Identifying Some Potential Coordinator (or Assistant) Candidates

The Miami Dolphins have their new head coach with Jeff Hafley, and the next order of business will be filling out his staff.

Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley on the field during Green Bay Packers Family Night on Aug. 2, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. | Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Now that the Miami Dolphins have made Jeff Hafley the 12th head coach in franchise history, the next set of dominoes will be who will make up his staff.

More specifically and more importantly, who will end up serving as the offensive and defensive coordinators — and, to a lesser degree, special teams coordinator — for the 2026 season.

Being that the Dolphins look like an organization looking for a fresh start and looking to start with a clean slate, whatever cliché you want to use, it's probably likely that those coordinators will be filled from the outside, though we know better than to eliminate the possibility.

As we try to identify potential candidates for those two important positions, it's always logical to look at coaches with a connection to Hafley, along with those with ties to the Green Bay Packers, where Hafley coached the past two years and new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan worked for two decades.

POTENTIAL OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR CANDIDATES

Sean Mannion, Green Bay Packers — A former NFL quarterback, Mannion spent the past two seasons with Hafley on the Packers coaching staff, as offensive assistant in 2024 and then quarterbacks coach this past season. A third-round pick of the St. Louis Rams in 2015, Mannion spent most of his playing career on practice squads.

Adam Stenavich, Green Bay Packers — Stenavich is the current Packers offensive coordinator, but it's head coach Matt LaFleur who calls the plays, and therefore the Dolphins could hire him because it would be considered a promotion (lateral moves are not allowed for coaches under contract unless permission is granted by their team). Stenavich not only worked with Hafley in Green Bay, but also with the San Francisco 49ers in 2017-18.

Brian Angelichio, Minnesota Vikings — The tight ends coach/passing game coordinator for the Vikings worked on the same coaching staff as Hafley for 10 consecutive years from 2006-15 at two different stops in college, the University of Pittsburgh (under former Dolphins head coach Dave Wannstedt) from 2006-10, and at Rutgers in 2011, and then in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2012-13) and Cleveland Browns (2014-15).

Bobby Slowik, Miami Dolphins — This is one in-house candidate who makes sense on a lot of levels. He has experience as an offensive coordinator, having served in that role with the Houston Texans before joining the Dolphins last year. Slowik also was an assistant with the San Francisco 49ers with Hafley in the 2017-18 seasons. Slowik will be getting an interview for the open OC job with the Philadelphia Eagles, but maybe Hafley wants to keep him around.

POTENTIAL DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR CANDIDATES

Tem Lukabu, Jacksonville Jaguars — The linebackers coach also has an extensive history with Hafley at several different stops. The two coaches together at Rutgers in 2011, with the Buccaneers in 2012-13, with the 49ers in 2016-17, and most recently and most importantly at Boston College from 2020-22, when Hafley was the head coach, and Lukabu was his defensive coordinator.

Sean Duggan, Green Bay Packers — This is somebody who has been with Hafley for the past seven years, first at Ohio State in 2019, then at Boston College, where he served as Hafley's co-defensive coordinator in 2023, and then the past two years as Packers linebackers coach.

Ryan Downard, Green Bay Packers — The bulk of Hafley's coaching career has been spent as a defensive backs coach, and that's the role Downard handled for the Packers. There's a prior connection with Hafley as well, with the two part of the Cleveland Browns coaching staff in 2014-15 when Downard was a defensive assistant and Hafley was DB coach.