The Miami Dolphins are working to finalize an agreement to hire Jeff Hafley as the team’s next head coach, according to two league sources. Hafley would become the 12th full-time head coach in franchise history.
Hafley has served as the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator for the past two seasons after spending the previous four years as the head coach at Boston College. His Packers teams boasted the 11th ranked defense over the past two seasons at 313.2 yards allowed per game, while ranking ninth in rushing defense, ninth in Defensive EPA and 11th in passing defense.
The hiring of Hafley would come during a significant period of change for the Dolphins. Chris Grier was let go on Oct. 31 after nine-plus seasons as the general manager and coach Mike McDaniel was fired four days after finishing a 7-10 season. Ahead of McDaniels’ firing, the Dolphins brought in Hall of Fame quarterback and ESPN color analyst Troy Aikman to aid in their search for a new general manager, which resulted in them hiring former Packers executive Jon-Eric Sullivan.
Sullivan’s hiring delivered a natural tie to Hafley after they worked together the past two seasons. Sullivan spent two decades in various roles in Green Bay.
Hafley’s hiring would be the Dolphins’ seventh since 2007. He would become only the second among that group, including Brian Flores in 2019, to have a defensive background.
McDaniel, who went 35-33 in his four seasons, was hired in 2022 after one year as the offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers and several years as an assistant under Kyle Shanahan. Hafley also spent two seasons working under Shanahan, having worked for the 49ers in 2016 under Chip Kelly and staying on staff for Shanahan’s first two seasons as the defensive backs coach.
He left in 2019 to be Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for one season before getting the head-coaching job at Boston College. He’s also held defensive backs coach roles with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cleveland Browns.
The Dolphins have some big decisions ahead, including how to handle the starting quarterback position. Tua Tagovailoa is under a hefty contract that was signed in 2024 and keeps him under contract through 2028. Tagovailoa is coming off a season in which he went 6-8 as a starter and was benched in the final month of the season.
Hafley will be tasked with getting the Dolphins back in the playoffs, where they haven’t been since the 2023 season. The Dolphins have not won a playoff game since the 2000 season, which is the longest active drought in the NFL. Hafley’s road to success will include not only improving the standing of the Dolphins but battling through a tough division that includes the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills, both teams that made the postseason this year.