{"id":848622,"date":"2026-04-02T04:59:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/848622\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T04:59:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:59:19","slug":"the-dolphins-need-dbs-heres-how-coach-jeff-hafley-evaluates-the-secondary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/848622\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dolphins need DBs. Here\u2019s how coach Jeff Hafley evaluates the secondary"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Miami Dolphins need defensive backs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Luckily, that\u2019s coach Jeff Hafley\u2019s specialty.<\/p>\n

During Wednesday\u2019s media availability at the owner\u2019s meeting, Hafley described what he looks for at safety and cornerback, two of the Dolphins\u2019 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\u2019 strengths rather than force something that ultimately doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce 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\u2019s what I\u2019m excited to do,\u201d said Hafley who got his start on defense<\/a> as a secondary coach.<\/p>\n

For cornerbacks<\/a>, Hafley ideally wants someone who can excel at all three levels of coverage \u2013 line of scrimmage, intermediate and deep.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne is the line of scrimmage,\u201d Hafley explained. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Then comes the intermediate.<\/p>\n

\u201cLevel 2 is all the intermediate routes, all the in breaks, the digs, the comebacks,\u201d he continued. \u201cCan he drop his hips and accelerate out of his cuts? Or is he a high hip guy that can\u2019t do that, and maybe he doesn\u2019t have to do that because he can win so well at the line of scrimmage?\u201d<\/p>\n

Last but not least, there\u2019s the deep ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen Level 3 is can he win down the field?\u201d Hafley said. \u201cCan he make a play down the field?\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

It\u2019s very rare for a player to do all three at a high level. Two \u2014 or at the very least one \u2014 out of three would give Hafley something to work with.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they can\u2019t do any out of three,\u201d Hafley quipped, \u201cthen we\u2019re probably going to have to find a different player.\u201d<\/p>\n

At safety, Hafley wasn\u2019t extremely into the free vs. strong labels in the sense that teams must have one or the other. It\u2019s more so about personnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo 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\u2019s going to have to drop in, or do we have two guys who can kind of do both?\u201d Hafley said. \u201cThen you can play them right and left, you can play them field boundary, you can move them around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

As far as skill sets go, Hafley highlighted two important areas: IQ and tackling.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that position, intelligence and instincts are very important for me,\u201d Hafley said. \u201cI 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\u2019re out there alone at that point and have good instincts. And then you\u2019ve got to be a great tackler.\u201d<\/p>\n

That Hafley wants to \u201ccall the game\u201d through his safeties should come as no surprise. He likes to run his defense from the back end down and when there\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

As the Dolphins look to continue to flesh out this roster<\/a>, keep Hafley\u2019s words in mind, especially as the draft draws closer and closer. The collection of talent at cornerback \u2014 Storm Duck, Darrell Baker Jr., Jason Marshall Jr., JuJu Brents, Marco Wilson, Ethan Robinson, Alex Ausin, Ethan Bonner, Jason Maitre and AJ Green III\u2014 as well as safety \u2014 Dante Trader Jr., Jordan Colbert, Isaiah Johnson, Lonnie Johnson Jr., Zayne Anderson and Omar Brown \u2014 could definitely stand for an upgrade. And as general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan alluded to Monday, expect them to do just that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to put them in a bag and shake them up and see who wins the job,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cI\u2019m going to do everything in my power if there\u2019s one available that\u2019s a stud, I\u2019m going to go get them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Sullivan: \u201cNobody has earned anything yet. Nobody has established themselves yet back there. That\u2019s just the truth of the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Miami Dolphins need defensive backs. Luckily, that\u2019s coach Jeff Hafley\u2019s specialty. During Wednesday\u2019s media availability at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[2912,13270,217,15138,7,41,53734,6054,8628,5001,12036,1247,26432,216,251,2087,6,428,7565,3235,5582,1734],"class_list":{"0":"post-848622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dante-trader-jr","9":"tag-darrell-baker-jr","10":"tag-dolphins","11":"tag-ethan-bonner","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-green-bay","14":"tag-hafley","15":"tag-jason-marshall-jr","16":"tag-jeff-hafley","17":"tag-juju-brents","18":"tag-line-of-scrimmage","19":"tag-lonnie-johnson-jr","20":"tag-marco-wilson","21":"tag-miami","22":"tag-miami-dolphins","23":"tag-miamidolphins","24":"tag-nfl","25":"tag-packers","26":"tag-storm-duck","27":"tag-the-dolphins","28":"tag-xavier-mckinney","29":"tag-zayne-anderson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116333352386148851","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848622","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=848622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}