Dolphins eye Hafley, bring in him and three others as coaching hire gets closer
The Dolphins summoned Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, the widely-reported leading candidate for their head coaching job, for an in-person meeting on Monday and will be able, under league rules, to hire him immediately, which ESPN says is now a real possibility.
Before hiring anyone, the Dolphins must comply with the league’s Rooney Rule, which requires that teams interview two external minority candidates in person. The Dolphins will satisfy that rule on Monday when they bring in Detroit defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard (per ESPN) and Las Vegas defensive coordinator Patrick Graham (per reporter Josina Anderson).
The Dolphins completed one interview on Sunday, with Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
The Dolphins were unable to fulfill the Rooney Rule to this point because the interviews to comply with the rule must be in person and nobody who is employed by an NFL team is permitted to interview in person before Monday. Teams that advance to the AFC and NFC championship cannot interview in person until Jan. 26.
The Dolphins could try to hire Hafley on Monday night in an effort to dissuade him from flying to Nashville for a scheduled Tuesday interview with the Tennessee Titans, who are also strongly considering him for their head coaching job.
That would be an approach similar to that taken by the Atlanta Falcons, who signed Kevin Stefanski as their head coach on Saturday night before he could do a second scheduled interview with the Dolphins.
Hafley is first confirmed candidate to get a second interview with the Dolphins.
NFL Network reported that Hafley is the “leading candidate” and “front-runner” for the Dolphins job and that he “blew everyone away” during his virtual interview with the Dolphins last week.
NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported Saturday night that hiring Hafley is a “key priority” for new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, who worked with Hafley in Green Bay.
An agent for another Dolphins coaching candidate said, in a Saturday text message, that the Dolphins have been zeroing in on Hafley.
The Dolphins also were scheduled to interview Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady on Sunday, per SI.com.
Hafley, 46, has been the Packers’ defensive coordinator for the past two seasons. His unit was largely effective in 2025 before squandering an 18-point lead in a playoff loss to Chicago; the Packers finished the regular season 12th in yards allowed per game at 112.8 and 11th in points permitted at 21.2 per game.
Before joining the Packers, Hafley spent four seasons serving as Boston College’s head coach, and compiled a 22-26 record, which included two winning seasons and two bowl game appearances.
Before his stint at BC, Hafley was the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State for one season, a defensive backs coach for the San Francisco 49ers (2016-18), Cleveland Browns (2014-15) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2012-13).
Hafley left Boston College after being hired by the Packers to replace Joe Barry, who served as Miami’s run game coordinator and inside linebacker coach the past two seasons.
Hafley - who grew up in New Jersey and was a wide receiver at Siena College - has drawn some level of interest from every NFL team with a head coaching opening.
If the Dolphins hire Hafley, it would mark the seventh consecutive time that the team hired a coach who had no NFL head coaching experience.
The Dolphins have employed a first time professional head coach in 21 years of their existence; they’ve missed the playoffs 17 of those years and lost a wild card playoff game in the other.
But there is an established blueprint for success with first-time head coaches who were defensive coordinators.
That’s playing out now in Seattle, where former Ravens defensive coordinator Mike MacDonald has guided a roster that was crafted by general manager John Schneider to a berth in the NFC Championship game.
The Dolphins so far have interviewed eight people for the job: Brady, Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, Stefanski, Hafley, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile.
The Dolphins wanted to interview former Ravens coach John Harbaugh, but he agreed to become coach of the New York Giants before meeting with any other team.
Though Sullivan has a background with former Packers Super Bowl-winning coach Mike McCarthy, there is no indication that Miami is pursuing him. The Steelers reportedly are bringing in McCarthy (who also has drawn interest from Tennessee) and Kubiak for in-person sessions.
More on the three Dolphins Sunday/Monday interviewees besides Hafley:
▪ Sheppard, 38, began his coaching career as director of player development at LSU in 2020 and then joined the Detroit Lions in 2021, initially coaching linebackers and then moving up to defensive coordinator this past season after Aaron Glenn left last winter to become head coach of the Jets. This season, the Lions were 18th in yards allowed per game at 331.9 and 22nd in points permitted at 24.3.
Sheppard, a former third-round pick of the Bills out of LSU, played linebacker in the league from 2011 through 2018 and made 14 starts for the Dolphins over two seasons (2014-15).
▪ Brady, who interviewed with the Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, was the Bills’ quarterbacks coach in 2022 and 2023 and replaced the dismissed Ken Dorsey as offensive coordinator midway through the 2023 season and was named permanent OC before the 2024 season.
Brady, 36, who was born in Hollywood and grew up in Pembroke Pines, was offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers in 2020 and 2021. Of the Dolphins’ 10 identified candidates scheduled for interviews, only two are offensive coordinators: Brady and Kubiak.
▪ Graham, 46, was the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator under Brian Flores in 2019 and held that job for the Giants in 2020 and 2021 and the Raiders since 2022.
Here’s our Sunday piece on how Sullivan plans to construct the roster, the decision-making hierarchy and the five core players that he identified in a chat with the team’s web site.
This story was originally published January 18, 2026 at 11:47 AM.
