What to Know About Dolphins New GM Jon-Eric Sullivan

One day after firing head coach Mike McDaniel, the Miami Dolphins general manager search has come to its end.

The Dolphins are hiring Green Bay Packers’ VP of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan to be the team’s new general manager, according to multiple national reports Friday. Sullivan will replace Chris Grier, who was fired on Halloween after spending 25 seasons with the team, including nine as the general manager.

Sullivan had an in-person meeting with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and the rest of the hiring committee Thursday, beating out other candidates including Chargers assistant GM Chad Alexander, 49ers director of scouting and football operations Joshua Williams, and Dolphins interim GM Champ Kelly.

Background on New Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan

So what do you need to know about the Dolphins new general manager? Quite a lot actually.

For starters, Sullivan has worked in the Packers’ front office since 2003 when he was a training camp intern under then general manager John Dorsey. Sullivan worked his way up the scouting ranks holding titles like regional scout, director of college scouting, and co-director of player personnel before earning his VP title.

During that time, Sullivan has worked with and under some impressive names. Just a few to be around during Sullivan’s time with the Packers are current Seahawks GM John Schneider, Packers GM Brian Gutekunst, and high-ranking Patriots executive Alonzo Highsmith.

Of course, the entire GM tree was built by the legendary Ron Wolf, who was the Packers GM during the 1990s. That’s a pretty good group of minds to learn from, and the longstanding success for the Packers is something that has eluded Miami for roughly two decades.

After the 2025 draft, Gutekunst had a pretty eye-opening quote about Sullivan after knocking on wood when he was asked about Sullivan continuing to be with the team.

"Yeah, Jon-Eric’s a huge part of our process," Gutekunst said. "Certainly someone that I’ve worked with for a very long time and leaned on for a lot of things. He’s absolutely 100 percent ready to run his own show and I think that time’s coming. We’ll enjoy every minute we have with him. If he’s here for as long as I’m here, that’s great. But it’s kind of like, I want to see all these guys on our staff get these kind of opportunities."

If you’re looking for a connection to the Dolphins, Sullivan actually does have one. His father, Jerry, coached in the NFL from 1992 to 2016, and one of his stops was as the Miami Dolphins receiver coach in 2004.

Sullivan’s philosophy is pretty simple: he wants to build through the draft. He did an interview on the official Packers YouTube page two years ago, and he outlined his priorities pretty thoroughly.

“I’ve always been taught the draft is your lifeblood, if you will,” Sullivan said. “You build through the draft. It’s a young man’s game. You want to make sure you’re acquiring young, talented players that fit your culture. I think you supplement through free agency.”

It should be noted that the Dolphins are slated to have five top-100 picks in the upcoming draft and will select 11th in the first round.

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