Dennis Hickey hired by Miami Dolphins after others turned job down
Miami Dolphins helmet during the second half against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
The Miami Dolphins GM search was an incredibly interesting journey, as there were several plot twists that included the entrance of rival exec Nick Caserio as a candidate and the reject by previous top candidate Ray Farmer of the Cleveland Browns. Heck, one of their candidates, Jason Licht, was hired to be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM. Stephen Ross and the Dolphins have been heavily criticized by many for not having a legitimate plan in place to find their successor to Jeff Ireland, and there were times when the GM search seemed to lack logic. But the Dolphins have finally hired someone, and he won’t have to move too far to his new job.
Per a league source close to the Miami Herald’s Armando Salguero, the Miami Dolphins hired Buccaneers director of player personnel Dennis Hickey as their GM. Hickey, Tennessee Titans VP of personnel Lake Dawson, and internal candidate Brian Gaine were the three finalists after Caserio unsurprisingly turned the ‘Fins down. Dawson looked like the favorite to land the job, especially since he was easily the most attractive candidate on paper, but he decided to turn the Dolphins down and remain a member of the Titans organization. That left Gaine and Hickey, and it never seemed like Ross wanted to give his assistant GM a chance at a promotion; it was always going to be an external candidate.
That candidate is Hickey, who makes sense when looking at his background, which includes scouting at both the college and pro levels. It looks like Dawn Aponte will handle the financial stuff, and Hickey will be in charge of scouting out talent and doing all the important stuff, besides the financial side of things, that GMs do. He looks like a quality hire on paper, but the Dolphins really struck out when the likes of Farmer and Dawson turned them down.