A report earlier in the month suggested that the Miami Dolphins could be in jeopardy of losing defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver after he’s spent just one season on the coaching staff. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini claimed that Weaver is one of the names on the Chicago Bears’ radar as they hope to find a new head coach.

However, while ESPN’s Jeff Darlington said in a recent podcast appearance that the Bears could “come to him pretty hard,” he believes that Weaver will ultimately stick around with the Dolphins.

“I think that Weaver will wind up still in Miami,” Darlington said. “I think that if he gets offers — say the Bears come to him pretty hard — the Dolphins could probably make it right and give him a pay bump and keep him around. I think he wants to be here.

“It’s certainly night and day different than [Vic] Fangio who couldn’t get out fast enough. Weaver’s very happy, really enjoys working with Mike [McDaniel], loves South Florida. I would say he’d be hard pressed to leave.”

Before he joined McDaniel’s coaching staff in Miami, Weaver served as an assistant head coach as well as a defensive line coach for the Baltimore Ravens for two seasons earlier on in the decade. He entered the league’s coaching ranks when he became an assistant defensive line coach with the New York Jets all the way back in the 2012 campaign.

Weaver arguably had more success in his inaugural season as Miami’s defensive coordinator than the team’s record in the 2024 regular season indicates. The Dolphins ended up with a record of just 8-9 and did not qualify for a playoff spot either, but Miami still had one of the better defenses in the NFL.

First off, Miami’s defense did a better job at keeping opposing quarterbacks in check than most of the 32 squads. The Dolphins allowed 3,829 passing yards across 17 games played, and only eight teams in the league gave up fewer passing yards.

What’s more, Miami held teams to just 1,763 total rushing yards on the season, the ninth-fewest of any defense in the NFL.

The Dolphins saved maybe their best defensive performance of the campaign for close to the end of the season. In Miami’s blowout victory over the Cleveland Browns on Dec. 29, it held Cleveland to just three points.

If Weaver is still a member of the Dolphins’ coaching staff by the start of the 2025 season, fans should expect the team to once again be one of the more disruptive and effective defenses in the league. However, it remains to be seen if Weaver will stick around for another campaign.