What Other Former Dolphins Assistant Could or Should Get an Interview?

The Miami Dolphins have added two of their former assistant coaches to their list of head coach candidates, but there are several other options out there if that's a road they seriously want to explore.

Patrick Graham and Anthony Campanile now are among 10 candidates who have been identified, but they're only two of the 10 former Dolphins coaches who worked as a defensive coordinator in the NFL in 2025.

That list is headed by former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who just finished his second season with the Minnesota Vikings, and also includes Vic Fangio with the Philadelphia Eagles, Matt Burke with the Houston Texans, Lou Anarumo with the Indianapolis Colts, Vance Joseph of the Denver Broncos, Terrell Williams of the New England Patriots, Charlie Bullen of the New York Giants, and Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who handled that role while also being head coach.

That indeed is quite the list.

For good measure, there also were three special teams coordinators who previously coached with Miami — Darren Rizzi with the Denver Broncos, Larry Izzo with the Washington Commanders, and Dave Fipp with the Detroit Lions.

Additionally, Brant Boyer of the San Francisco 49ers never coached with the Dolphins but did begin his NFL playing career with Miami, as did Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, who spent two seasons of his playing career with the Dolphins.

WHO ELSE COULD OR SHOULD GET A HEAD COACH INTERVIEW?

That list of former Dolphins coaches who were coordinators includes several names that have been mentioned as head coach candidates, beyond Campanile and Graham.

It starts obviously with Flores, though we'd suspect the likelihood of him returning to his former job is somewhere around nil or zip.

But Anarumo, Joseph and Rizzi all have gotten interviews or interview request so far this hiring cycle, and Burke has been mentioned as a potential candidate as well after leading the best defense in the NFL (though head coach DeMeco Ryans' role in that succees might play against Burke).

The truth is, it's a bit surprising the Dolphins have yet to request an interview, as of Wednesday at noon, with either Anarumo, Rizzi and/or Joseph.

Anarumo is a highly respected defensive coordinator who was instrumental in helping the Cincinnati Bengals reach the Super Bowl in the 2021 season and get to the AFC title game the following season.

Joseph, meanwhile, is the architect of a Denver defense that was largely responsible for the Broncos reaching the playoffs in 2024 and earning the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs in 2025.

Rizzi, meanwhile, was already interviewed for the Dolphins head coach position in 2019, before Miami hired Flores. Since then, Rizzi has worked mostly with Sean Payton, and his special teams units consistently are among the best in the NFL.

Rizzi also got a shot to serve as interim head coach of the New Orleans Saints last year after Dennis Allen was fired following a 2-7 start and had a 3-5 record over the final eight games.

There is a long history of special teams coordinators who became great NFL head coaches, the most recent example being John Harbaugh (following Bill Cowher), and Rizzi clearly demonstrated a no-nonsense approach during his time in Miami, so we don't know exactly why the Dolphins wouldn't want to at least interview him, assuming no bridges were burned when he didn't get the job in 2019.

The Dolphins need to be very thorough in this coaching search, and they owe it to themselves to err on the side of caution, as in interviewing too many candidates as opposed to not enough.

And, yes, that includes talking to some of their former assistants beyond Graham and Campanile.

WHO ELSE COULD OR SHOULD GET A HEAD COACH INTERVIEW?

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