The Miami Dolphins made a surprising move on Monday when they parted ways with offensive coordinator Chad O'Shea less than a year after O'Shea left New England for South Beach.
Miami's decision to fire O'Shea comes at an interesting time, with New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels once again being the subject of head-coaching rumors. McDaniels granted the Cleveland Browns' request for an interview on Monday, and both the Carolina Panthers and New York Giants have requested permission to interview McDaniels as well.
If McDaniels does decide to leave the Patriots for a head-coaching job elsewhere, O'Shea seems like an obvious candidate to replace him based on his history with the organization. O'Shea spent 10 years as New England's wide receivers coach.
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Monday on NBC Sports Boston's Arbella Early Edition, Phil Perry and Tom E. Curran discussed the possibility of an O'Shea-Patriots reunion if McDaniels departs. Perry believes there's a chance Belichick would welcome O'Shea back with open arms.
I think if Bill Belichick feels like his staff needs the help and they need someone who's familiar with the system, then he would be able to put whatever is between them behind him. And I don't know if things ended poorly ... I think if he feels like it would make them a better team, then he would do it.
I think he also would have to look at that offensive staff in general and you look -- OK, offensive line and running backs they have two veteran position coaches there in Dante Scarnecchia and Ivan Fears. Joe Judge would be an interesting name to me as sort of a young, up-and-coming receivers coach this year. He has his receivers assistant Troy Brown, he has a special teams assistant in Cam Achord. Maybe he's somebody who gets a little bit more responsibility if McDaniels goes elsewhere.
Curran brings up another candidate in running backs coach Ivan Fears, who has been loyal to the Patriots for the last 28 years. He also brings up a scenario in which we see changes to the Patriots offensive staff just as we saw on the defensive side when Brian Flores left to become the Dolphins' head coach.
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If you're Ivan Fears, you might say 'What about me? I've only been here for 25 years, maybe I could call a play or two.' Additionally, when you talk about Ivan Fears being here for as long as he has been -- it actually is longer than 25 years -- or Dante Scarnecchia, how much longer are they going to be here? ... There was a lot of turnover on the defensive side last year, I wouldn't be surprised if there's turnover on the offensive side of the ball with the coaching staff and with players.
Obviously, the ripple effect on the Patriots staff if McDaniels decides he wants to be a head coach again could be massive. But as of now, McDaniels and the Pats have more important matters at hand.
McDaniels said Monday he's "100 percent fully invested" in Saturday night's Patriots-Titans Wild Card matchup at Gillette Stadium. After a stunning Week 17 loss to Flores and O'Shea's Dolphins, one would hope that's the case.
