{"id":725025,"date":"2026-02-03T01:03:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T01:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/725025\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T01:03:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T01:03:25","slug":"miami-dolphins-2026-coaching-staff-under-jeff-hafley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/725025\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Dolphins 2026 coaching staff under Jeff Hafley"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Miami Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley<\/a> has moved quickly to build his coaching staff in the week and a half since he and new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan were introduced Jan. 22<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He has his three coordinators in place, most of the position coaches under them and has already found several lower-level assistants that will support those unit leaders.<\/p>\n

Many have prior ties to Hafley at any of his many stops prior to landing the head job with the Dolphins, some have been retained from the previous staff and others are simply promising coaches who are new to Hafley and Miami\u2019s pro franchise.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the Dolphins\u2019 coaching staff that\u2019s in place ahead of the 2026 season:<\/p>\n

Coach Jeff Hafley<\/a><\/p>\n

Hafley is a first-time NFL head coach who comes over after two seasons as defensive coordinator with the Green Bay Packers, where Sullivan was director of player personnel. He isn\u2019t without overall head coaching experience, though, as he led Boston College for four seasons from 2020-23. Hafley, 46, will call plays defensively, probably running similar concepts as he did in Green Bay, and he wants his offense to play a physical, smash-mouth brand.<\/p>\n

Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik<\/a><\/p>\n

Like former coach Mike McDaniel, Hafley has been on the same staffs as Kyle Shanahan in the past, so it makes sense he\u2019d stick with a Shanahan offense by keeping Slowik, previously senior passing game coordinator, on staff in the elevated role. Slowik, 38, was a rising star in his first year as Houston Texans offensive coordinator in 2023 before his unit\u2019s production dipped in 2024. He\u2019ll have the keys to the offense as the play-caller.<\/p>\n

Defensive coordinator Sean Duggan<\/a><\/p>\n

Duggan, 32, is a rapid riser in the coaching ranks. He was with Hafley at Ohio State in 2019, Boston College after that and then the Packers. He was linebackers coach in Green Bay last season after having an entry defensive assistant role in 2024. With Hafley and Duggan in place, the Dolphins can further model their defense to the Packers of the past couple of seasons.<\/p>\n

Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor<\/a><\/p>\n

The first known hire Hafley made over the weekend that followed his introduction was to bring in Tabor, solidifying his special teams unit. Tabor, 54, has been an NFL special teams coordinator for 14 previous seasons total, most recently with the Buffalo Bills last season, but also with the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns.<\/p>\n

Quarterbacks coach Nathaniel Hackett<\/a><\/p>\n

Hackett, 46, had a brief and rough tenure as a head coach with the Denver Broncos in 2022, but he also has ample experience as an offensive coordinator, including with Aaron Rodgers at two stops in Green Bay and the New York Jets, along with the Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars. He won\u2019t have as much pressure on him in teaching quarterbacks as Slowik runs the offense.<\/p>\n

Running backs coach Ladell Betts<\/a><\/p>\n

A 1,000-yard rusher in 2006 with Washington, Betts, 46, has coached running backs at his alma mater, Iowa, and has been in South Florida for years as a high school coach.<\/p>\n

Wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert<\/a><\/p>\n

Tolbert, 58, is an experienced receivers coach, teaching the position in the NFL since 2003. He spent the past two seasons with the Tennessee Titans and has also had stints with the Bears, New York Giants, Broncos, Bills, Panthers and Arizona Cardinals.<\/p>\n

Offensive line coach Zach Yenser<\/a><\/p>\n

Yenser, 42 has been an assistant offensive line coach for several seasons between the Texans the past two seasons and San Francisco 49ers before that, with a stint in the college ranks as Kentucky offensive line coach in between. With previous ties to Slowik, he\u2019ll now get a chance to lead the position group at the pro level, teaching the same blocking scheme the Dolphins were running under McDaniel.<\/p>\n

Defensive line coach Austin Clark<\/a><\/p>\n

Clark, 35, remains on staff with his third different Dolphins head coach. He has helped the likes of Christian Wilkins, Zach Sieler, Calais Campbell and the young trio of 2025 rookies in Kenneth Grant, Jordan Phillips and Zeek Biggers, which he gets to continue to develop.<\/p>\n

Linebackers coach Joe Barry<\/a><\/p>\n

Barry, 55, was Hafley\u2019s predecessor as Packers defensive coordinator before he became Dolphins linebackers coach and defensive run game coordinator the past two seasons under Anthony Weaver. He has gotten the most out of linebacker Jordyn Brooks, who led the NFL in tackles last season. It\u2019s unclear at this point what Barry\u2019s title will be on this new staff.<\/p>\n

Linebackers coach Al Washington<\/a><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s because the Dolphins have also agreed to bring Al Washington as linebackers coach from Notre Dame. Washington, 41, has also been a defensive line coach for the Fighting Irish after playing defensive tackle in college. He has been with Hafley as linebackers coach at Ohio State and BC.<\/p>\n

Defensive backs coach Ryan Downard<\/a><\/p>\n

Hafley keeps his defensive backs coach from Green Bay. Downard, 37, had been in Green Bay before Hafley, since 2018, so he also has been around Sullivan for years.<\/p>\n

Cornerbacks coach Jahmile Addae<\/a><\/p>\n

A longtime college defensive backs coach, including a couple of seasons with the Miami Hurricanes under Mario Cristobal, Addae was with the Bills the past two seasons and now returns to South Florida with the pro team.<\/p>\n

Other assistants<\/p>\n

\u2014 Assistant special teams coordinator Darius Eubanks<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Assistant special teams coach Brock Olivo<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Assistant offensive line coach Matt Applebaum<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Assistant defensive line coach Chuka Ndulue<\/a><\/p>\n

*A tight ends coach is still needed on staff, along with probably an outside linebackers or edge defenders coach. One of the two linebackers coaches could help there, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Miami Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley has moved quickly to build his coaching staff in the week and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,8628,95805,216,251,2087,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-725025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-jeff-hafley","11":"tag-jon-eric-sullivan","12":"tag-miami","13":"tag-miami-dolphins","14":"tag-miamidolphins","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116004009411139202","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}