Burke assumes defensive reins
The Miami Dolphins promoted linebackers coach Matt Burke to defensive coordinator Thursday, meaning they’ll have a firsttime defensive coordinator for the second consecutive year.
Burke replaces Vance Joseph, who was appointed Denver’s head coach Wednesday.
Burke, who played safety at Dartmouth, served as linebackers coach for the Cincinnati Bengals (2014-15) and Detroit Lions (2009-13) before joining the Dolphins in 2016. Before that, he spent five years with the Tennessee Titans as defensive assistant/quality control coach (2006-08) and administrative assist- ant (2004-05).
“Matt knows this defense inside and out,” coach Adam Gase said. “Him being with [Joseph] for the amount of time that they were together in Cincinnati, and then him coming along with the Dolphins last season, was really big for us in the aspect that I really felt like we had two defensive coordinators on that side of the ball.”
Although this move happened quickly, Burke — who has been on African safaris and has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro — looks forward to a challenge.
“It’s obviously an exciting moment personally, and hopefully for our organization to move forward,” he said. “It has been a hectic few weeks, or a few days, from Sunday forward. Everything has kind of happened pretty quickly. It’s taking a little time to sink in, but I’m really excited to get going and help this team move forward.”
This season, Burke, 40, presided over a patchwork linebackers unit that dealt with a bevy of injuries. About the only mainstay was middle linebacker Kiko Alonso, who ended with 115 tackles.
“We want to be an attacking defense, sort of what we started to try to build here this past season,” he said.
“Be aggressive. We want to tailor our schemes to fit our players.’’