Flores goes with combo to run offense

The Dolphins have become pretty used to changing offensive coordinators in recent years, but they’re going to be trying a new approach in 2021.

- ALAIN POUPART

For the first time, the Dolphins will have co-offensive coordinators after multiple reports indicated the Dolphins were promoting tight ends coach George Godsey and running backs coach Eric Studesville to replace Chan Gailey.

The Dolphins had a run game coordinator in both 2017 and 2018 to go along with the OC, and it was Studesville who handled that role in 2018 when Dowell Loggains was the offensive coordinator and head coach Adam Gase was the play-caller.

But the reality is that this is a pretty unique arrangement, and former NFL head coach Steve Mariucci weighed in on it during his Super Bowl media session in his current role with NFL Network.

“When I coached with the Rams, when I was just a young coach, we had what you might call two offensive coordinators because we had a run game coordinator and a pass game coordinator, and they actually shared the play-calling, Mariucci said. It was crazy. It’s been done before. It’s different. It’s not very often that you share that responsibility. Somebody’s got be the play-maker in my mind and get a rhythm going and set plays up for the next series, whatever. That’ll be fun to watch to see how that works out.”

Yes, it will be interesting to watch.

Of course, questions remain, the most obvious being: who will be the primary play-caller? Head Coach Brian Flores didn’t speak to the media at all in February and the Dolphins still had not made the move official when Dolphin Digest went to press Feb. 28 — almost a month after the reports surfaced.

It's the second consecutive offseason that Flores has filled a coordinator role by promoting an assistant, with Josh Boyer taking control of the defense in 2020.