In listening to Coach Haf’s presser, talking about what he envisions in his 1st contract, I extrapolate it here:

● Shared Vision: Hafley highlighted the tight alignment between Kyle Shanahan & John Lynch when they took over San Francisco in 2017.

● Sticking to the Process: He noted how Shanahan didn’t flinch during tough early years (like an 0-9 start) & held everyone to a high standard.

● Replicating in Miami: Hafley wants to emulate that exact locked-in partnership with Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan (Sully).

Early-Stage Parallels (so far)

● Inexperience: The current Dolphins roster is relying heavily on rookies & young players.

● Growing Pains: Hafley acknowledges that turning the culture around takes patience, similar to San Fran’s multi-year build, before reaching the Super Bowl in the third year.

Here’s Hafley as he reflected on his time with his former team in full below:

“I’ve kind of mentioned this before, and this was the biggest lasting impression for me as a younger coach when I left the Niners. John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan coming in together, being aligned, it kind of sent a message to me if I ever get a chance to do this, I want it to be like that, I want it to be somebody that I’m aligned with,” Hafley said. “When I came in and John Lynch, who, one of the best football players, a Hall=of-Fame football player, but you want to talk about a good guy? He’s one of the best human beings of all time. Combine that with Kyle, I just think it’s such a great fit. And remember, we were 0-9. Kyle’s first season. I’m there, we started off 0-9, we won a bunch of games. And next year, I think we won four or five games. In year three, they went to the Super Bowl. So he had a process.

“And Kyle’s a huge influence on me, and I truly believe he’s one of the reasons that I’m here right now. A great coach, great friend, but I’ve learned so much from him. And seeing him stick to the process and hold people to a standard during two really hard years and building it the right way and not flinching, and him and John just being like this (clasps hands together). I think that has stuck with me. And that’s, you look at us now, I’m not saying by any means that we’re going to start that way, but Sully and I together, trying to build this thing the right way, Kyle kind of gave me the blueprint for that.” ~Coach Haf