Troy Aikman’s thoughts on Hafley, Sullivan and his involvement in Dolphin search
Now two weeks removed from his month-plus “temp job” with the Dolphins, ESPN analyst and Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman indicated Tuesday that he feels strongly that the franchise emerged from its general manager and head coach search with two highly skilled people.
“They’ve got an outstanding head coach, outstanding general manager,” Aikman said of Jeff Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan, in an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show.
Aikman -- who began working for the Dolphins in mid-December as a consultant in their GM search and later agreed to stay on in their search for a coach -- agreed with Eisen that Hafley displays emotional intelligence.
“In broadcasting, obviously I’ve been doing this a long time -- 25 years,” Aikman said. “There have been coaches who when I’ve had production meetings with them, who I didn’t know, and as soon as I meet them, I’ve said ‘Wow, this guy’s not going to be a coordinator long. He’s going to be a head coach real soon!’
“I thought Mike Vrabel was that guy. I thought DeMeco Ryans was that guy. And I’ll tell you, I felt that way about Jeff Hafley a year ago, back in ’24, when we first did the Packers.
“Our first production meeting with Jeff, I remember saying to our crew ‘this guy’s going to be a head coach real soon.’ And he already had been in college. I believe he checks all the boxes, I really do.”
Aikman said his involvement in the Dolphins’ two searches was a “great experience for me. Loved getting to know Mr. [owner Stephen] Ross, his family, Danny Sillman, Tom Garfinkel, who I had a history with already in other businesses, Danny Marino, Brandon Shore.”
He said “when I was playing, every franchise quarterback feels they would have success being involved in a front office. For me, it didn’t work out for personal reasons and I went the broadcasting route. I figured the time had passed for me.
“Then I got a call out of nowhere from the Dolphins and they were looking for somebody who could help them. They reached out to a number of people, my name apparently kept emerging. And they reached out and asked if I could help them.”
Jimmy Johnson told me that he was among those who recommended Aikman to the Dolphins.
“My first concern was I’ve always been asked about coaches, never been asked about general mangers,” Aikman said. “I wanted to be sure I could give them what they were hoping I could. I talked to some people, did some homework, reached out to some folks. “Not only did I think I could help them, but I became very confident I could help them a lot. I decided to do it.”
After Sullivan was hired, the Dolphins “asked if I would stay on with coaching search. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We were very detailed. We interviewed a lot of people.”
Aikman enjoyed his Dolphins experience so much that he stayed in South Florida an additional three days after Hafley’s hiring in order to attend the news conference for Hafley and Sullivan.
“I feel good they hired two really outstanding individuals that will do well. Time will answer that question.”
