What the Dolphins Defense Should Look Like Under Jeff Hafley

The Miami Dolphins have a new head coach, and it’s former Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.

We’ve already covered all the reasons Dolphins fans should be hopeful and fearful of Hafley’s tenure. We’d argue there’s more good than bad, but he’s certainly not a perfect candidate by any stretch.

That argument has been litigated in the court of public opinion, so we’re moving on to what the Dolphins might look like on the field with Hafley at the helm. Hafley’s defensive play-calling helped get him this job, and it would be a shocker if he let someone else do it in Miami.

Based on his two years with the Packers, let’s look at the defensive line structure, common coverages, and pressure habits Hafley is likely to use in Miami.

Of course, coaches can change their stripes in new places with new players, but the bones and core tenets of a scheme rarely change.

Dolphins Potential Defensive Line Structure Under Hafley

Hafley’s defense in Green Bay uses a 4-3 base and a lot of Wide-9. What does that mean? Well, that means four defensive linemen with three linebackers. Wide-9 is just a phrase for where the edges line up.

A 9-technique edge rusher lines up way outside of the tackle. This front was mostly popularized, in recent times, by Robert Saleh in San Francisco. Hafley overlapped with Saleh in San Francisco in 2017 and 2018.

Here’s a photo from the Packers’ Week 18 loss to the Vikings that’s a good example of how the defensive line will look in Miami. Again, note how wide the edges are lined up.

Packers defensive front vs. Minnesota Vikings | NFL Pro

The idea with a front like this is to be ultra-aggressive. The edges are allowed to pin their ears back and get after the passer, while the interior defensive linemen are asked to one-gap and get into the backfield.

This is different from a two-gapping scheme, which asks its defensive line to stack blocks, peek into the backfield, and then shed with good timing.

Under Hafley, the Dolphins’ interior players will be asked to get upfield and get into gaps, as opposed to covering two of them. On the edges, speed will be a premium, but the Packers also like to have bigger players there.

For a player like Chop Robinson, the idea of winning from the outside in a Wide-9 alignment makes a lot of sense, but he’s far from the Packers' usual prototype at the position.

Interior players like Kenneth Grant and Zach Sieler should benefit from the front’s attacking principles.

Dolphins Potential Coverage Schemes Under Hafley

Moving to the back end of the defense, let’s do a deep dive into what the team’s coverage could look like under Hafley.

At a basic level, it’s actually somewhat similar to what the Dolphins did under former defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver. Like Weaver, Hafley’s scheme majors in Cover-3.

The Packers ran Cover-3 on 36.1% and 37.7% of snaps the last two seasons. Here’s a look at their coverage tendencies across the last two seasons.

Coverage	2024%	2025%
Cover-1	16.5	13.7
Cover-2 (not 2-man)	20.2	13.1
Cover-3	36.1	37.7
Quarters	7.1	13.4
Cover-6	11.5	14.3
Cover-0	3.9	3.1

What Hafley’s defenses like to do is play Cover-3 pre-snap and rotate into two-high looks, like different Cover-2 variations and Quarters. One variation the Packers used a lot last season was inverted Cover-2, with a robber.

Basically, the premise is post-snap, the cornerbacks drop into the deep part of the field and are responsible for the deep halves. In traditional Cover-2, that’s the safeties’ job, hence the “inverted.”

The Packers like to do this and have a safety sit in the middle of the field to act as a robber for any intermediate crossers. This rep against the Commanders is a great example.

pic.twitter.com/KvH9JDvsra
— Dante Collinelli (@DanteCollinelli) January 20, 2026

The Packers show one-high safety before the snap (a Cover-3 look), but watch the two outside cornerbacks and the middle safety, Xavier McKinney. The corners drop back, and McKinney steps down.

Jayden Daniels made the Packers wrong on that rep, but here’s an example of it leading to an INT against Jared Goff.

pic.twitter.com/p4tUbD9eew
— Dante Collinelli (@DanteCollinelli) January 20, 2026

This time, the middle of the field safety (No. 33 Evan Williams) runs all the way down the front line of the zone to make the INT. But again, the corners drop out, and there’s a safety sitting in the middle of the field.

It ends up with the same coverage as the Commanders rep, but it’s a much more involved rotation. Either way, it confused Goff enough.

The other Cover-2 defense Dolphins fans should get familiar with is Tampa-2. This is a Cover-2 variation where a middle linebacker runs down the middle of the field with any vertical routes.

Here’s an example of Quay Walker (No. 7) “running the pole” against the Steelers and helping break up a pretty well-thrown pass.

pic.twitter.com/Lb8nnQEkon
— Dante Collinelli (@DanteCollinelli) January 20, 2026

There’s a bunch of other variations we could talk through, but the main takeaway is that Hafley likes to operate in Cover-3 and will disguise his coverages plenty.

What does this mean for Miami’s personnel? Well, athleticism will be at a premium at linebacker and safety. Green Bay’s linebackers were Walker and Edgerrin Cooper, two of the league’s fastest second-level players.

Green Bay spent top-50 picks on both, and their speed unlocked a lot of options for Hafley. As for safety, the team needs an instinctual ball hawk, like McKinney. The Packers don’t hand out many big contracts, but they did for McKinney.

Players like Minkah Fitzpatrick and Jordyn Brooks should be fine. Upgrading on Tyrel Dodson at LB would make sense, and the Dolphins need help at safety regardless of the scheme.

Dolphins’ Potential Pressure Plans Under Hafley

Last but not least, let’s look at how Hafley’s defenses like to get after the passer.

Again, we’ve got some parallels to Weaver’s scheme. Hafely isn’t big on traditional blitzing, as the Packers finished 27th in blitz (defense sends 5+ rushers) percentage this past season at 21.

What Hafley does like is simulated pressures. The idea is to show traditional blitz looks, with a lot of defenders on the line of scrimmage. However, post-snap, the defense only rushes four players, dropping the others into coverage.

This usually involves dropping a defensive lineman into coverage while a linebacker or secondary player blitzes.

Ideally, this allows the defense to test the offensive line and quarterback’s blitz plan, while maintaining seven defenders in coverage. It’s the best of both worlds, and it’s become the “it” way to generate pressure in the NFL.

Here are a few clips of the Packers using simulated pressures during the 2025 season.

pic.twitter.com/zAB03ZgN9K
— Dante Collinelli (@DanteCollinelli) January 20, 2026

What will be interesting is how much Hafley changes things without Micah Parsons. In Parsons, Hafley had a Hall of Fame chess piece he could move around the formation to basically create pressure at will.

In fact, it’s probably safe to assume we’ll see more simulated pressures from Hafley in Miami because he doesn’t have someone like Parsons who can win from any spot on any rush.

Either way, Hafley is in line with the modern approach to creating pressure.

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