AFC East Rival Fires Three Ex-Patriots in Defensive Purge
As the New England Patriots prepare to restock their assistant coaching staff, a divisional rival is creating a few openings of its own ... and some former New Englanders are paying the price.
The Miami Dolphins announced a series of coaching changes on Thursday, the moves headlined by the ousting of defensive coordinator Josh Boyer. Assistants Steve Gregory (safeties) and Tyrone McKenzie (outside linebackers) were also cast out, the two having previously played for Boyer in New England.
Boyer, 45, spent his first NFL seasons with the Patriots, using a defensive assistant's role (2006-08) as a springboard to coaching the defensive backs (2009-11) and cornerbacks (2012-18). After three Super Bowl victories, Boyer was pulled away from New England by fellow assistant Brian Flores when the latter took over the top headset in South Beach in 2019.
He spent a year as the cornerbacks coach and defensive pass game coordinator before earning a promotion to defensive coordinator in 2020. Boyer held that role in the first year of the Mike McDaniel era, which produced a 9-8 record and the team's first playoff berth since 2016.
Though Miami gave the second-seeded Buffalo Bills everything they could handle in Sunday's AFC Wild Card action, they ranked 24th in points allowed this season, a steep drop from its sixth-place posting in 2020. The Dolphins also forced turnovers on only 7.6 percent of their possessions, the third-worst rate in the league.
"I am grateful for Josh's contributions this year and throughout his tenure with the Dolphins," McDaniel said in a team statement. "The defense made strides through the season, so coming to this decision was not easy, but ultimately I feel it is in the best long-term interests of the Miami Dolphins and the continued growth of our players and team."
Gregory spent the final two seasons of an eight-year playing career with the Patriots (2012-13) and had been on Miami's staff since 2021 (spending the prior year as a defensive assistant). In New England lore, Gregory is perhaps best known for taking back Mark Sanchez's infamous "butt fumble" back for a touchdown in the Patriots' Thanksgiving victory over the New York Jets in 2012. McKenzie was New England's third-round pick (97th overall) in 2009 but injuries prevented him from playing a single down with the team. He had just wrapped up his first year on the Miami staff, having previously coached linebackers in Tennessee and Detroit.
Ironically enough, even the Dolphins' fourth Thursday release, assistant linebackers coach Steve Ferentz, holds New England connections: Ferentz's brother James is a center on the Patriots' current offensive line and his other brother Brian (now the offensive coordinator under his father Kirk at the University of Iowa) was a New England assistant for four seasons (2008-11).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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