Yesterday we batted down the ’settled science’ that the Dolphins must have tampered with Mike Nolan prior to him leaving Denver.
Today, Ron Borges of the Boston Herald shares a few more details surrounding Nolan’s divorce from Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels.
…[McDaniels] called in defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and told him in no uncertain terms his Broncos would not be blitzing next season like they did this year.
The blitz, especially in some run situations, has long been a staple of Nolan’s approach to defense……
This lends more credence to our suggestion that there could have been trouble in paradise between coach and coordinator.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter, however, says that the blitz factor had nothing to do with the breakup. Per Schefter, each side simply had another option in mind and mutually decided to move on.
Whether or not blitzing was or wasn’t the catalyst for the split is probably irrelevant, though it does speak to philosophical differences. What does appear relevant is that the relationship was probably doomed from the start because McDaniels simply rushed into it.
There will not be a second season of that union because after that meeting Nolan and McDaniels decided what had always been the NFL equivalent of a shotgun marriage – McDaniels hired Nolan at the suggestion of the agent they both share, Bob LaMonte, despite the fact they barely knew each other – had to end.
Tsk, tsk. And we wonder why divorce rates are so high in this country!
Borges also claims that Buffalo also formally requested an interview and Chicago sent out feelers. Again, it would be quite a coincidence for three teams to target with the same, spoken-for coach without contact being initiated by said coach’s camp first.
And with that in mind, the “lone gunman in Miami” theory will have to wait another day at Pro Football Talk.
In reaction to Steve Wyche’s story uncovering of details surrounding Mike Nolan’s jump from Denver to Miami, a few media outlets have already begun speculating as to whether or not the Dolphins tampered with their new defensive coordinator.
Tampering, as it relates to the NFL, refers to “any interference by a member club with the employer-employee relationship of another club or any attempt by a club to impermissably induce a person to seek employment with that club or with the NFL.”
Primarily, they are reacting to this bullet from Wyche:
There is no acrimony between Nolan and Broncos coach Josh McDaniels. The Dolphins sent the Broncos a written request to interview Nolan. McDaniels approached Nolan with the request and, in a nutshell, asked him if he’d rather be in Miami or Denver. Nolan said he would like to interview with the Dolphins. McDaniels then granted Nolan permission and wished him well.
To which PFT reacted:
But how exactly did Nolan know that he’d get the job in Miami? And why in the hell would the Dolphins submit a request to interview Denver’s defensive coordinator for the very same job in Miami?
So we’re supposed to believe that the Dolphins took a shot in the dark in the hopes the Broncos would allow Nolan to make a lateral move to a team with which Denver potentially competes every year for wild-card positioning and/or home-field advantage, and Nolan took a leap of faith that by walking from the Broncos he’d have an equivalent job in Miami.
Or maybe, just maybe, the Dolphins contacted Nolan to work out a tentative deal, if Miami could persuade the Broncos to let Nolan walk.
…and Ethan Skolnick tweeted:
No tampering evidence yet. But this Dolphins regime tends to bend rules. It did so with the Ayodele/Fasano trade and does so w/ injuries.
Who’s to say Nolan’s agent didn’t reach out to the Dolphins first? Or put word out on the proverbial street?
Are we supposed to believe that the Dolphins decided to blatantly and flagrantly disregard the rules for the purpose of taking a shot in the dark and contact a guy who, as far as they know, is happily employed in Denver?
Would the Dolphins even know to tamper with Nolan if they didn’t first get word that he wanted out of Denver?
Couldn’t the Dolphins have simply gotten word that Nolan wanted out, and simply did the right thing by officially requesting permission to interview a guy who they’d otherwise want for the job?
Only a select few people know the actual chain of events that took place. And it’s unlikely that they would ever admit to such shenanigans. Especially when the most recent penalty for such indiscretions was a 4th round pick.
But for now, this admittedly biased Dolfan is attempting to consider more than one possibility.
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