The Miami Dolphins are turning to a veteran NFL assistant to coordinate the passing game and coach the team’s quarterbacks.
Darrell Bevell, who last served as the offensive coordinator and interim head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, has agreed to terms to serve as new coach Mike McDaniel’s passing-game coordinator and quarterbacks coach, a league source confirmed to the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Wednesday morning.
The Dolphins hire was first reported by NFL Network on Wednesday. A Tuesday night report by ESPN initially linked Bevell to Miami, stating the Dolphins were “working toward adding” Bevell.
Bevell’s career began as an offensive assistant in Green Bay, where he coached Brett Favre in the west coast offense McDaniel plans to install.
From there he’s served as the Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator from 2006-2010, where he again coached Favre. He then served as the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator from 2011-17, the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator for 2019-2020 before ending the season as the Lions’ interim head coach when Matt Patricia was fired.
And this past season, he was the coordinator for Urban Meyer’s Jaguars team before taking over as interim coach when Meyer was fired.
In his two stints as an interim coach Bevell is 2-7, but he’s coached Favre, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Matt Stafford and Trevor Lawrence, and the hope is he could help quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s game get to the next level if hired in Miami.
The Dolphins have already hired former Los Angeles Chargers assistant Frank Smith to serve as the offensive coordinator, and he’ll likely responsible for leading the run game. Smith coached offensive linemen most of his career, and served as the Chargers’ run-game coordinator.
Bevell, who played quarterback at Wisconsin under Barry Alvarez in the early 1990′s, will likely focus on the passing game. Former NFL receiver Wes Welker was hired to coach the receivers, and Miami retained Eric Studesville to coach the tailbacks.
Considering he was instrumental in the selection of Wilson in Seattle, and his early development, it is possible that his quick-pass concepts, which are a staple of the west coast offense, could help Tagovailoa become more efficient.
However, Lawrence struggled for most of his rookie season, where he led the Jaguars to a 3-14 record as the team’s starter.
Lawrence completed 59 percent of his passes, throwing for 3,641 yards with 12 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Lawrence finished the season with a 71.9 passer rating, making him the 32nd-rated quarterback in the NFL, one spot ahead of New York Jets rookie Zach Wilson (69.7).
Along with Bevell, McDaniel also has his assistant quarterbacks coach. The Dolphins are hiring Chandler Henley for that role, according to a league source, after he just completed a season as Atlanta Falcons assistant offensive line coach. Henley also coached with the Tennessee Titans the previous three seasons.
Henley has college coaching experience, as well, with Yale, the shared alma mater of his and McDaniel. Henley and McDaniel were teammates in college.
A league source on Wednesday morning also confirmed to the Sun Sentinel the hiring of Boston College offensive line coach Matt Applebaum, which was previously reported by ESPN.
McDaniel has hired, or retained, most of his coaching staff, but with the Tuesday night hire of outside linebackers coach Tyrone McKenzie, he could be a defensive backs coach away from completing the primary positions of his first staff before going deeper into further assistant position coach roles.
