Troy Aikman gave his thoughts on Jeff Hafley
After the season, the Miami Dolphins began their search for a new general manager. For their search, owner Stephen Ross sought an outside voice to consult. The team then hired Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, in a consultant role. With his help, the team hired Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan as their general manager.
The Dolphins were pleased with Aikman’s contributions, and after originally saying that he was not going to be a part of their head coaching search, they kept him on for that role as well. Aikman had been a vocal critic of previous head coach Mike McDaniel.
During Miami’s Week 15 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Aikman served as the announcer and he said, “I’m flabbergasted by what we’ve witnessed here in this fourth quarter with the Dolphins. And now they want to call timeouts. It just is about as ridiculous a fourth quarter as I’ve seen in a long time.” Now, it seems Aikman has a more positive opinion on the new Miami Dolphins head coach.
Troy Aikman Shares His Thoughts on Miami Dolphins Head Coach
Ahead of the Super Bowl, Troy Aikman went on the Rich Eisen show where he spoke about his experience with the Dolphins and his thoughts on Miami’s new head coach. Regarding the coach he said, “There have been production meetings with coaches who I didn’t know – and when I met them, I thought he’s not going to be a coordinator long. I thought Mike Vrabel was that guy, I thought DeMeco Ryans was that guy. I felt that way about Jeff Hafley in ’24.”
As a commentator for Monday Night Football, Aikman has unique access to coordinators with production meetings heading into the game. Regarding those meetings he had with Hafley, Aikman said, “I remember saying to our crew, this guy is going to be a head coach real soon. I believe he checks all the boxes.”
Additionally, Aikman also gave his thoughts on his experience with the Dolphins, saying, “Not only did I think I could help them, I became very confident I could help them a lot… thoroughly enjoyed it. “
Miami Dolphins Staff
After his comments, it seems the Hall of Fame quarterback was very involved in the Dolphins process this offseason. He even had input on the new Miami coaching staff as he spoke about new offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik. Aikman said, “If Jeff Hafley has the success that he hopes to have, there’s a good chance that then Bobby Slowik is going to be moving on.”
New offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik previously had a head coaching interview with the Jets, but his stock seemingly went downhill after two disappointing seasons running the Houston offense. He served as the Dolphins pass-game coordinator in 2025, and that did not yield positive results as the team benched their starting quarterback. Miami and Hafley will hope Slowik can rekindle some of the success he had in 2023.
Defensively, the Dolphins have announced Sean Duggan as the team’s defensive coordinator. Duggan has been with head coach Jeff Hafley at Boston College and the previous two seasons with the Packers. Duggan will not be calling Miami’s defensive plays, as Hafley has already announced that he will do that for the Dolphins in the 2026 season.
Jose Esquer Jose Esquer is a Mexican-American sportswriter and communications student based in San Diego, CA. His work spans football, basketball, baseball, and soccer. He has written for platforms like RotoWire and DolphinsTalk. You can find him on Twitter/X @JEsquer8, usually talking Dolphins, world football, or both. More about Jose Esquer
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