.
Gailey even admitted he was “taken aback” by Flores’ phone call.
Even Miami’s new quarterback coach Robby Brown, who worked with Gailey in the past, “had no clue” Gailey’s return was a possibility. Brown had “no idea it was coming or that he was going to do that”.
So basically, even some of Gailey’s guys thought the old-timer was riding into the sunset and closed the chapter on his NFL career.
But Gailey admitted working with Fitzpatrick again was a factor, which is fine. It bodes well for a positive narrative heading into the season. I understand this.
But as a jaded Dolphins fan, I’ve seen this story before. I’ve lived through some of this.
In 2008, the Dolphins hired an NFL legend—Bill Parcells (the Big Tuna)— to clean up the organization and turn the previous year’s 1-15 team and front office, into a consistent winner.
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Parcells, at the time, was on the way to heading out the door of any real responsibility of an NFL job. Parcells ran away from the Dolphins holding a giant paycheck and left the team with a first-time head coach (the late great Tony Sporano), a first-time general manager (Jeff Ireland) who couldn’t draft, and a state of mediocrity.
Not so long ago, former head coach and now-Jets problem Adam Gase lured quarterback and coach-killer Jay Cutler from considering retirement to becoming the “savior” of a Ryan Tannehill-less 2017 team. That season resulted in a 6-10 losing record, and Cutler has since been out of the NFL and recently divorced.
So I’ve seen this story before, and it causes me to not be so enthusiastic and more reserved, as well as skeptical.
And the fact that Chan Gailey was also sitting on the retirement chair when Brian Flores originally put together his coaching staff during the 2019 offseason, makes it more peculiar. Gailey was available, Fitzpatrick was signed on as the bridge-quarterback of the team, why didn’t Flores want Gailey then?
In February 2019, Flores hired offensive line coach Pat Flaherty but switched him out for Dave DeGuglielmo by July 2019 when Flores saw Flaherty wasn’t fitting the bill.
Why didn’t Flores do something similar when he saw that last year’s offensive coordinator Chad O’Shea was having issues teaching his playbook to a very weak Dolphins roster? Why didn’t Flores switch O’Shea out for the wisdom of Gailey?
And how long will Gailey’s stay as the Dolphins play-caller last?
At age 68, he seemed pretty comfortable the last few years on the couch. This is a young Dolphins team that needs two or three more years to grow together, at least.
Will Gailey be here long enough to groom rookie Tua Tagovailoa into a franchise-quarterback? Or will he check out whenever his buddy Fitzpatrick decides to hang up the cleats or decides to move elsewhere after the 2020 season?
In conclusion, as much as I’d like to believe that Chan Gailey and Ryan Fitzpatrick are going to create magic together again like in 2015 New York, I can’t totally buy-in.
So which Chan Gailey are the Miami Dolphins getting?
I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
