The Miami Dolphins might be building Green Bay Packers South.
The Dolphins have found their next head coach, Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who has a tight connection with the new general manager Jon Eric-Sullivan from time together in Green Bay.
Hafley and the Dolphins are working on a deal to make him Miami’s coach, according to multiple national reports, after he rose to being deemed a front-runner for the job over the past weekend.
The Dolphins, as they completed their first round of interviews with other coaching candidates Monday, brought Hafley in as the first candidate to have a second interview. It all occurred as the Dolphins’ home venue adjacent to team facilities, Hard Rock Stadium, was hosting the College Football Playoffs National Championship game between the Miami Hurricanes and Indiana Hoosiers.
Hafley, 46, will become the Dolphins’ 12th head coach, not counting interim coaches. Counting interim coaches, he is the 15th.
He has been Packers defensive coordinator the past two seasons. In 2024, Green Bay was No. 5 in yards against and sixth in scoring defense. This past season, the team was 12th and 11th in those categories, respectively.
While Hafley is a first-time NFL head coach, he comes to Miami with previous head coaching experience — at the college level. He was Boston College coach from 2020 through 2023. He was 22-26 in those four seasons.
In the NFL, he has also been a defensive backs coach with the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was also Ohio State co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach in 2019 before he was at the helm at BC. Early in Hafley’s career, he coached defensive backs at Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Albany.
The Dolphins became the third NFL team this hiring cycle to secure their new coach. The New York Giants had already hired John Harbaugh and Atlanta Falcons secured Kevin Stefanski to fill their vacancy.
The void for Miami was there after owner Steve Ross fired former coach Mike McDaniel Jan. 8, four days after the team’s 2025 season finale. The next day, the Dolphins hired Sullivan, who came over from being vice president of player personnel to cap more than 20 years with the Packers in scouting and the front office.
Other candidates Hafley beat out for the job were 49ers defensive coordinator and ex-New Jets coach Robert Saleh, Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile, Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard. Miami also was interested in Harbaugh and Stefanski before they took other jobs.
Between interviewing Saleh, who is Arab-American and of Lebanese descent, and Graham and Sheppard, who are Black, the Dolphins satisfied the requirements of the NFL’s Rooney rule. Put in place to give minority candidates greater opportunities for high-leverage coaching roles, the rule named after longtime Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney requires at least two minority coaches to be interviewed.
Hafley will now be tasked with constructing a coaching staff.
He and Sullivan are expected to be introduced to the media in the coming days as the new coach-GM combination for the franchise.
Together, they will look to rebuild a Dolphins roster that has some building blocks in place but mostly needs to be developed through the draft.
Miami is likely bound to part ways with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, which would lead to a large dead cap hit the new tandem inherits.
This story will be updated.