A carousel of candidates
Dolphins meet Patriots assistant Brian Flores, Chiefs assistant Eric Bieniemy for head coaching job
DAVIE – The Miami Dolphins interviewed two potential candidates for their vacant head coaching position on Friday, and will interview another on Saturday.
The Dolphins, led by team owner Steve Ross and general manager Chris Grier, completed an interview with New England Patriots assistant Brian Flores in Foxborough, Mass., on Friday morning before meeting with Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy in the Kansas City area Friday evening.
The interviews are the first for the Dolphins, who fired former coach Adam Gase on Monday after three seasons with the team.
Both Flores and Bieniemy bring a wealth of coaching experience to the table, and have worked under coaches with impressive pedigrees. But they also have some areas of concern in their attempts to become firsttime head coaches.
Flores – in his 15th season with New England – does not hold the title of defensive coordinator though he is in his first season as Patriots defensive play-caller. He assumed the role after Matt Patricia left New England to coach the Detroit Lions, and still leads the Patriots linebackers group.
Miami’s last victory this season came at home against New England when tight end Rob Gronkowski was questionably on the field for the Dolphins’ game-winning final-play touchdown on Nov. 29.
The Patriots finished seventh out of 32 NFL teams, holding opposing teams to 20.3 points per game. New England also finished third with 18 interceptions (Miami was second with 21), 16th in third-down defense (Miami was 28th), 21st with an average of 359.1 yards allowed (Miami was 29th, 391.1), and 30th with 30 sacks (Miami was 29th with 31) this season.
Flores’ college football career at Boston College was cut short due to injury, before he began his career in New England in 2004. He served in operational roles like scouting for four years, before he joined the Patriots coaching staff in various roles for the last 11 years.
Bieniemy does not call plays under Chiefs coach Andy Reid, but is in his first season as offensive coordinator. He assumed the role after previous Chiefs play-callers Doug Pederson and Matt Nagy became head coaches with the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears, respectively.
Kansas City became the No. 1 seed in the AFC with a 12-4 record and the highest-scoring offense in the NFL this season, averaging 35.3 points, behind the stellar play of quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce, wide receiver Tyreek Hill and former running back Kareem Hunt.
Bieniemy was a standout running back at the University of Colorado, where he finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2000. He played nine NFL seasons with the Chargers, Bengals and Eagles.
He has 18 years of coaching experience, including 11 in the NFL, where he credited with coaching running backs like Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles. He also has previous play-calling experience at his alma mater from 2011-2012 before joining the Chiefs.
Bieniemy is from the Reid NFL coaching tree, which has produced Pederson, Nagy, Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay and Indianapolis Colts coach Frank Reich.
Flores is a product of the Bill Belichick NFL coaching tree, which features former assistants like Patricia, Bill O’Brien, Josh McDaniels, Jim Schwartz, Eric Mangini, Al Groh, Romeo Crennel and former Dolphins coach Nick Saban.
With both interviews Friday, the Dolphins have already satisfied the Rooney Rule, which requires NFL organizations to interview minority candidates for vacant head coaching and football operations positions.
Miami has one of eight vacant coaching jobs in the NFL, along with the Cleveland Browns, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals, Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets.
Bieniemy and Flores are both valued as head coaching commodity among NFL franchises.
Bieniemy is also interviewing with the Bengals, Jets and Buccaneers as Kansas City has a bye during wild-card weekend. The Chiefs will play host to the lower-seeded of this weekend’s survivors among the Colts, Ravens and Chargers on Jan. 12.
Flores has scheduled interviews with the Broncos, Browns and Packers as New England has a bye as well. The Patriots will play host to the higher-seeded of this weekend’s survivors among the Texans, Ravens and Chargers on Jan. 13. He interviewed for the Arizona Cardinals’ head coaching job last offseason.
Grier is tasked with hiring his first head coach after Dolphins owner Steve Ross promoted him to the head of the team’s football operations.
Miami also plans to interview with longtime special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi, Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak and Dallas Cowboys secondary coach Kris Richards.