When practice ended Monday and Tuesday, Adam Gase held a press conference in the Eagles' media tent adjacent to the NovaCare Complex practice fields.
It was easy to wonder what could have been.
Before he was hired by the Dolphins, Gase interviewed for the Eagles' head coaching vacancy.
The Dolphins fired Joe Philbin a month into the 2015 regular season, and the Eagles fired Chip Kelly with a week left.
In the end, the Dolphins hired Gase and the Eagles hired Doug Pederson, although the sense was Gase was the Eagles' first choice, but the Dolphins were Gase's first choice.
Last year, the Dolphins went 10-6 under Gase and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2008 before losing to the Steelers in a wild-card game. The Eagles went 7-9 in Pederson's first year and haven't made the playoffs since 2013.
The Dolphins opened 1-4 before going 9-2 the rest of the way. The Eagles opened 3-0 before finishing 4-7.
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With the Dolphins in town this week for joint workouts, Gase reflected on his interview with Eagles owner Jeff Lurie, executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman and team president Don Smolenski.
"It was a good experience just to get around," Gase said. "I knew Howie but meeting a lot of different people from the organization. Just the questions they were asking, kind of the culture they were looking to reestablish, and just a good day to have a conversation about all those types of things.
"A lot of questions coming up on things. Usually, when you go in those interviews, something always comes up that you learn from that you have not necessarily prepared yourself for and you kind of have to think on the fly.
"I thought they asked a lot of good questions and it was just a good conversation going back and forth."
Gase was the hot candidate two years ago based on his work in one season as the Bears' offensive coordinator after stints with the Broncos, Lions and 49ers.
After the 2015 season, he interviewed for head coaching openings with the Eagles, Dolphins, Browns and Giants.
The Eagles' plan was to not make a hire until the Chiefs were finished in the playoffs so they could interview Pederson, who at the time was Andy Reid's offensive coordinator.
But the Dolphins brought in Gase for a second interview on Jan. 6, nearly two weeks before the Chiefs were eliminated in the playoffs by the Patriots.
The Eagles wound up announcing that they had hired Pederson, their opening-day quarterback in 1999, after the Chiefs were eliminated, although the deal was finalized a few days before that.
Gase wound up third in NFL Coach of the Year balloting.
"It was [the Eagles] and then I had three other interviews," Gase said. "By the end of the week, [the Eagles] were still in the interview process and I got offered the job [with the Dolphins]."
