INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Kevin Patullo was a hot name in NFL coaching circles when he was promoted to offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles last season.<\/p>\n
After a bad year in that role, some in the league may have been down on him. But once Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley gave him a shot for an interview, he knew he wanted him on his initial coaching staff<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I interviewed him, I was blown away,\u201d Hafley said at his news conference at the NFL scouting combine Tuesday<\/a>. \u201cThe knowledge that he has, the football experience that he has, what he did for that entire organization \u2014 don\u2019t forget he won a Super Bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n Before Patullo had the lone year leading the Eagles\u2019 offense in 2025, he was their pass game coordinator from 2021 through 2024, adding associate head coach to his title in 2023. He helped develop quarterback Jalen Hurts into a Super Bowl winner, albeit one proficient in using his legs to lead Philadelphia\u2019s offense, but having Hurts grow passing the ball to wide receivers A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith, running back Saquon Barkley and tight end Dallas Goedert.<\/p>\n Already promoting Bobby Slowik, who will call plays on offense, to offensive coordinator, Hafley realized he needed Patullo on the staff under him to help with a passing game that could see change next season<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBehind the scenes, what he did with that offense and with that whole team and listening to him talk and his football knowledge and not just about offense, but about game management, about situational football,\u201d Hafley continued, \u201cI got off the Zoom and I said to Bobby, \u2018We\u2019ve got to try to hire this guy\u2019 \u2014 and he had other opportunities and other options. I think he\u2019s going to be a huge asset to what we do, and I think often it\u2019s unfair to judge anybody off of one single year.\u201d<\/p>\n Slowik and Patullo share a common experience in how they were fast risers upon reaching the offensive coordinator rank to then go besmirched with a down season.<\/p>\n Last offseason, under coach Mike McDaniel, Slowik was brought on board as senior passing game coordinator, an additional spot on the staff created for him. It now has resulted in a promotion for Slowik to offensive coordinator under a new head man. Meanwhile, Patullo comes in as passing game coordinator this year.<\/p>\n Key front office executives<\/p>\n A couple of key people in new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan\u2019s corner<\/a> as he dives into his first offseason of roster building for the Dolphins are assistant GM Kyle Smith and new senior personnel executive Jon Robinson. News on the latter hire was revealed late Monday night by NFL Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n Robinson was Tennessee Titans GM from 2016 to 2022. Smith held the same assistant GM title for the Atlanta Falcons the past three seasons, before they fired their former GM, Terry Fontenot.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m the current GM, Jon Robinson has been a GM, and I think Kyle Smith will be a GM,\u201d Sullivan told a small group of South Florida media members Tuesday at the combine before he later took the podium. \u201cI think they\u2019re phenomenal sounding boards for me.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst and foremost, very good human beings, but more than that, they\u2019re forward thinkers who have a way of doing things that are not here to tell me what they think the boss wants to hear. They\u2019ll tell me their thoughts and their opinions, which will help me move forward as I need to. They\u2019re both really good at what they do. They bring a lot to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n The new addition of Robinson particularly helps Sullivan in his first venture leading an organization\u2019s roster management, after more than two decades in various positions with the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n \u201cJon Robinson has sat in this chair. He knows what\u2019s ahead. He understands the pitfalls, roadblocks,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cSo I\u2019d be a fool not to lean on him.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith is the son of A.J. Smith, former GM of the San Diego Chargers from 2003 to 2012.<\/p>\n \u201cKyle grew up in this thing. He\u2019s the son of a longtime GM,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cHe\u2019s very good at what he does. And I\u2019m really excited to have those guys kind of next to me as we move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Kevin Patullo was a hot name in NFL coaching circles when he was promoted to offensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,929,216,251,2087,6,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-775742","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-latest-headlines","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116132114914936780","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775742","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=775742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}