Dolphins near end of general manager search. Decision coming soon.
In the wake of firing coach Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins were set to conduct interviews with three of their four general manager finalists on Thursday, with the hopes of making a hire as early as Friday.
The four who were invited to in-person interviews: 49ers director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams; Chargers assistant general manager Chad Alexander; Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan and Dolphins interim general manager Champ Kelly.
It will be the second interview for Sullivan and Williams, who met with the Dolphins on Zoom this week. It will be the first for Alexander and Kelly. Sullivan, Williams and Alexander were due to meet with the Dolphins on Thursday. Kelly had his interview on Wednesday.
All four have backgrounds in scouting and evaluation.
The four candidates who had Zoom interviews with the Dolphins on Monday or Tuesday but were not invited for in-person interviews were Eagles assistant GM Alec Halaby, 49ers VP of Player Personnel Tariq Ahmad, 49ers assistant general manage RJ Gillen and Rams assistant GM John McKay.
Three of the four finalists (Alexander, Sullivan and Williams) work for teams that are in the playoffs. The Dolphins would need written permission from those teams for any of them to begin working for the Dolphins while their teams are still alive in the playoffs.
Alexander was added to the GM list on Tuesday, hours before Baltimore fired John Harbaugh. The two worked together in Baltimore and have a good relationship. His hiring could offer tea leaves on the Dolphins’ pursuit of Harbaugh, which is expected to begin in earnest in the days ahead.
A quick look at the four finalists:
▪ Williams has had a diverse career, working in the finance industry on Wall Street and then spending 14 years with the 49ers. Now the team’s director of scouting and football operations, Williams previously worked as the team’s national scout in 2022 and 2023 after spending five years (2017-21) as an area scout.
In 2016, Williams was the team’s National Football Scouting representative. In his current role, Williams directs pro and college scouting efforts, supports player development, and assists in contract negotiations.
Williams and McDaniel are close, but that’s not an issue after McDaniel’s dismissal.
A former wide receiver at Columbia University, Williams worked in the finance industry in New York City as a business analyst of investment products at TD Ameritrade.
Williams, who grew up in Santa Rosa, Cal., graduated from St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco in 2005 and then earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Columbia in 2010.
▪ Sullivan is completing his 22nd year with the Packers and is known for having an eye for talent.
He was the first Packers official to put Mountain West Conference second teamer Jordan Love on Packers general manager Brian Gutenkunst’s radar, per SI.com’s Albert Breer.
“Jon-Eric Sullivan has proven himself an exceptional evaluator, a strong link between scouting and coaching and a valuable safety net for Gutekunst on anything in the draft or free agency,” Breer wrote.
“Sullivan’s been involved in the cap too, had a voice in the coaching search that landed Matt LaFleur and even has been looped in on things like player discipline and strength-and-conditioning.”
Sullivan is in his fourth season as the Packers’ vice president of player personnel. Promoted to his current role in July 2022, Sullivan previously served as co-director of player personnel for four seasons (2018-21) and for two seasons (2016-17) as the director of college scouting.
Sullivan joined the team’s football operations department in 2004
He played his junior and senior seasons (1998-99) as a wide receiver at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C.
Following his college football career, Sullivan served as a student-assistant receivers coach at Gardner-Webb for one season. He worked three years (2001-04) for GMAC’s sales and credit administration departments before joining the Packers’ staff.
His father, Jerry Sullivan, was a longtime NFL and college coach who retired in 2021 after more than 40 years of coaching.
▪ Kelly, who joined the Dolphins in April, has impressed the team with his handling of the roster since replacing dismissed general manager Chris Grier on an interim basis on Halloween.
He previously worked in the front offices of the Broncos, Bears and Raiders before the Dolphins hired him as senior personnel director eight months ago.
McDaniel has said that he has enjoyed working with Kelly.
Kelly previously served as interim GM of the Raiders and spent two years as the team’s assistant GM.
▪ Alexander spent 20 years working in personnel with the Ravens and then five years as the Jets’ player personnel director before joining the Chargers in May 2024.
His relationship with Harbaugh shouldn’t be understated. Alexander joined the Ravens in 1999 and worked as an area scout, pro scout and as a personnel assistant for the team.
He spent the final nine seasons as Baltimore’s assistant director of pro personnel.
Alexander played football at Wake Forest. His father, Hubbard Alexander won a pair of national titles (1983 and 1987) with the Miami Hurricanes before joining the Dallas Cowboy.
Hubbard Alexander, who passed away in 2016, was UM’s tight ends coach from 1979 to 1984 and wide receivers coach from 1985 to 1988.
“Chad Alexander’s scouting acumen was known a decade ago in Baltimore, where he was hidden under a deep roster of Ravens scouts,” SI.com’s Breer wrote earlier this year.
A source told the Miami Herald that six people who participated in interviews from the Dolphins side: owner Stephen Ross, team president Tom Garfinkel, Troy Aikman (the Hall of Fame quarterback who is consulting on the search), Dolphins executive and Hall of Famer Dan Marino, Brandon Shore (the team’s senior vice president of football and business administration) and Danny Sillman (Ross’ son-in-law and the CEO of Ross-owned Relevent, a commercial rights organization that buys/sells/activates media licensing rights for major sports leagues like La Liga).
After picking a GM immimently, the Dolphins are expected to begin interviewing coaching candidates, with Harbaugh at the top of the list for Dolphins, Giants and several other teams.
This story was originally published January 7, 2026 at 9:50 PM.
