BY NICK ST. DENIS
Nick Caserio wasn't the only person to turn down an offer this weekend for the Miami Dolphins' general manager gig.
His reasoning in doing so, however, isn't so clear.
The Dolphins eventually got former Tampa Bay Buccaneers executive Dennis Hickey to sign on for the job, but not before Caserio, an executive with the New England Patriots, and fellow frontrunner Lake Dawson, a front office member of the Tennessee Titans, said "no thanks" to offers from the Dolphins.
At first glance, and per multiple reports, Caserio appeared to have used his meetings with the Dolphins as leverage with his current team. According to The Miami Herald's Adam Beasley, he likely earned himself a raise from the Patriots.
Then mid-day Saturday, Armando Salguero, also of the Herald, reported that Caserio in fact wanted the Dolphins' job but under the condition that he could hire his own coach -- as in, fire Joe Philbin. Philbin is part of the package deal, so that wouldn't fly.
But ProFootballTalk later reported, via a source of its own, that Caserio didn't want to fire anyone.
So ...?
The most probable explanation is the initial one: He saw the interviews with the Dolphins as a way to get his current employer to fork out more money, all the while letting other organizations in the league know that he's considering breaking off from the the Hoodie's empire in the near future.
And whoever told Salguero that Caserio sought to overhaul the off-field personnel may have just been trying to save face for an organization that couldn't find a taker until its third(-plus) option.
Whatever the explanation, the hiring process was way messier than it should've been. Many teams deal with complications in anointing front office people, but they're rarely this extensive and public.
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