How Hafley Wants to Go from 'Green Bay Way' to 'Miami Method'

Since Jeff Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan became Miami Dolphins head coach and general manager in January, they have talked about applying the lessons they learned during their time with the Green Bay Packers, who universally are recognized as one of the model franchises around the NFL.

But Hafley also wants to make clear what he intends to do in Miami isn't a carbon copy of the way things were done in Green Bay.

So instead of constantly talking about the "Green Bay Way," we should start using the term the "Miami Method" — until we find a better, catchier phrase.

“We're gonna look to do this our way," Hafley said Tuesday from the owners meetings in Arizona. "I have so much respect for how the Packers do things from the top down, but this is not going to be like we're trying to re-create anything. What I tried to bring to Green Bay was a play style on defense that we were going to play harder and more physical and more violent than everybody that we played. And that's what I wanted to add to the Green Bay Packers. And I think for the most part, if you turned on our tape, we played pretty hard.

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"So I want our whole team here in Miami to play with that same mind-set. This isn't just about me coaching the defense now. This is about the culture of every person that touches that field. That's what I want it to look like. So this is not going to be, yeah, 'This is how we did it in Green Bay.' I have a ton of respect for everything in Green Bay. I mean, they've been unbelievable, but this is now about the Miami Dolphins and how we're going to do things.”

LOOKING FOR NEW AND IMPROVED (AND TOUGHER) DOLPHINS

There's actually some irony involved here with the Dolphins and the new persona they want to adopt because maybe the low point of the previous era in terms of the toughness issue came after a game at Lambeau Field on Thanksgiving night 2024 when linebacker Jordyn Brooks questioned Miami's toughness in the aftermath of a 30-17 loss that wasn't as close as the final score suggested.

Hafley was on the other side of the result as the then-first-year Packers defensive coordinator.

And, make no mistake, he wants the 2026 Dolphins and every team he coaches to be physical and is prepared to do what it takes to make it happen.

“It's the people you bring in, one, as we go through this draft process," Hafley said. "You want to find out if a guy loves football or if a guy's going to be tough and if a guy's going to be physical, turn the tape on. Don't ask him. Don't ask one of his coaches. Don't ask somebody that scouted them, turn the tape on, and if you see a guy running full speed putting his face on people, a wideout blocking downfield, a guard looking to clean somebody up, I mean, if you see those things over and over, you're going to find guys that love football, and you're going to find guys that are going to play that way. So we've got to go out, we've got to find guys like that, and then we've got to push them on the field.

"When we can be physical, we have to be physical. Does that mean sometimes there might be some live work in training camp? Yeah, there might be. I want to find out who can play the game of football. And I've said this before. You know how you get good at football? You play football. You know how you get good at tackling? You tackle and you block, and you get off blocks, and you run to the football, and you finish down the field, and then you set a standard where this is how it's going to look, or you're not playing. And when you start to build that and create that, then all the young guys are going to see it, and that's how they're going to practice."

That physicality that Hafley wants to say won't show up until at least training camp because rules prevent full-blown contact throughout the offseason program.

But he does want to see that kind of attitude even without actual contact on the practice field.

"We can't do that in OTAs; it's not a physical deal," Hafley said. "But how we train, how we run to the ball, how we move, how we attack it in the weight room, that has to be our mind-set in everything that we do.”

And that would become the "Miami Method."