The Miami Dolphins need defensive backs.

Luckily, that’s coach Jeff Hafley’s specialty.

During Wednesday’s media availability at the owner’s meeting, Hafley described what he looks for at safety and cornerback, two of the Dolphins’ biggest positions of need. His answers showcase somebody who loves to coach the secondary. One thing, however, stood out: he plans to build his coverage around his players’ strengths rather than force something that ultimately doesn’t work.

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“Once you see what they can do, then you can start building around the coverages that you think you can play with those guys, and that’s what I’m excited to do,” said Hafley who got his start on defense as a secondary coach.

For cornerbacks, Hafley ideally wants someone who can excel at all three levels of coverage – line of scrimmage, intermediate and deep.

“One is the line of scrimmage,” Hafley explained. “I call that Level 1. Can he win at the line? Can he press, can he make a guy stop and start his feet? Can he use his hands? Is he quick enough to change direction, right? Can he take good cutoff angles? When a guy steps out and goes in, is he fast enough to come back inside? So can he win there.”

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Then comes the intermediate.

“Level 2 is all the intermediate routes, all the in breaks, the digs, the comebacks,” he continued. “Can he drop his hips and accelerate out of his cuts? Or is he a high hip guy that can’t do that, and maybe he doesn’t have to do that because he can win so well at the line of scrimmage?”

Last but not least, there’s the deep ball.

“Then Level 3 is can he win down the field?” Hafley said. “Can he make a play down the field?”

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It’s very rare for a player to do all three at a high level. Two — or at the very least one — out of three would give Hafley something to work with.

“If they can’t do any out of three,” Hafley quipped, “then we’re probably going to have to find a different player.”

At safety, Hafley wasn’t extremely into the free vs. strong labels in the sense that teams must have one or the other. It’s more so about personnel.

“Do we have a really good athlete who can run and cover a lot of ground and then is the other guy a big, more box guy who’s going to have to drop in, or do we have two guys who can kind of do both?” Hafley said. “Then you can play them right and left, you can play them field boundary, you can move them around.”

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As far as skill sets go, Hafley highlighted two important areas: IQ and tackling.

“At that position, intelligence and instincts are very important for me,” Hafley said. “I want guys who can think, think on their feet. I want guys who, as I call the game through those guys, can kind of react and communicate with me and tell me what they see and I kind of play the game within the game with the opposing quarterbacks with those guys. I want guys that understand the game, can think on their feet because they’re out there alone at that point and have good instincts. And then you’ve got to be a great tackler.”

That Hafley wants to “call the game” through his safeties should come as no surprise. He likes to run his defense from the back end down and when there’s an elite talent at safety, as Hafley had with Xavier McKinney in Green Bay, good things happen. In his two seasons under Hafley, the Packers safety snagged 10 interceptions, racked up 21 pass deflections and 195 total tackles.

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As the Dolphins look to continue to flesh out this roster, keep Hafley’s words in mind, especially as the draft draws closer and closer. The collection of talent at cornerback — Storm Duck, Darrell Baker Jr., Jason Marshall Jr., JuJu Brents, Marco Wilson, Ethan Robinson, Alex Ausin, Ethan Bonner, Jason Maitre and AJ Green III— as well as safety — Dante Trader Jr., Jordan Colbert, Isaiah Johnson, Lonnie Johnson Jr., Zayne Anderson and Omar Brown — could definitely stand for an upgrade. And as general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan alluded to Monday, expect them to do just that.

“We are going to put them in a bag and shake them up and see who wins the job,” Sullivan said. “I’m going to do everything in my power if there’s one available that’s a stud, I’m going to go get them.”

Added Sullivan: “Nobody has earned anything yet. Nobody has established themselves yet back there. That’s just the truth of the matter.”