Dolphins hiring former draft pick, college coach. And other staff notes
The Dolphins are adding a former draft pick from the college ranks to their staff.
Miami is hiring Ronnie Bradford, who spent the 2023 season as defensive coordinator and safeties coach at the University of Montana, to be their senior special teams assistant, a source confirmed to the Miami Herald.
The Dolphins drafted Bradford, 53, in the fourth round of the 1993 NFL Draft but he didn’t appear in a regular season game for the team. Miami cut Bradford before the start of the season. Bradford went on to have a 10-year career as a defensive back, playing for the Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings.
Bradford got his start in coaching as an assistant special teams coach for the Broncos in 2003. He was then promoted to special teams coordinator, a role he held for the next three seasons. In 2005, he overlapped with Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, who was a coaching intern.
Bradford coached defensive backs in Denver in 2007 and 2008 and then served as a defensive assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs for the next two seasons.
Since 2010, Bradford has coached in college, including stints with California, Louisiana Tech, USC and most recently Montana.
Bradford will coach alongside Danny Crossman, who is entering his sixth season as special teams coordinator. There was a vacancy for a special teams assistant with Brendan Farrell not returning to the staff.
ESPN first reported the Dolphins are hiring Bradford.
Meanwhile, the Dolphins updated their coaching page on their website, showing coaching additions that were previously reported and unknown.
Mathieu Araujo, who spent the last two seasons as an assistant defensive backs coach, has been promoted to cornerbacks coach.
Ryan Slowik, who coached outside linebackers last season, will now serve as the team’s defensive backs coach and pass game specialist.
Parks Frazier, Jonathan Krause and Roman Sapolu have also been added as offensive assistants. Frazier spent the 2023 season as the Carolina Panthers’ pass game coordinator. Krause was the wide receivers coach at San Diego State. And Sapolu was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Hawaii.
On the defensive side of the ball, Miami added Kynjee Cotton and Matthew O’Donnell as assistants. Cotton was a senior defensive assistant at LSU in the 2023 season. O’Donnell was an assistant at Brown, most recently serving as the defensive line coach. He overlapped with Weaver during a stint with the Houston Texans; O’Donnell was a defensive assistant when Weaver was the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach.
This story was originally published February 19, 2024 at 1:13 PM.
