The Miami Dolphins named a new head coach on Monday, unsurprisingly with Jeff Hafley taking over.
Hafley, 46, was considered an early favorite for the role due to his relationship with new Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan. The two spent the past two seasons together with the Green Bay Packers and will now reunite in Miami.
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The former Packers defensive coordinator emerged as the clear front-runner after “surprisingly surprising everyone” during a virtual interview with the Dolphins last week.
So who is the new head coach of the Dolphins? Here are six things you need to know about Jeff Hafley:
1. Hafley served as Boston College head coach for four years
The Dolphins interviewed 10 people for the coaching vacancy before landing Hafley. Two of them have NFL head coaching experience: Robert Saleh and Kevin Stefanski. Seven of them serve as offensive or defensive coordinators but have never been a head coach before.
Hafley is somewhere in between. Hafley led the Boston College Eagles for four seasons when the Dolphins offered him his first NFL head coaching job.
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How successful that period was depends on who you ask. The team’s 22-26 record during Hafley’s tenure was not impressive. But BC was never really the dominant force. Hafley’s last game with the Eagles was a 23-14 victory in the 2023 Fenway Bowl, one of the program’s only two bowl victories in the past 18 years.
Former Penn State and Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien coaches BC and led the team to a 2-10 record last season.
2. Hafley reportedly a finalist for other head coaching job
If the Dolphins don’t hire Hafley, it seems unlikely that he will end this year’s coaching rotation without a head coaching job.
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According to one report, Hafley is a “possible finalist everywhere he’s interviewed,” including the Titans, Raiders, Steelers, Cardinals and Browns. Both Tennessee and Las Vegas scheduled second interviews with the coach before Miami reached a deal that prevented him from participating in those meetings.
3. Hafley spent most of his career coaching defensive backs
Hafley spent more than a decade as a defensive backs coach before joining the Packers and Boston College. He has served in that role on the coaching staffs of Ohio State, Rutgers and Pittsburgh, as well as the San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“His preparation is the best I’ve ever seen,” former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman said of Hafley during his time with the 49ers in 2018. “I’ve had some great defensive backs coaches, great defensive coaches, and he’s one of them. With his preparation, how he breaks down film, how easy and simple he makes the game plan sound. How easy he makes it for people to understand. He paints a really good picture of what you’re going to see and then it’s just execution.”
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Against the Dolphins secondary in 2025, opposing quarterbacks had a passer rating of 105.3, which ranked fourth in the NFL. The Miami Heat are allowing opponents to complete 72 percent of their passes, the highest turnover rate of any defense in the past seven NFL seasons.
4. Dolphins want a coach who can develop young talent
No team has drafted fewer players over the past four years than the Dolphins. Miami has made just three selections in the top 50 picks during this period. The result is a roster without many long-term cornerstones.
The Dolphins’ plan to correct this, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, is to hire a new general manager who believes in building through the draft first and a coach who can develop young talent into a core. That’s how the team found the duo of Sullivan and Hafley.
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5. The 2025 Packers defense will be elite through the end of the year
After ranking fifth in yards allowed and sixth in points allowed in 2024, the Packers’ defense entered the 2025 season with high expectations. Those expectations skyrocketed when Green Bay acquired Micah Parsons before the start of the regular season.
For two-thirds of the year, the Packers lived up to expectations.
The Packers gave up just 18.4 points and 278.7 yards per game through the first 12 weeks, both of which ranked in the top five in the NFL.
“I think we have one of the best defenses in the league, if not the best; the talent we have,” Packers safety Xavier McKinney said in late November. “We have a great DC (Jeff Hafley). … Great DC, great players all coming together and looking great.”
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But the Packers were plagued by injuries, including a torn ACL, which ended Parsons’ season. Green Bay allowed an average of 372.5 yards over the final six weeks of the regular season, ranking 12th in yards allowed. In a playoff loss to the Chicago Bears, the Packers defense gave up a season-high 445 yards.
6. Micah Parsons Sad to see him go
The star pass rusher only spent one season with Hafley in Green Bay, but it’s safe to say the coach made a good impression on Parsons. After the season, the five-time Pro Bowler dismissed the possibility that his defensive coordinator might go elsewhere.
But when Hafley was announced as the Dolphins’ new head coach, Parsons was quick to chime in.
Parsons had 12.5 sacks in 14 games last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury.
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This article originally appeared on Dolphins Wire: 6 things to know about new Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley