Joe Philbin to Dolphins: Packers Coach Will Regret Jumping to Mess in Miami

With Jeff Fisher off the market, the Miami Dolphins were left to look for less-celebrated options to fill their head coaching vacancy. Now, it appears the Dolphins have their man in a coach who will be stepping into the top job for the first time in his career.

As reported by ESPN (via Twitter), the Dolphins will hire Joe Philbin to take over for the fired Tony Sparano. Philbin has been an assistant with the Packers since 2003, serving as offensive coordinator for the last five of those years.

As much as Miami’s offense needs Philbin—whose Packers ranked third in the NFL in total offense this season—it’s hard to see why Philbin needs the Dolphins.

He’s ready for a head coaching job, but one would hope he could’ve landed in a better situation than Miami’s.

The Dolphins have two major offensive weapons right now: Reggie Bush in the backfield and Brandon Marshall at wideout. However, the line is a work in progress besides Pro Bowl tackle Jake Long, and the QB situation is a coach’s nightmare.

With either the eighth or ninth pick in this year’s draft, the Dolphins have no shot at top QBs Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III. That leaves Miami to either sign a free agent (likely Green Bay’s overrated Matt Flynn) or endure another year of the Chad Henne/Matt Moore morass that played so inconsistently in 2011.

Philbin has yet to coach an offense without an elite quarterback, and there’s no chance of Miami having one of those next season. If he does work miracles with the largely unimpressive personnel on the Dolphin roster, it will be all to Philbin’s credit, but the likelier outcome is a disappointing (and short-lived) beginning to his head coaching career.