MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The Miami Dolphins introduced defensive coordinator Vic Fangio on Monday.
Fangio took a year off before taking the Dolphins job.
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Fangio said, “The Dolphins have a good thing going here. I like Mike and his staff that he already has in place here. I think there are good components to the coaching staff led by Mike that made it intriguing to join that. I think there’s a good nucleus of players here and the lure of South Florida.”
Fangio said his goal is to improve each player individually, then improve the position group, and eventually the entire defense.
Fangio said there are many good young players in Miami that have room to grow.
The new defensive coordinator said he did not have a major connection to Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel prior to taking this job.
Fangio called McDaniel energetic and genuine.
Fangio said during his year off, “What I did with all my time, I treated it like a college professor on a sabbatical. Was watching a lot of NFL tape from a situational standpoint rather than watching a team... I think there’s some good young talent there.”
Fangio singled out Jaelan Phillips, Jevon Holland, Bradley Chubb, and Christian Wilkins.
Fangio has head coaching experience from his time in Denver.
The veteran is bringing Renoldo Hill to join his staff. He was most recently the defensive coordinator for the Chargers.
In terms of the scheme, Fangio said, “Hopefully we’ll be a team that’ll keep the points down. Make it hard for teams to score a lot of points and put our offense to score points for us... Want to play good defense and what’s good defense, keep them out of the endzone.”
On blitzing, Fangio said, “As needed and when I want to. Versus having to. If you have to that’s not a great feeling. You want to do it when you want to on your terms. I can’t tell you what that means from a percentage standpoint.”