Washburn returns as offensive line coach
Adam Gase stuck with a familiar name when it came to filling the Miami Dolphins’ vacant coaching position for the offensive line.
According to a league source, the Dolphins hired Jeremiah Washburn as the team’s offensive line coach, allowing the assistant with 16 years of coaching experience to return to a unit he served as the assistant offensive line coach in 2016.
Washburn left the Dolphins to become the offensive line coach in Chicago last offseason, but John Fox’s firing this past week made him a free agent.
He becomes the second former Bears assistant to join the Dolphins staff. On Wednesday the Dolphins hired Dowell Loggains as the team’s new offensive coordinator. Loggains served in the same capacity with the Bears the past two seasons. Gase worked with both Loggains and Washburn throughout his NFL career.
Chris Kuper and Dave DeGuglielmo shared the coaching responsibilities last year, picking up the slack after Chris Foerster was forced to resign in October after a video surfaced online that showed him snorting a white, powdery substance.
The Dolphins offensive line, which struggled in the first half of the season, actually began to stabilize under Kuper and DeGuglielmo’s leadership, despite losing a couple starters to injuries.
Once Ted Larsen was cleared to serve as the starting left guard, and backups Jesse Davis and Sam Young replaced injured starters Jermon Bushrod and Ja’Wuan James, the unit showed steady improvement.
Miami’s rushing attack produced just 86.8 rushing yards per game, and 3.9 yards per attempt, but the offensive line finished 10th in sacks allowed per passing play.
During his first stint with the Dolphins in 2016, Washburn coached a unit that paved the way for 1,824 rushing yards, 14 rushing touchdowns and allowed 30 sacks.
Last season, the Bears ranked 16th in rushing yards per game and 11th in rushing yards per attempt, and was 23rd in sacks allowed per passing play.
With Loggains and Washburn on Chicago’s staff, the Bears finished 29th in scoring, averaging 16.5 points per game this season, 30th in total offense (287.4 yards per game), 16th in rushing (111.8 yards per game), last in passing (175.7 yards per game) and 26th in third-down conversions (34.6 percent).
At this point it’s unclear what Clyde Christensen’s role with the Dolphins will be, considering he served as the offensive coordinator for the past two seasons. Kuper and DeGuglielmo’s status on Miami’s coaching staff is undetermined, but DeGuglielmo, who was hired after Foerster resigned, had his contract expire.
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