Dolphins Coaching Staff Tracker: Another Buffalo Addition

The Miami Dolphins continue assembling their 2026 staff under new head coach Jeff Hafley

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

The Miami Dolphins continue assembling their 2026 coaching staff, and for the second time they've looked to the Buffalo Bills for a new assistant.

The team will be adding cornerbacks coach Jahmile Addae to work in the same capacity in Miami, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.

Addae spent the past two seasons with Buffalo after a long coaching career in college football that included stops at his alma mater, West Virginia, along with Georgia and the University of Miami. He was a co-defensive coordinator at West Virginia in 2020.

Among the Dolphins cornerback on the roster is former West Virginia standout Rasul Douglas, who played at WVU between Addae's two stints as a coach there. Douglas is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

With Addae is part of its coaching staff, Buffalo led the NFL in pass defense in 2025, allowing 156.9 yards per game. Addae coached a cornerback group that included veterans Tre'Davious White, Taron Johnson and Christian Benford along with rookie first-round pick Maxwell Hairston. The group dealt with injuries throughout the season but still managed to performed at a good level.

The Bills ranked seven in opponent passer rating at 79.8 and were fourth in completion percentage allowed at 59.7 (the Dolphins were dead last at 72.2).

Addae becomes the eighth reported addition to the Dolphins staff along with the promotion of Bobby Slowik to offensive coordinator. The other seven were special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, OL coach Zach Yesner, RB coach Ladell Betts, DB coach Ryan Downard, WR coach Tyke Tolbert, and two other Green Bay assistants, Sean Duggan and Wendel Davis, with Duggan likely coming aboard as defensive coordinator.

As has been their costume, the Dolphins will announce the 2026 coaches once the staff is finalized.

Here are other coaching staff nuggets with link to the stories we wrote:

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW RB COACH

For the first time since the 2018 season, the Miami Dolphins will have a new running backs coach.

That new coach is Ladell Betts, who comes to Miami after working for the New York Giants in his first year as an NFL coach. Before that, Betts spent four seasons as a running backs coach at his alma mater, the University of Iowa.

Betts had a nine-year playing career in the NFL as, of course a running back with eight of the nine seasons spent with the Washington Redskins. His best season came in 2006 when he rushed for 1,154 yards and four touchdowns.

THE NEW O-LINE COACH AND THE CRAZY 49ERS CONNECTION

The Miami Dolphins will have a new offensive line coach in 2026 and it's a logical choice with a very interesting connection.

Butch Barry, who coached the offensive line for the past three seasons, will be rejoining head coach Mike McDaniel in the same capacity with the Los Angeles Chargers, according to NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe.

This was a move that could have been predicted pretty much from the time McDaniel officially became offensive coordinator of the Chargers on Tuesday morning.

Barry's replacement on the 2026 Dolphins staff will be Barry's co-assistant offensive line coach with the San Francisco 49ers in 2021, Zach Yesner.

The two were assistants that year under highly respected O-line coach Chris Foerster, who Dolphins fans likely remember for two less-than-memorable stints in Miami, first as offensive coordinator in 2004 and later under Adam Gase before he resigned in the aftermath of a video scandal.

WHY SLOWIK WAS A LOGICAL CHOICE AS OC

New Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley will retain at least one member of the previous coaching staff, and he'll play an imporant role.

Bobby Slowik will be back for a second season, this time with a shorter title but a lot clearer role, as the offensive coordinator.

The Dolphins made that decision Saturday, five days after Jeff Hafley was named the 12th full-time head coach in franchise history.

Slowik joined the Dolphins last season in the role of senior pass game coordinator, though his exact duties never were quite clear.

Slowik does have a prior working relationship with Hafley, the two both member of the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff in 2017-18, Hafley as defensive backs coach and Slowik as defensive quality control coach.

TWO GREEN BAY ASSISTANTS ON THE WAY

New Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley is working toward finalizing his staff for the 2026 season, and there are couple of key pieces on the way from his former team.

The Dolphins will bringing in two defensive assistants from the Green Bay Packers, with the expectation that linebackers coach Sean Duggan will become the new Miami defensive coordinator, according to sources, and DB coach Ryan Downard reportedly will be taking on the same role for Hafley.

Miami's approach in the past after a head coach change has been to announce its entire coaching staff at once, and there's even more reason to hold off this year because of the Anthony Weaver situation.

Weaver remains in contention, albeit seemingly a long shot, for the head coaching position with the Arizona Cardinals and the Dolphins would get two compensatory third-round picks if he were to land a head coaching job while still employed by the team.