In a non-surprising move, the Dolphins continued to make changes to their staff by firing Head Trainer Kevin O'Neill. O'Neill was fired for not cooperating and not being forthcoming during the Ted Wells interview. It has been said that O'Neill showed "hostility" toward the line of questionning by Ted Wells back in November regarding Jonathan Martin treatment from other players on the Dolphins football team. Chris Mortensen was the first to break the story via ESPN.
In addition, it was Mr. O'Neill who was aware of the racial epithets hurled toward his intern of Japanese descent.
O'Neill served with Jimmy Johnson in Dallas and then went to Miami after then head coach Don Shula retired in 1996.
All in all, the Dolphins continue to make headlines this season and the worse is yet to come with the NFL poised to announce suspensions of OL coach Jim Turner, Center Mike Pouncey, and John Jerry (a free agent).
It remains to be seen if the Dolphins were actually looking to suspend O'Neill since he was said to have traveled with the team to Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine. O'Neill was fired in Indianapolis, which seems cruel, but in reality, the combine functions as a job fair of sorts.
As expected, offensive line coach Jim Turner was also let go from the team. There were several allegations against Turner including the harassment of other players, in addition to Martin, as well as encouraging the culture that led to this investigation. Although Turner denied having knowledge about what was occuring, the report stated other wise. During the interview process, Turner also insisted that he couldn't remember any of the events that took place.
Recently hired assistant offensive line coach John Benton will take over Turner's role. Benton is almost certain to be an upgrade compared to the 58 sacks that the unit allowed under Turner.
Surely, there are fans and pundits that do not agree with the Dolphins embarrassing way of making headlines or protocol and timing of transactions, but in this day and age, the firing of a trainer for partaking in Incognito's antics, seems to have hidden meaning. The Dolphins now will be looking for a new trainer to fill the vacant position.
For the Dolphins, expect everything to get worse before it gets better and the month of September can't come soon enough when fans can actually focus on games and not the Ted Wells report.
Daniel Monardo also contributed to this report.
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