The Miami Dolphins shook things up on their day off Monday with the announcement that they had fired offensive line coach Pat Flaherty after just five months on the job — elevating Dave DeGuglielmo to the position of offensive line coach. The move came on the heels of a horrendous two days of padded practice for the Dolphins’ line. Consistently getting stonewalled by Miami’s defensive front was enough of a catalyst for Brian Flores to invoke the change.
Yesterday was a new day and a fresh start. DeGuglielmo immediately set out to shake things up — and shake things up he did. Jesse Davis, who was initially tabbed to play at guard, was moved to Right Tackle. Michael Deiter was inserted with the first team offense after three days of Flaherty preaching that Deiter was a long ways away from being ready to play. Deiter had his best practice as a member of the Dolphins.
Add in one additional change. Chris Reed was bumped from the first team line. Remember, Reed came to Miami from Jacksonville, where he had worked with Pat Flaherty for the last two years as a utility offensive lineman. Consider the ante upped for Reed as he hopes to secure his first full-time starting gig at the NFL level.
It is safe to say that the Dolphins shake-up produced promising momentum on day one under DeGuglielmo. How sustainable is it? The next three days will help dictate if we need to be excited about physical play up front — or if yesterday was an anomaly.
