The Miami Dolphins named a new head coach Monday, unsurprisingly landing on Jeff Hafley to take the reins.
Hafley, 46, was considered an early favorite for the role due to his connection with new Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan. The duo spent the last two seasons together with the Green Bay Packers and will now reunite in Miami.
The former Packers defensive coordinator emerged as a clear frontrunner after reports surfaced that he “blew everyone away” during a virtual interview with the Dolphins last week.
So who is the new coach taking the wheel for the Dolphins? Here are six things to know about Jeff Hafley:
1. Hafley had a four-year stint as Boston College’s head coach
The Dolphins interviewed 10 coaches for their vacancy before landing on Hafley. Two had prior NFL head coaching experience: Robert Saleh and Kevin Stefanski. Seven worked as offensive or defensive coordinators, but never had a head coaching gig before.
Hafley’s somewhere in the middle. While the Dolphins are providing his first NFL head coaching job, Hafley spent four seasons leading the Boston College Eagles.
How successful that stint was depends on who you ask. The team’s 22-26 record during Hafley’s tenure doesn’t exactly scream impressive. But BC has never really been a juggernaut. Hafley’s final game with the Eagles was a 23-14 win in the 2023 Fenway Bowl, one of only two bowl victories for the program in the last 18 years.
Former Penn State and Houston Texans coach Bill O’Brien took the reins at BC and led the team to a 2-10 record last season.
2. Hafley was reportedly a finalist for other head coaching vacancies
If the Dolphins didn’t hire Hafley, it seems unlikely that he would’ve ended this year’s coaching carousel without a head coaching job.
According to one report, Hafley was “a likely finalist everywhere he’s interviewed,” which included the Titans, Raiders, Steelers, Cardinals, and Browns. Both Tennessee and Las Vegas had second interviews scheduled with the coach before Miami reached a deal that kept him from ever having those meetings.
3. Hafley has spent most of his career coaching defensive backs
Before his time with the Packers and Boston College, Hafley spent more than a decade as a defensive backs coach. He served in that role collegiately at Ohio State, Rutgers, and Pittsburgh, as well as on the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaching staffs.
“His preparation is some of the best I’ve seen,” former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman said of Hafley in 2018, during his time with the 49ers. “I’ve had some great defensive back coaches, great defensive coaches, and he’s right up there. With his preparation, how he breaks down film, how easy and simple he makes the game plan sound. How easy he makes it for guys to understand. He paints a very good picture of what you’re going to see, then it’s all about executing.”
Opposing quarterbacks had a 105.3 passer rating against the Dolphins secondary in 2025, fourth highest in the NFL. Miami allowed 72 percent of its opponents’ passes to be completed, the highest rate conceded by any defense in the last seven NFL seasons.
4. The Dolphins wanted a coach who could develop young talent
No team made fewer draft selections over the last four years than the Dolphins. Over that span, Miami made only three selections in the top 50 picks. The result is a roster without many long-term, cornerstone pieces in place.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the Dolphins’ plan to correct that was to hire a new general manager who believes in building through the draft first and foremost, along with a coach who could develop young talent into core players. That’s how the team landed on the duo of Sullivan and Hafley.
5. The 2025 Packers defense was elite until late in the year
After finishing No. 5 in yards allowed and No. 6 in points allowed in 2024, there were high hopes for the Packers defense heading into the 2025 season. Those expectations skyrocketed when Green Bay acquired Micah Parsons just before the start of the regular season.
For two-thirds of the year, the Packers lived up to the hype.
The Packers gave up only 18.4 points and 278.7 yards per game through the first 12 weeks, both of which were top five in the NFL.
“I think we got one of the best defenses in the league, if not the best; the talent that we have,” Packers safety Xavier McKinney said near the end of November. “We have a hell of a DC (Jeff Hafley). … Great DC, great players all coming together, it looks good.”
But injuries stacked up for the Packers, including an ACL tear that ended Parsons’ year. Green Bay allowed an average of 372.5 yards in the last six weeks of the regular season to finish No. 12 in yards allowed. In a postseason loss to the Chicago Bears, the Packers defense gave up a season-high 445 yards.
6. Micah Parsons was sad to see him go
The star pass rusher spent just one season with Hafley in Green Bay, but it’s safe to say the coach made a good impression on Parsons. After the season ended, the five-time Pro Bowler was in denial about the possibility that his defensive coordinator could be headed elsewhere.
But when Hafley was announced as the Dolphins’ new head coach, Parsons was quick to chime in.
Parsons had 12.5 sacks in 14 games last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: 6 things to know about new Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley
Reporting by Adam Stites, Dolphins Wire / Dolphins Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
