Report: Dolphins fired OC O'Shea due to overly complex playbook for young team

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores' decision to fire offensive coordinator Chad O'Shea after the 2019 season was reportedly supported by multiple players who believed the OC had installed a playbook that was too complicated for a young roster.

After the regular season, Flores concluded he needed a more experienced and game-tested coordinator who would run an offense that would be easier for the players to learn, according to the Miami Herald's Barry Jackson, Adam H. Beasley, and Armando Salguero.

Before joining the Dolphins - who feature one of the youngest rosters in the NFL - O'Shea spent 10 seasons coaching New England Patriots receivers in an offense led by veteran quarterback Tom Brady. O'Shea reportedly tried to install especially complex aspects of New England's offense when he arrived in Miami.

An anonymous Dolphins player said that offense was too complicated for a young team and that instruction during film study had been a "disaster." O'Shea would then reportedly go to Flores and say that players weren't learning the playbook.

O'Shea, a first-year offensive coordinator in 2019, was fired one day after Miami's Week 17 contest.

The Dolphins brought in Chan Gailey to replace O'Shea. Gailey, 68, first occupied an NFL offensive coordinator role with the Denver Broncos in 1989. He's worked in that capacity with four different teams since, and his latest job was in 2016 with the New York Jets.

Gailey was also a head coach in the NFL for multiple seasons. He led the Dallas Cowboys from 1998-99 and Buffalo Bills from 2010-12.

The Dolphins are now set to begin a new era with first-round rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Fellow quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, 37, is Miami's only offensive player over 30 years old this offseason.

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