Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Gase ranked 21st among head coaches
Dolphins coach Adam Gase, who has a 16-16 regular season record through two years, ranks in the middle third of the 32 NFL coaches, according to The Sporting News, but just barely.
Gase is listed at No. 21, near the bottom of the second third of coaches. Gase is ranked right behind San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan and just ahead of Washington’s Jay Gruden.
Oakland’s Jon Gruden, who won Super Bowl XXXVII (in 2003, following the 2002 season) but hasn’t coached since 2008, is listed at No. 16, five spots ahead of Gase.
Gase led Miami to a 10-6 finish in 2016 as well as its first playoff appearance since 2008. But things went awry last season as the Dolphins slumped to 6-10, caused largely by the loss of quarterback Ryan Tannehill to a season-ending knee injury early in training camp.
Curiously, as Gase enters his third season he’s on his second defensive coordinator and second offensive coordinator. Defensive coordinator Matt Burke enters his second season in charge after replacing Vance Joseph, who became Denver’s head coach. Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains enters his first season, replacing Clyde Christensen, who remains on the staff.
As for the coaches ranking, New England’s Bill Belichick was first followed by Philadelphia’s Doug Pederson, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Seattle’s Pete Carroll and Green Bay’s Mike McCarthy.
Rounding out the top 10 were New Orleans’ Sean Payton at No. 6, Minnesota’s Mike Zimmer at No. 7, Kansas City’s Andy Reid at No. 8, Atlanta’s Dan Quinn at No. 9, EDITED FROM NEWS SERVICES and Carolina’s Ron Rivera at No. 10.
Detroit’s Matt Patricia and Tennessee’s Mike Vrabel, both first-time head coaches, were ranked last and secondto-last, respectively. Cleveland’s Hue Jackson, who is 9-39 overall and 1-31 in two seasons with the Browns, was ranked 29th.