During an offseason during which several head coaches were held liable for organizational shortcomings while general managers retained their jobs, the Dolphins were the rare team to start out fresh. Despite initially giving Mike McDaniel some input within the team’s GM search, the Dolphins canned their four-year HC and can reboot around Packers staffers.
Miami brought in Green Bay exec Jon-Eric Sullivan, who hired two-year Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley to succeed McDaniel. Sullivan inherits a quarterback quandary, due to ousted GM Chris Grier‘s ill-advised Tua Tagovailoa extension. The Dolphins are gazing a record-setting dead money number. Were the team to maintain Tagovailoa for yet one more season, a 2027 breakup could be much easier. Because it stands, a 2026 separation looks like where that is headed. And it’s going to overshadow Miami’s first Sullivan-Hafley offseason.
Coaching/front office:
Reporting shifted within the wake of Grier’s Halloween firing. McDaniel appeared to have done enough to retain his job for a fifth season. The Dolphins won 4 straight games to achieve 6-7 and the fringes of the wild-card race. This included an upset win over the Bills. But an unpleasant showing in Pittsburgh on a Monday night brought big-picture changes.
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