More Changes to Dolphins Coaching Staff
The Miami Dolphins remained without an offensive coordinator as Tuesday morning ended, but there was another change to the coaching staff.
The team announced the promotion of Lemuel Jeanpierre to offensive line coach to replace Steve Marshall, who is leaving in a "mutual parting of the ways."
This marks the second time this offseason there has been a mutual parting of the ways, with defensive line coach Marion Hobby leaving a week ago before being hired to the same position by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Hobby's departure, of course, followed that of offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, whose exit was described as a resignation.
The departure of Marshall shouldn't be considered surprising considering he joined the Dolphins last year after the team had hired Gailey and the two had worked together with the New York Jets.
Jeanpierre just finished his first season with the Dolphins following two seasons (2018-19) as an assistant offensive line coach for the Raiders. Jeanpierre began his coaching career as an offensive assistant for Seattle in 2017 when he worked in training camp with current Dolphins guard/tackle Jesse Davis.
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Jeanpierre played six NFL seasons with Seattle (2010-15), helping the Seahawks win Super Bowl XLVIII. He also spent time as a player with Kansas City (2010) and Detroit (2016).
It's certainly tempting to suggest that the promotion of Jeanpierre while the team is still searching for an offensive coordinator would be a sign the Dolphins will be promoting someone from their staff to take over — because a new offensive coordinator, as Gailey did in bringing Marshall, logically would want some input into the offensive staff.
If that's indeed the case, the most logical in-house candidates to be promoted to offensive coordinator remain George Godsey and Eric Studesville.
Godsey was more than tight ends coach in 2020 because he did a lot of work, including on game days, with Tagovailoa after quarterbacks coach Robby Brown missed some time because of COVID-19 issues.
Head coach Brian Flores downplayed that aspect late in the season, but Godsey also offers previous offensive coordinator experience after handling that role for the Houston Texans in 2015-16.
Godsey's offenses ranked 19th and 29th in total yards and 21st and 28th in scoring, but it should be pointed out his starting quarterbacks for those two seasons were Brian Hoyer, Brandon Weeden, T.J. Yates, Ryan Mallett, Brock Osweiler and Tom Savage — none of them with a career passer rating higher than 82.1.
One of the rare assistants that Flores retained when he took over as head coach, Studesville does not have coordinator experience, but he did serve as interim head coach for the Denver Broncos for the final four games of the 2010 season after Josh McDaniels had been fired.
Flores spoke highly of Studesville during a conference call with Denver media prior to the Dolphins game at Empower Field at Mile High in November.
“Yeah, Eric’s phenomenal," Flores said. "I think he’s a phenomenal coach. He’s a phenomenal teacher, communicator. He’s someone I’ve leaned on in different situations over the last 18 months since I’ve been here. Obviously he was here before I was here and we kept him on the staff. Just as far as the lay of the land here in Miami, he’s been someone that I’ve been able to lean on. I think he’s a great coach. I think he’s got a coordinator and head-coaching future. I think the players gravitate to him. They listen. He’s a very, very good coach.”
Whoever the Dolphins end up hiring will become the team's fifth offensive coordinator in five seasons, following Clyde Christensen in 2017, Dowell Loggains in 2018, Chad O'Shea in 2019 and Gailey in 2020.
