Miami Dolphins interviewed Dennis Hickey for a second time
Miami Dolphins helmet during the second half against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
Tampa Bay Buccaneers director of player personnel Dennis Hickey has been the least talked-about candidate in the Miami Dolphins GM search, since the vast majority of the focus was on New England Patriots director of pro personnel Nick Caserio, Tennessee Titans VP of personnel Lake Dawson, and Dolphins assistant GM (the lone internal candidate) Brian Gaine. But Hickey interviewed with the Dolphins earlier in the process, and the team announced that Hickey, like Caserio and Dawson, had a second interview with the ‘Fins yesterday (Gaine, by the way, had his second interview on Friday).
The Dolphins unsurprisingly went for the “reach” guy and aimed to bring in Caserio, but he rejected the Dolphins GM job. The final three candidates are now Dawson, Hickey, and Gaine, and it looks like Dawson is the guy the Dolphins are gunning for the most now that Caserio is no longer a candidate. Dawson’s experience and ability are both top-notch, and the ‘Fins will have to hope that their messy process hasn’t turned him off to the gig. Stephen Ross and the team have been criticized heavily for their search thus far, but all would be forgiven if they can hire Dawson.
While Gaine is viewed as a backup plan if the Dolphins are unable to hire an external candidate, I can’t help but feel that people are too eager to push Gaine under the rug as a candidate and criticize him solely because he worked under Jeff Ireland. Look, how much say do you think Ireland gave other members of the organization, anyway? Dawson is clearly the best option in my book, but Gaine is better than some think.