Dolphins Have Their New Defensive Coordinator

New head coach Jeff Hafley turned to a familiar face for a replacement for Anthony Weaver

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

The Miami Dolphins have their new defensive coordinator, and it's exactly who it figured to be all along.

New head coach Jeff Hafley has tabbed his longtime colleague Sean Duggan, who worked with him the past two years as an assistant coach with the Green Bay Packers, a league source has confirmed.

The connection between Hafley and Duggan goes back further, however, all the way to their one season at Ohio State in 2019 when Duggan was a graduate assistant and Hafley was the co-defensive coordinator.

When Hafley became head coach at Boston College in 2020, he brought Duggan with him as linebackers coach before making him co-defensive coordinator in 2023.

Duggan will turn only 33 on April 7, the day after the Dolphins open their offseason program.

He was a four-year letterman at Boston College as well as a team captain.

Duggan was a defensive assistant for Green Bay in 2024 when he again switched teams with Hafley, but worked primarily with the linebackers. In that role, he helped tutor Edgerrin Cooper, who earned PFWA All-Rookie honors and was the only player in the NFL that season to post 75-plus tackles, 13-plus tackles for a loss, three-plus sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Duggan will replace Anthony Weaver, who was the Dolphins defensive coordinator the past two years and the official announcement of not only Weaver, but the entire staff should be coming pretty soon with Weaver no longer a candidate for any head coach opening — and therefore the Dolphins not in line anymore to get two compensatory third-round picks had that materialized.

Reports surfaced Sunday that the Arizona Cardinals, for whom Weaver was a finalist, will instead be going with Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur once it became clear that Seattle Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak had chosen to pursue the job with the Las Vegas Raiders instead.

The Kubiak and LaFleur hirings will fill the ninth and 10th vacancies that existed in this cycle, leaving Weaver out of the mix.

Hafley going after someone familiar to be his first OC as Dolphins head coach always made sense, which is why Duggan seemed like the logical target all along. Hafley has said he will be calling the defensive signals during games, but Duggan still will play a key role in helping install and teach the new scheme.

Duggan will become the sixth Dolphins defensive coordinator in nine years, following Matt Burke in 2018, Patrick Graham in 2019, Josh Boyer from 2020-22, Vic Fangio in 2023, and Weaver in 2024-25.

Duggan is the fourth Green Bay assistant expected to join Hafley's staff in Miami, following QB coach Nathaniel Hackett, DB coach Ryan Downard and defensive quality control coach Wendel Davis.

ANOTHER NEW ASSISTANT

Before Duggan, the latest addition to the staff was that Darius Eubanks as assistant special teams coordinator.

And, yes, there's a connection with Hafley, but this is a different one. When Hafley served as DB coach for the Cleveland Browns in his first of two seasons with the team, Eubanks spent training camp with the team before he wound up being placed on season-ending injured reserve in late August.

Eubanks' NFL playing career consisted of nine games with Cleveland in 2013 before Hafley arrived, and this will be his first coaching assignment in the league.

He will be assistant veteran special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, who joined the team from the Buffalo Bills.