If new Dolphins coach Adam Gase is going to succeed in Miami, one of the first things he's going to have to figure out is whether or not he can win with quarterback Ryan Tannehill, which is apparently a luxury Joe Philbin didn't have.
According to the Miami Herald, the former Dolphins coach actually wanted to replace Tannehill as early as 2014, but he was vetoed by general manager Dennis Hickey.
The drama between Philbin and Tannehill actually started in 2013 when Philbin wasn't getting along with former general manager Jeff Ireland. Dolphins owner Stephen Ross decided to fix things by firing Ireland, and when that happened, there was also a belief that Ross was going to fire offensive coordinator Mike Sherman.
To save Sherman's job, Philbin basically vouched for his assistant coach and blamed the team's offensive problems on Tannehill.
Philbin's plan to fix Miami's offense was to replace Tannehill in the 2014 draft and the player he wanted to replace him was Derek Carr. The Dolphins only had one pick before Carr went off the board at No. 36 to the Raiders and Hickey, the team's general manager at the time, decided to use the pick (No. 19 overall) on offensive lineman Ja'Wuan James.
The Dolphins would also draft wide receiver Jarvis Landry in the second round in an effort to enhance Tannehill's weapons on offense. So Hickey drafted a lineman and a receiver for Tannehill, which is kind of the opposite of what Philbin wanted.
At that point, Philbin was basically stuck with a quarterback he didn't want. Tannehill wasn't horrible in 2014, but he did struggle big time at the beginning of the 2015 season.
During the Dolphins' 1-3 start, Tannehill threw five interceptions in four games. At that point, it became apparent that someone had to go and that someone wasn't Tannehill.
