Dolphins head coach focused on offense, for now
Jeff Hafley is spending most of his time during these spring and summer Organized Team Activity days working with the offense, sitting in installation periods, and it’s intentional.
The Miami Dolphins’ first-year head coach openly admits he learned from the mistakes he has made in his past, likely referring to his stint as head coach at Boston College, and intends to not be viewed as a “defensive coordinator” who serves as a head coach.
As a result, he has Sean Duggan, his newly appointed defensive coordinator, leading all defensive meetings while he digests the offense, gaining a better understanding of that side of the team.
“Once training camp hits I’ll take [the defense] back over. [This] allows me to be the head coach right now and that’s huge,” Hafley told the Richard Sherman podcast, joining All-Pro cornerback and future Hall of Fame cornerback he coached for a 35-minute conversation that occurred after the NFL Draft.
“I’m sitting in the quarterback meetings. I’m sitting in the offensive installs. Because what I learned from this go around is I have to learn everything that’s going on. I can’t be the defensive coach,” Hafley continued. “I don’t want the players to see me as just the defensive coordinator. I want them to see me, and feel me as the head coach. And I want to know all of the scheme.”
That means Hafley has been spending a ton of his time with Bobby Slowik, Miami’s newly hired offensive coordinator, who is actually a holdover from Mike McDaniel’s staff, where he served as the Dolphins’ passing game coordinator..
Hafley and Slowik worked together in San Francisco, but they were on the defensive side of the ball back then (2017 and 2018), before Slowik shifted to the offensive side, learning under Kyle Shanahan, whom he worked under with the San Francisco 49ers.
Slowik had a controversial two-year tenure with Houston Texans, where called plays for C.J. Stroud in his first two seasons as offensive coordinator, the last of which led to his firing after the 2024 season, which fell short of Houston’s expectations.
McDaniel added Slowik with the belief he could help the passing game go to a higher level, but Miami ranked 25th in passing yards per game last season.
“You know him, he’s so smart. As a person, what a stud as a guy,” Hafley told Sherman of Slowik, whom he pointed out was one of the NFL’s fastest risers before his dismissal from Houston. “To have that on the other side, knowing how detailed he’s going to be, how organized he’s going to be. He’s been trained by one of the best playcallers in the last few years.”
Hafley is referring to Shanahan, whom he credits with Matt LaFleur for teaching him the finer points of leading a football team, not just a defensive room.
LaFleur also helped Hafley understand the importance of laying the foundation for the kind of culture you want your team to have.
“We’re going to be young. We have some really good pieces, don’t get me wrong. We have some vets on the team that are as good as players I’ve been around,” Hafely said, likely referring to De’Von Achane, Jordyn Brooks, Tyrel Dodson, Aaron Brewer, Austin Jackson and Zach Sieler. “They are awesome people and have good leadership qualities. But with that, we’ll probably be one of the youngest, if not the youngest team in the National Football League with all the rookies we are going to bring in.
“Will that be hard? Playing a lot of rookies is difficult at times. But in time, we get a chance to develop those players, teach them, and have them grow up,” Hafley said, likely referring to the team’s 13 draft picks, which will step on the Dolphins field for the first time on Friday when rookie minicamp opens. “Teach them the way we want to do things for the future. It’s going to be about the foundation and what we want it to look like.”
According to Hafley, judge his team based on how they handle adversity in 2026, and how they finish the season.
“We will go through adversity. It’s coming. You are either in it or it’s coming. It’s going to happen,” Hafley said about life in the NFL. “When you go through hard moments you have to have people you trust… When you go through the fire with people it’s nice to know what you’re dealing with.”
