The Big Questions Regarding the Hafley Hiring

The Miami Dolphins reportedly have tabbed Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley as their new head coach

Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is shown before their preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks Saturday, August 23, 2025 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Well, that didn't take long.

The Miami Dolphins have their new head coach in former Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, and the reports from national media outlets started surfacing about 10 minutes after the team announced he had completed his in-person interview.

This came after the Dolphins announced the completion of two other candidates, Kelvin Sheppard and Patrick Graham.

Hafley, though, was the only candidate who got a second interview, and those of Sheppard and Graham helped the Dolphins comply with the Rooney Rule requirement of at least two in-person interviews of minority candidates for a head coach opening.

Given those facts, it's not a stretch in the remotest to suggest — or even say — that Hafley was the Dolphins' man all along.

And it's also fair to wonder whether it basically became Hafley's job the moment the Dolphins hired fellow former Packers employee Jon-Eric Sullivan as their general manager.

While this isn't something the Dolphins ever would admit, it's almost impossible to ignore, particularly when we consider Sullivan's comment during his in-house interview with the team website Sunday when he stressed teamwork in the decision-making process (with the understanding he has final say when it comes to personnel).

Yes, the Dolphins did wind up interviewing 10 candidates and did express some interest in former Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, but was this really ever much of a contest?

And is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Those are among the questions that are fair game in light of the big news.

WAS ANOTHER FIRST-TIME NFL HEAD COACH THE RIGHT MOVE?

By all accounts, Hafley was a highly respected candidate around the league, but the reality is no one can predict what kind of NFL head coach he'll become because he's never done it and that means no point of reference.

On the flip side, we do have historical precedent with the Dolphins and first-time NFL head coaches, and what the record shows is not one single playoff win.

Since Dave Wannstedt was fired nine games into the 2004 season, the Dolphins' head coaches (not including interim coaches) have been Nick Saban, Cam Cameron, Tony Sparano, Joe Philbin, Adam Gase, Brian Flores and Mike McDaniel, all of them first-time NFL head coaches.

Not one of them led the Dolphins to a playoff win and only Sparano, Gase and McDaniel (twice) even got the Dolphins simply to the postseason.

So there was an argument to be made for the Dolphins trying something different this time.

But the flip side is a quick look around the NFL, where a whopping six of the eight head coaches in the divisional round are on their first job — Mike Macdonald, Sean McVay, Sean McDermott, DeMeco Ryans, Ben Johnson and Kyle Shanahan.

All of them managed a playoff victory this year, so the Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans, Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers clearly nailed their hires with those first-team head coaches.

Who's to say the Dolphins didn't do the same with Hafley?

WAS DEFENSE THE RIGHT CALL?

The Dolphins are continuing their rotation of going with head coaches with an offensive and defensive background.

McDaniel was an offensive coach and he followed the defensive-minded Flores, who followed the offense-oriented Gase.

There was some minor success with all three, though obviously not enough.

And going back again to the eight head coaches in the divisional round of the playoff this year, we have an exact split down the middle with four offensive-minded coaches (Sean Payton, Johnson, Shanahan and McVay) and four with a defensive background (Mike Vrabel, McDermott, Macdonald and Ryans).

Again, Hafley having a defensive background won't be the determining factor in whether he'll become a great coach for the Dolphins.

From an historical perspective, Don Shula was a defensive back as a player and then a defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions before he became a head coach. Jimmy Johnson was an offensive lineman at Arkansas, but his coaching career began on defense before he became a head coach. And Dave Wannstedt, the last Dolphins head coach to win a playoff game, also was a defensive coach.

So maybe this was the way to go.