11:10pm: The Dolphins have signed Hafley to a five-year deal, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The team has since announced the hire.
“Jeff is a man of integrity, intellect and great passion who players will buy into and play for,” Sullivan said. “He has a vision for the kind of team we will be and the ability to motivate them to move in one direction on the path towards that goal. I’m thrilled to go on this journey with him and together we will build a winner that this organization deserves.”
4:05pm: The Dolphins are close to naming a new head coach. They’re nearing an agreement with Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports.
Since their search for Mike McDaniel‘s replacement began over a week ago, the Dolphins interviewed 10 head coaching candidates. Hafley became the first member of the group to set up a second interview, and he emerged as a frontrunner for the job on Saturday. Two days later, Hafley is in position to secure his first NFL head coaching gig.
Hafley, who drew widespread interest across the league during this hiring cycle, had scheduled second meetings with the Raiders and Titans. The Cardinals also wanted to interview him again, per Albert Breer of SI.com.
The 46-year-old Hafley will instead head to Miami, where he has a key connection in rookie general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan. Hafley spent the past two seasons in Green Bay, where he worked with Sullivan. The Dolphins are the second NFL organization for Sullivan, who was a Packers employee from 2004-25.
Sullivan was a firsthand witness to Hafley’s impressive work with the Packers, who boasted quality defenses in both seasons under his leadership. The Packers ranked top 10 in points (sixth) and yards (fifth) in 2024. The unit was less successful this season (11th scoring and 12th in total defense), but losing Micah Parsons to a season-ending ACL tear in mid-December proved too much to overcome.
The Packers fizzled out after a 9-3-1 start in losing four straight games to end the regular season. The club then blew a 21-3 halftime lead to the Bears during a 31-27 loss in the wild-card round. Head coach Matt LaFleur will now work to find a replacement for Hafley.
A former Siena wide receiver, Hafley began his coaching career with Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2001. He served as a running backs coach that year, his lone season on the offensive side. Hafley was a college assistant on defensive staffs at Albany, Pittsburgh and Rutgers before jumping to the pros in 2012. He worked with defensive backs for the Buccaneers, Browns and 49ers through 2018, though Hafley went back to college as Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator and DBs coach the next season.
After a one-year stint with the Buckeyes, Hafley became a head coach for the first time at Boston College. The Eagles went 22-26 and played in two bowl games under Hafley from 2020-23. He then left for the Packers.
In exiting Green Bay for Miami, Hafley will become the Dolphins’ eighth straight first-time NFL head coach. They haven’t selected an experienced HC since Dave Wannstedt landed the role in 2000. The Dolphins’ most recent playoff win came during Wannstedt’s first season at the helm. They’ve gone to the postseason just five times since then, including twice during the McDaniel era.
Although McDaniel guided the Dolphins to playoff berths in each of his first two seasons at the controls, the team sputtered to a 15-19 mark from 2024-25. Owner Stephen Ross made a change after a 7-10 campaign in which McDaniel benched high-priced quarterback Tua Tagovailoa with three weeks left in the season. Seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers finished the year as Miami’s starting QB.
Picking Miami’s next head coach was the first major responsibility for Sullivan, who will cross off that task when Hafley’s agreement becomes official. Once Hafley assembles a staff, the Dolphins’ full attention will turn to their roster.
Whether to go forward with Tagovailoa will rank among the most important offseason decisions for the Dolphins’ new regime. Tagovailoa is open to a fresh start, which he could get under Hafley. Otherwise, cutting Tagovailoa would leave the Dolphins with a $99.2MM dead cap charge. That would likely make it more difficult for Hafley to lead a quick turnaround, but the Dolphins are confident they’ll right the ship under him.
Should have convinced Tomlin, Harbaugh, Minter, or Weaver and waited for Kubiak. Even McDermott could have been a good option. The Packers secondary looked like Keystone Cops at the end of the season.
Packers had a huge personnel problem in the corner group entering the year and it remained that way. Hafley isn’t the one who didn’t bring in any good outside corners.
The packers have below average corners, that was part of the problem at the end of the season the other part was losing parsons and an under achieving and inconsistent Gary
In all fairness, Lafleur and the coaches took Gary off the field alot this year even on 3rd down. I remember watching both Lions games with the Packers and he wasn’t on the field in some of the crucial spots. It was like they were trying to keep him from getting tired throughout the game
LaHafley …
That’s why I say, he was an under achiever and inconsistent. He’ll be released he won’t be back
Tomlin had his chance to build a contender here after the guys he inherited from Cowher slowly faded off into retirement. What he built was a mediocre franchise stuck in the mushy middle but lauded as “never had a losing season”
I’m not sure how any fan would want to bring him in to do an overhaul given his history. I guess too much reliance on national talking heads will do that for you
Intriguing hire. He’s shown some good stuff as a coordinator and has HC experience from college. People in the league seem to love him. Curious what he’ll look like as an NFL HC and who he’ll bring in as coordinators. Dolphins aren’t going to be an easy job over the next couple of years.
I think his history with the new GM makes them a potentially great team.
Could he convince Walker or Willis to come to Miami?
Willis has to
The various projections for how much money Willis is going to get in free agency is insane. No way the Dolphins can afford him.
Malik Willis?
Is the glass Hafley full, or Hafley empty?
Packers problem is Jordan Love ….not Halfley, keep watching, it’ll come to light soon, just like Stroud has shown he’s a poser , had folks fooled
Was it him? Or Micah? Really just asking the packers faithful
The good, Micah.
The “prevent” defenses when they had the lead in games was Hafley. His inability to make any changes at halftime the past 2 years was disastrous.
This was a BIG addition by subtraction for the Packers. THANK YOU MIAMI!!
No one good wants the job because Tua will have to play. They can move him, why have a sunk cost on bench?
Ten head coaching changes. What’s the over/under, one or two?
Too impatient to wait for Brian Flores?
lol
Please tell me this is a joke lol
The dude is currently suing them over his head coaching tenure there.
They are hiring Shula
Now what was that again
I like this move, but I don’t see him having immediate success when he’s stuck with Tua for at least another year or two due to the cap hit they’ll take if they cut him.
This is a lame duck hire if I’ve ever seen one. He will be fired after 2 seasons.
Great hire
The only Reason Hafley was selected to be the Head Coach is because of Jon-Eric Sullivan was also with Green Bay before being named the Dolphins General Manager nothing more & nothing less than that
Why not have just made a trade with GB for LaFleur? Do the Packers want him that much?
The seventh playoff seed was made for him.
A one and done? Probably not. But in two years/seasons the Dolphins will be looking again. Just my thoughts as a fan.
Really curious to see who they’re picking at 11 now
They desperately need a corner and maybe a safety.
But didnt the pAck have a bad defense?
No.
Good guy, likeable. But his BC teams were undisciplined and never ready at the start of games. Coaches get a lot of leash at BC, and the program had issues, but he had one more season at Chestnut Hill before he was fired. Fans were glad he left.
Seems like a guy who can figure it out though. Hope he can.
Maybe it’s because Pittsburgh winters have lost their appeal to me here or because it was below zero this morning, but I still say that if I were a true coach, a guy who could build a team from the ground up, from drafting, teaching, hiring good coaches around me, I can’t imagine a better place to be a head coach than Miami. And with five years to do it, it’s a no brainer
The Bills, Jets, and Dolphins are doing everything they can to make sure that New England has another decade-long run of AFC East titles.
Disagree. I think this was a great hire. They need a strong coach to right the ship defensively.
I think this was a great move. He led a really strong defense that got decimated by injuries and poor personnel decisions.
The Dolphins have absolutely no Clue what they are doing….. Terrible HC at BC…. Overrated DC in Green Bay. This guy will be fired either at the end of year 1 or by week 6 in year 2.