Leslie Frazier Surfaces As Candidate for Dolphins Defensive Coordinator
The Miami Dolphins potentially could replaced one of the most well-respected veteran defensive coordinators in the NFL with another established defensive guru.
According to ESPN, former Minnesota Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier, who has led NFL defenses for the better part of two decades, will interview with the Dolphins for the opening created by Vic Fangio's exit to become the Philadelphia Eagles' defensive coordinator.
Frazier, who last served as the Buffalo Bills' defensive coordinator in 2022 before taking a year off from coaching, hoped he'd get another opportunity to become a head coach during this hiring cycle, but that hasn’t happened.
Frazier was interviewed for two head coach jobs
The Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders both interviewed him for their openings, but didn't hire him. Frazier was a candidate for the Dolphins' head coach position when Miami selected Mike McDaniel to replace Brian Flores in 2022, and he left a favorable impression on Miami owner Steve Ross and the team's executives.
Frazier went 3-3 as the interim coach of the Vikings in 2010 before earning the job on a permanent basis that offseason. He went 18-29-1 as the permanent coach in Minnesota between 2011-2013, and he got the Vikings to the playoffs in the 2012 season where they lost in the wild-card round with backup quarterback Joe Webb as the starter because Christian Ponder suffered an elbow injury.
Frazier, who was part of the Chicago Bears’ 1985 team that won Super Bowl XX, had been the Bills defensive coordinator since 2017. In 2021, he led the Bills' unit to the top spot in both yards and points allowed. In 2022, the Bills were second in points allowed and sixth in yards.
Frazier led forceful Bills defenses
Between 2019-2022, Bills allowed the fewest points of all teams and second-fewest yards.
Before that, Frazier served as the Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator from 2003-04, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator from 2007-10 and Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive coordinator from 2014-15.
Since stepping back, Frazier has worked with NFL Network and The 33rd Team to stay connected to the game and showcase his knowledge of the game as analyst.
Frazier played during the days when it was 'the coach's way or the highway'. Since then, the NFL and its players have changed quite a bit. So, Frazier got accustomed to switching it up in order to build a deeper bond with his players.
Are Frazier and McDaniel are philosophically aligned?
"When I came into the league, it was more when a coach says, 'This is how we do it,' this is how we do it," Frazier explained to BuffaloBills.com. "For today's player, it's not quite like that anymore. You have to give them an explanation sometimes because they're going to question you and ask why they have to do it that way. If you just say my way or the highway, you could be sitting in a room by yourself."
That happened to be the Dolphins defenders’ biggest issue with Fangio, which is why many of the players welcomed his departure last week.
The Dolphins' defensive coordinator search entered its first full week Monday, and the team has already interviewed linebackers coach Anthony Campanile for the position and also will be interviewing outside linebackers coach Ryan Slowik, according to NFL reporter Aaron Wilson.
Campanile interviewed for the defensive coordinator job last offseason before the Dolphins hired Fangio, and McDaniel retained him from the previous staff after replacing Brian Flores as head coach in 2022.
Slowik has been with the Dolphins for two seasons after being brought on the staff by McDaniel. He served as a senior defensive assistant in 2022 before being moved to outside linebackers coach this season.
Slowik comes from a coaching family. His father Bob is a longtime NFL assistant now coaching in the Canadian Football League and his brother Bobby is the highly regarded offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans.
