Why Tabor Was the Choice for Special Teams And What to Expect

There is some good news and bad news regarding the new Miami Dolphins special teams coordinator

New Miami Dolphins special teams coordinator Chris Tabor speaks to the media during his introductory press conference. | Alain Poupart/Miami Dolphins On SI

Chris Tabor stood out among the three coordinators the Miami Dolphins introduced in a press conference Wednesday.

At 54, the new special teams coordinator is considerably older than his counterparts on offense (Bobby Slowik, 38)) and defense (Sean Duggan, 32). His relationship with new head coach Jeff Hafley also is a bit different in that they worked together only one year, and that was 12 years ago as colleagues on the Cleveland Browns coaching staff.

We'll get back to his background in a minute because what matters most right now and moving forward is the kind of results Tabor can help produce in Miami.

In that regard, there is some good news and bad news as we try to project the Dolphins special teams under Tabor.

The good news is he's a coach that's held in high regard.

When the NFLPA conducted a survey of players during the 2023 season while Tabor was the special teams coordinator for the Carolina Panthers (he also finished that season as interim head coach), Tabor came in second among his peers behind only John Fassel of the Dallas Cowboys. Longtime Dolphins assistant Darren Rizzi was fifth in that survey.

The Dolphins have become the fifth team to employ Tabor as special teams coordinator, which suggests he obviously knows what he's doing.

The flip side, though, is the sheer numbers haven't necessarily been overly impressive, judging by the famous annual Rick Gosselin special teams rankings, which the former Dallas sportswriter began in the 1980s and stopped after the 2023 season.

The rankings evaluate each team's finish in 32 different special teams categories.

Before his one-year stint with the Buffalo Bills in 2025, Tabor spent 12 seasons as a special teams coordinator for Cleveland, Chicago and Carolina, and his unit finished in the top three times but 25th or worse five times. The average ranking was 20.6, which would place Tabor's groups in the bottom half of the league.

The positive aspect of those rankings is that the three top 10 finishes came recently, in 2020, 2021 and 2022 when Tabor's units achieved a high of fourth for the Carolina Panthers.

There was no Gosselin ranking in 2025, but we can identify these Buffalo special teams rankings:
• 4th in kickoff return average
• 7th in punt return average allowed
• 8th in field goal percentage
•17th in kickoff return average allowed
• 20th in net punting average
• tied for 21st in punts inside the 20
• tied for 29th in gross punting average
• 29th in punt return average

THE HAFLEY-TABOR RELATIONSHIP

Tabor replaced Craig Aukerman, who arrived in 2025 to replace Danny Crossman, who had held the position for six years.

The relationship between Hafley and Tabor began in 2014 when both were part of that star-studded Cleveland coaching staff that included Kyle Shanahan, Mike McDaniel, Anthony Weaver, Aaron Glenn, former Dolphins offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, and new Pittsburgh Steelers OC Brian Angelichio.

“That was a heck of a staff because Tabor was part of that one, too," said Hafley, who was the DB coach for the Browns in 2014 and 2015. "I had a ton of respect for him. The way he was — because I would sit in those special teams rooms as a young coach to try to learn everything that I possibly could — the way he commanded the room and the way he held them accountable, yet off the field, the way he could joke with them and have fun with them, I view that as a really important hire because he's got the whole team in there. It's not just the offense and the defense, he's got everybody in there, so he's going to be a big voice. I think he's going to be able to help me as well through his experiences, so when we found out he was available, I was like, ‘Well, forget everybody else I had on my list. This is the guy. He's one of the best in all of the business, and he's one of the most respected.’ That, in my opinion, was so fortunate that he's able to join us."

Tabor, for his part, indicated that he and Hafley keep in touch through the years after Hafley left Cleveland in 2016 to join the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff.

“You know, people say, ‘Well man, you knew you knew Haf,’ and I say, ‘Yeah, but the relationship from Cleveland, it grew,’ " Tabor said. "Kind of a little bit like what we talked about players, I can remember texting him just even when he was at Boston College, ‘Hey, good luck,’ and just following his career. Then at the Combine, once again you have some laughs, but you're talking about everything but football. I think that's where our relationship really grew. I obviously think that he's a great human being, great dad, great family man, and those things just resonated with me. I'm just glad that I have the opportunity to be here.”