Breaking Down the Latest Coaching Staff Moves, with an Interesting Return

Head coach Jeff Hafley continues to assemble his 2026 coaching staff

Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley makes his first remarks at his introductory press conference | Alain Poupart/Miami Dolphins On SI

New Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley went back to a familiar Boston College coach for one of the two latest additions to his coaching, but Matt Applebaum was familiar with the Dolphins as well.

Applebaum is rejoining the coaching staff as assistant offensive line coach, four years after he served as O-line coach in Mike McDaniel's first season as head coach.

While he was running the group his first time in Miami, this time he will assist new offensive line coach Zach Yesner.

Applebaum will become, by our calculations, the 14th assistant coach to come back to Miami for a second stint. That group includes four offensive line coaches — Monte Clark, Dave DeGuglielmo, Chris Foerster and most recently Jeremiah Washburn, who was assistant O-line coach in 2017, left for a year, then returned as offensive line coach in 2019 when Brian Flores took over as head coach.

Applebaum has great familiarity with Hafley, having served as his offensive line coach in 2020-21 before the Dolphins hired him. After the Dolphins let him go after one season, with head coach Mike McDaniel later saying that offensive coordinator Frank Smith had wound up spending more time than ideal helping out with the offensive line, Applebaum returned to BC for Hafley's final season as head coach as well as the next two.

Though it's never been confirmed, it's entirely possible that it was Hafley who recommended Applebaum to McDaniel in the first place in 2022 when we remember that Hafley and McDaniel worked together with the San Francisco 49ers from 2017-18.

Along with Applebaum, another addition to the staff is L.A. Chargers assistant defensive line coach Chuka Nduele, likely for the same role. Nduele does not have direct ties to Hafley, but he did spend a couple of months with the Green Bay Packers in the spring of 2022 as part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship.

Hafley was head coach at Boston College at that time, but new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan was in Green Bay, as were new Dolphins assistants Ryan Downard and Wendel Davis.

Applebaum and Nduele are now the 10th and 11th newcomers on the Dolphins coaching staff, though no official announcement will come until the staff is finalized.

The others are Al Washington (linebackers), Jahmile Addae (cornerbacks), Chris Tabor (special teams), Lade ll Betts (running backs), Nathaniel Hackett (quarterbacks), Tyke Tolbert (wide receivers), Yesner, Downard and Davis, with Packers linebackers coach Sean Duggan still expected to become defensive coordinator and replace Anthony Weaver, who still has a shot at becoming head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.

THE NEXT ASSISTANT ON THE WAY?

With Applebaum set to replace Lemuel Jeanpierre, defensive line coach Austin Clark becomes the longest-tenured member of the coaching staff, though there's no guarantee he'll be back in 2026.

Another Green Bay coach who could be headed to Miami to fill Clark's spot is Packers assistant defensive line coach Vince Oghobaase, who's got a long working relationship with Hafley. Before they were together in Green Bay, Oghobaase was Hafley's defensive line coach at Boston College for his four seasons as head coach and both were members of the San Francisco 49ers defensive staff in 2016-17.

Oghobaase, incidentally, never played a regular season game in the NFL after he was a defensive tackle at Duke, but he spent time with the Dolphins in 2010 after being signed as an undrafted rookie free agent.

Clark has been the Dolphins' defensive line coach since 2021 and is highly respected in the organization, but it might turn out that Hafley wants an entirely new staff as he takes over the defense — he has declared that he will call the defensive signals during games next season.

Two of the Dolphins' 2025 defensive coaches already have found new jobs — Brian Duker as New York Jets defensive coordinator and Mathieu Araujo as defensive pass game coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars.