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From his interview with Peter Schrager,among others, some very interesting tidbits...this was posted in Barry Jacksons article. I loved the part about having hard, physical practices as that will be a welcome relief from McD's Club Med practices:
New Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley has been doing interviews with select national reporters, among others, since his initial news conference last week. The 10 most notable things he said and what’s to be taken from those comments:
▪ Hafley indicated to SI.com’s Albert Breer that the Dolphins will keep running an iteration of the offensive system associated with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and utilized by Mike McDaniel during his four seasons in Miami. The offense won’t necessarily be exactly the same, but key elements and principles of it will be utilized under new offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who was the Dolphins’ pass game coordinator last season and the Texans’ offensive coordinator in 2023 and 2024. Hafley likes that this offensive system presents looks that create challenges for defenses on multiple fronts. “Everything is set up. Everything is set up,” Hafley said of this offensive approach. “And the plays all play off of each other. So you run this, and it sets up a play pass off of it. You run this, and it sets up a keeper off of it. You run this, and it sets up a screen off of it. And the formations and the balance of the run in the pass game, the play-action pass game, they do such a good job of creating. “Like the way I look at it, think about defenses in terms of levels. Like Level 1 at the line of scrimmage, Level 2, your linebackers, Level 3, your safeties. It creates a huge separation between the second and third levels, and it creates holes because the run action gets the backers down. And then there’s a huge separation between your linebackers and your secondary, and that’s where they hit plays that lead to explosives.” Hafley became familiar with Slowik when they worked together on defense with the 49ers in 2017 and 2018. “I got a really good working relationship with Bobby — brilliant mind, incredible human,” Hafley said. “And then I leave to go to Ohio State, and Kyle steals him to go on offense, which I’m guessing was Kyle’s plan the whole time. Bobby is Kyle’s type of guy. Fast processing, highly, highly intelligent.” Hafley told Schrager that Slowik was on his list to hire even if Hafley had taken a head coaching job with another team.
▪ This Dolphins rebuild is not going to be an intentional tank. But we now have all been warned that it could take some time. “Honestly? Is this going to take a little bit of time? Sure,” Hafley told ESPN’s Peter Schrager. “This isn’t going to be like ‘we’re going to sit here and rebuild and reset and not try to win games?’ No! Everything we do is to try to win every single game we play. We want to build this foundation the right way and have it sustained. It just might take a little time.”
▪ The Dolphins already have discussed what to do with Tua Tagovailoa. And while it would be very surprising if he returns next season, it’s not something that will be disclosed publicly by the organization in the days ahead. “There has to be a plan,” Hafley said to Schrager. “Have we had conversations? Yes. I would be lying to you if I told you I had no plan. Can I tell you what that plan is? No.” This will be new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan’s decision, but Hafley said his voice will be heard in that decision.
▪ Hafley said he knows he’s parting ways with some good coaches, but that’s inevitable because “you have guys who know your scheme and want to bring along.” So far, there has been one confirmed addition from the Green Bay staff (defensive backs coach Ryan Downard). Another, Packers linebackers coach Sean Duggan, will join Miami’s staff, possibly as defensive coordinator, according the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Brian Duker, the Dolphins’ 2025 secondary coach, was hired as the Jets defensive coordinator on Wednesday.
▪ When Hafley and Sullivan look at tape from the fourth-quarter of blowout losses to Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and New England, players who aren’t giving full effort will immediately be viewed skeptically by the new regime. Hafley told Schrager: ”I want smart, tough, players who are instinctive and that you can count on. And I want guys that are going to buy into the whole element of ‘team’ and loving his teammates. “Sully and I talk about it all the time: You want to find a guy who loves football… Turn on the tape and see how hard he plays. Turn the tape on in the fourth quarter and see if he’s straining on both sides of the ball. Go to the last game of the season, when they’re not in a bowl game or they’re not in the playoffs, and see how hard he’s still playing. Those are the things that are important to me.”
▪ If the Dolphins continue to be considered “soft,” Hafley will know he will have failed in that aspect of his blueprint. “That’s exactly the opposite of when I close my eyes and picture what it’s going to look like,” Hafley said when reminded by Schrager that the Dolphins repeatedly have been called soft. “After we play a team, I want them to know they were just in a battle and it hurt. There’s one thing talking about it. And the other thing is doing. It starts April 6, when the players get here. I will do everything in my power to make sure nobody ever says that again.” He envisions the Dolphins becoming “the hardest, toughest playing team, the most physical team.” To that end, Hafley told WQAM’s Joe Rose that he will regularly have “really hard, physical practices.” That’s something of a shift from the previous regime.
▪ He offered a window into his strategic inclinations in a chat with Rich Eisen: Offensively, “I like boots, screens, motion to create leverage. It will come down to the pieces we have and what can we do best. You’ve got to get a guy who takes the players he has and adapt the offense in your philosophy. “If a quarterback can play under center, great. If not, we’ll get creative and play out of the gun more. As a defensive guy, I want some to hunt explosives. Everything I do on defense is to eliminate explosives.”
▪ Hafley has a deep appreciation for the Dolphins’ history. “Growing up, playing video games, using [Dan] Marino to [Mark] Clayton and [Mark] Duper, Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor,” Hafley told Schrager. “I pass Dan’s office every day, and I’m like ‘Dude are you kidding me?’ “If you grew up loving football, Miami is one of the first teams that comes to your mind. That is what this city deserves. This is a historically storied franchise that deserves a winner… We need to erase that 25 years of non-playoff games.” He also made a point to cite some of the good things accomplished in recent years, without specifying anyone by name. The Dolphins had the league’s best passing offense in 2022.
▪ Hafley is not going to let it slide when players violate rules. “You’ve got to put the team first in everything that you do,” Hafley told Joe Rose. “And if you’re not, you’re going to struggle with me. No excuses and no explanations. I don’t want to hear it. The rules are going to be simple. They’re going to be laid out, and when you don’t follow them, you’re going to be held accountable.”
▪ We learned random stuff: He likes peanut butter… He got his first NFL job with Tampa Bay, when Greg Schiano took him to the Buccaneers from Rutgers in 2012, after Schiano left him speechless by canceling a recruiting visit so that both could get haircuts, without telling him the reason …. Hafley said his coaching experience at Boston College not only taught him what to do differently, but also lifted his self-assuredness in his first NFL head coaching job. “Have way more confidence. Way less uneasiness,” he told Scharger.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article314484017.html#storylink=cpy
New Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley has been doing interviews with select national reporters, among others, since his initial news conference last week. The 10 most notable things he said and what’s to be taken from those comments:
▪ Hafley indicated to SI.com’s Albert Breer that the Dolphins will keep running an iteration of the offensive system associated with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan and utilized by Mike McDaniel during his four seasons in Miami. The offense won’t necessarily be exactly the same, but key elements and principles of it will be utilized under new offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who was the Dolphins’ pass game coordinator last season and the Texans’ offensive coordinator in 2023 and 2024. Hafley likes that this offensive system presents looks that create challenges for defenses on multiple fronts. “Everything is set up. Everything is set up,” Hafley said of this offensive approach. “And the plays all play off of each other. So you run this, and it sets up a play pass off of it. You run this, and it sets up a keeper off of it. You run this, and it sets up a screen off of it. And the formations and the balance of the run in the pass game, the play-action pass game, they do such a good job of creating. “Like the way I look at it, think about defenses in terms of levels. Like Level 1 at the line of scrimmage, Level 2, your linebackers, Level 3, your safeties. It creates a huge separation between the second and third levels, and it creates holes because the run action gets the backers down. And then there’s a huge separation between your linebackers and your secondary, and that’s where they hit plays that lead to explosives.” Hafley became familiar with Slowik when they worked together on defense with the 49ers in 2017 and 2018. “I got a really good working relationship with Bobby — brilliant mind, incredible human,” Hafley said. “And then I leave to go to Ohio State, and Kyle steals him to go on offense, which I’m guessing was Kyle’s plan the whole time. Bobby is Kyle’s type of guy. Fast processing, highly, highly intelligent.” Hafley told Schrager that Slowik was on his list to hire even if Hafley had taken a head coaching job with another team.
▪ This Dolphins rebuild is not going to be an intentional tank. But we now have all been warned that it could take some time. “Honestly? Is this going to take a little bit of time? Sure,” Hafley told ESPN’s Peter Schrager. “This isn’t going to be like ‘we’re going to sit here and rebuild and reset and not try to win games?’ No! Everything we do is to try to win every single game we play. We want to build this foundation the right way and have it sustained. It just might take a little time.”
▪ The Dolphins already have discussed what to do with Tua Tagovailoa. And while it would be very surprising if he returns next season, it’s not something that will be disclosed publicly by the organization in the days ahead. “There has to be a plan,” Hafley said to Schrager. “Have we had conversations? Yes. I would be lying to you if I told you I had no plan. Can I tell you what that plan is? No.” This will be new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan’s decision, but Hafley said his voice will be heard in that decision.
▪ Hafley said he knows he’s parting ways with some good coaches, but that’s inevitable because “you have guys who know your scheme and want to bring along.” So far, there has been one confirmed addition from the Green Bay staff (defensive backs coach Ryan Downard). Another, Packers linebackers coach Sean Duggan, will join Miami’s staff, possibly as defensive coordinator, according the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Brian Duker, the Dolphins’ 2025 secondary coach, was hired as the Jets defensive coordinator on Wednesday.
▪ When Hafley and Sullivan look at tape from the fourth-quarter of blowout losses to Indianapolis, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and New England, players who aren’t giving full effort will immediately be viewed skeptically by the new regime. Hafley told Schrager: ”I want smart, tough, players who are instinctive and that you can count on. And I want guys that are going to buy into the whole element of ‘team’ and loving his teammates. “Sully and I talk about it all the time: You want to find a guy who loves football… Turn on the tape and see how hard he plays. Turn the tape on in the fourth quarter and see if he’s straining on both sides of the ball. Go to the last game of the season, when they’re not in a bowl game or they’re not in the playoffs, and see how hard he’s still playing. Those are the things that are important to me.”
▪ If the Dolphins continue to be considered “soft,” Hafley will know he will have failed in that aspect of his blueprint. “That’s exactly the opposite of when I close my eyes and picture what it’s going to look like,” Hafley said when reminded by Schrager that the Dolphins repeatedly have been called soft. “After we play a team, I want them to know they were just in a battle and it hurt. There’s one thing talking about it. And the other thing is doing. It starts April 6, when the players get here. I will do everything in my power to make sure nobody ever says that again.” He envisions the Dolphins becoming “the hardest, toughest playing team, the most physical team.” To that end, Hafley told WQAM’s Joe Rose that he will regularly have “really hard, physical practices.” That’s something of a shift from the previous regime.
▪ He offered a window into his strategic inclinations in a chat with Rich Eisen: Offensively, “I like boots, screens, motion to create leverage. It will come down to the pieces we have and what can we do best. You’ve got to get a guy who takes the players he has and adapt the offense in your philosophy. “If a quarterback can play under center, great. If not, we’ll get creative and play out of the gun more. As a defensive guy, I want some to hunt explosives. Everything I do on defense is to eliminate explosives.”
▪ Hafley has a deep appreciation for the Dolphins’ history. “Growing up, playing video games, using [Dan] Marino to [Mark] Clayton and [Mark] Duper, Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor,” Hafley told Schrager. “I pass Dan’s office every day, and I’m like ‘Dude are you kidding me?’ “If you grew up loving football, Miami is one of the first teams that comes to your mind. That is what this city deserves. This is a historically storied franchise that deserves a winner… We need to erase that 25 years of non-playoff games.” He also made a point to cite some of the good things accomplished in recent years, without specifying anyone by name. The Dolphins had the league’s best passing offense in 2022.
▪ Hafley is not going to let it slide when players violate rules. “You’ve got to put the team first in everything that you do,” Hafley told Joe Rose. “And if you’re not, you’re going to struggle with me. No excuses and no explanations. I don’t want to hear it. The rules are going to be simple. They’re going to be laid out, and when you don’t follow them, you’re going to be held accountable.”
▪ We learned random stuff: He likes peanut butter… He got his first NFL job with Tampa Bay, when Greg Schiano took him to the Buccaneers from Rutgers in 2012, after Schiano left him speechless by canceling a recruiting visit so that both could get haircuts, without telling him the reason …. Hafley said his coaching experience at Boston College not only taught him what to do differently, but also lifted his self-assuredness in his first NFL head coaching job. “Have way more confidence. Way less uneasiness,” he told Scharger.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/nfl/miami-dolphins/article314484017.html#storylink=cpy
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