Hickey's deal for more than 2 years

By
JAMES WALKER via <a href="http://espn.go.com/" title="ESPN" class="espn_sc_byline">ESPN </a>
via
February 4, 2014, 9:19 PM ET
2 min read

— -- MIAMI --  New Miami Dolphins general manager Dennis Hickey's deal is for more than two years, a team source told ESPN.com on Tuesday. The source would not disclose the specific length of the contract.

ESPN.com previously reported that Hickey signed a two-year contract with Miami, according to multiple sources. The typical contract length for new general managers is three to five years.

Hickey was not Miami's first choice. The Dolphins initially were turned down by Nick Caserio of the New England Patriots and Lake Dawson of the Tennessee Titans before offering the job to Hickey.

He didn't have much leverage because his role as director of player personnel was in question with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who recently hired Lovie Smith as coach and Jason Licht as general manager.

Miami fired former GM Jeff Ireland in January after five consecutive non-winning seasons. Owner Stephen Ross also confirmed that Ireland butted heads behind the scenes with coach Joe Philbin and vice president of football administration Dawn Aponte.

"We need to have harmony within the organization," Ross said last week. "We have to think as one organization, where everyone has respect for each other and operates with the same mindset at all times."