{"id":730044,"date":"2026-02-05T00:42:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/730044\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T00:42:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T00:42:37","slug":"dolphins-coordinators-reveal-core-philosophies-under-hafley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/730044\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolphins coordinators reveal core philosophies under Hafley"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 As new Miami Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley is still finalizing his coaching staff, he introduced his three coordinators<\/a> to South Florida media Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, defensive coordinator Sean Duggan and special teams coordinator Chris Tabor offered a glimpse into what they expect from their units come the fall for the 2026 Dolphins.<\/p>\n

There are similarities in how the different phases of the team will be run. Hafley clearly wants physicality and for his group to win in the trenches<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Within that, the coordinators present their own unique niches.<\/p>\n

Take Slowik, for example. He was retained from the previous coaching staff<\/a> and promoted to offensive coordinator. He comes from the same Shanahan coaching tree as former coach Mike McDaniel, which Hafley has also been a part of. But he will have his own way of running the offense, as he\u2019ll call offensive plays given Hafley\u2019s defensive background.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we\u2019re all from the same tree,\u201d Slowik said. \u201cThe way I like to frame it is very similar to like the bones are the same, the roots are the same, but all the trees grow different.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say the starting point\u2019s all the same. I believe in running the ball. I believe strongly in running the ball. I think most of the successful teams in the NFL these days run the ball really well at a high clip and really build it from there.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to win in the trenches. I like keeping the defense off balance. That\u2019s probably my No. 1 thing as far as what I look for as a play caller, while making sure I marry it to who we have on the team. And then in the pass game, we\u2019re all about precision and detail, and again, it always kind of constantly evolves how you use that, how you attack that, whether it\u2019s keepers, play-pass, dropback. There\u2019s all different ways it can go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defensively, Hafley will call plays, and Duggan will be beside him for game planning and support.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be multiple, but we want to fit to the strengths of our players,\u201d Duggan said. \u201cWe want those guys to go out there, play fast, know what they\u2019re doing and just go play 100 miles per hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duggan spoke to the importance of presenting opposing offenses different looks, winning in the trenches, stopping the run and utilizing different coverages between press-man and zone, along with both three- and four-man fronts on the defensive line.<\/p>\n

All those things, along with blitz rates, will be based on the personnel Miami\u2019s defense has available, along with falling in line with opponents and where they\u2019re vulnerable.<\/p>\n

For Slowik, it\u2019s not his first time as an offensive coordinator. He got that role in 2023 with the Houston Texans and appeared to be on a fast track to soon becoming a head coach.<\/p>\n

An uneven 2024 campaign leading Houston\u2019s offense had him go the other way. He was fired and brought to Miami in an additional senior passing game coordinator position created for him by McDaniel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so many lessons you learn every single step along the way,\u201d Slowik said when asked how he\u2019ll lead an offense differently this go-around. \u201cThere\u2019s always reflection on maybe I could\u2019ve done this better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hafley, who spoke before the three coordinators fielded questions, recalled going back with Slowik to the time when Hafley was defensive backs coach and Slowik was defensive quality control in 2017 and 2018. Slowik\u2019s career pivoted to offense when San Francisco 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan wanted him on offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what Bobby\u2019s like in good times, I know what he\u2019s like in bad times, and I know how he is around the players,\u201d Hafley said.<\/p>\n

Duggan, 32, is a fast riser in the coaching ranks<\/a> and has been under Hafley at previous stops with the Packers as defensive coordinator, Boston College as head coach and Ohio State as a co-defensive coordinator in 2019. Hafley spoke glowingly about Duggan\u2019s growth every step of the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI quickly learned how sharp he was,\u201d Hafley said of first working with him at OSU. \u201cI would sit in the booth, and by the third or fourth game, there were times when I didn\u2019t ask anybody questions but him \u2014 and he was the GA (graduate assistant).<\/p>\n

\u201cHe saw the game so fast up in the booth and the adjustments he can help me make, he quickly earned my trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hafley shared that it wasn\u2019t much of a decision at special teams coordinator once he learned Tabor was available<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, forget everybody else I had on my list,\u201d Hafley said. \u201cThis is the guy. He\u2019s one of the best in all of the business and he\u2019s one of the most respected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hafley recalls being a young defensive backs coach when Tabor was special teams coordinator in Cleveland more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would sit in those special teams rooms as a young coach to try to learn everything that I possibly could,\u201d Hafley said. \u201cThe way he commanded the room and the way he held them accountable, yet off the field, the way he could joke with them and have fun with them, I view that as a really important hire. \u2026 He\u2019s going to be a big voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tabor said the Dolphins have special teams players who stand out on top and that there\u2019s a core already present on the roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI GARDENS \u2014 As new Miami Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley is still finalizing his coaching staff, he introduced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":730045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[21404,30704,217,7,8628,216,251,2087,6,18609],"class_list":{"0":"post-730044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-bobby-slowik","9":"tag-chris-tabor","10":"tag-dolphins","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-jeff-hafley","13":"tag-miami","14":"tag-miami-dolphins","15":"tag-miamidolphins","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-sean-duggan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116015251962753960","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730044","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=730044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/730044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/730045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=730044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=730044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=730044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}