In the final games of the 2025 Miami Dolphins season, Mike McDaniel wore a hoodie with "Inspire Change" on the front. He did exactly that. The Dolphins changed their head coach from McDaniel to Jeff Hafley.
Hafley is currently building his coaching staff, but the similarities between McDaniel's first weeks on the job are suddenly becoming eerily similar. Fans are not blind to what could ultimately be a second round of mistakes.
Hafley has hired Ryan Downard and appears to be leaning toward Sean Duggan to take over as defensive coordinator. History is repeating itself in South Florida, and not in a good way.
Jeff Hafley's coaching hires are giving Miami Dolphins fans a reason to question his hire
So far, Hafley has won over most Dolphins fans who still maintain a "still have to prove it" attitude toward the hire. That's fair. Hafley was a highly sought-after candidate this cycle, so kudos to the Dolphins for getting him under contract.
While that wasn't something said about McDaniel, questions about his ability to hire a staff were always in question four offseasons ago. Now, Hafley could be making the same mistakes.
McDaniel dipped into the 49ers coaching ranks to build parts of his staff, but he opted to retain then-DC Josh Boyer. Many saw this as the right move to keep continuity on that side of the ball. His OC choice was Frank Smith. Boyer was released from his job after the season.
Smith wouldn't call plays as McDaniel kept that job. Fast forward to this offseason, and Hafley is bringing coaches from his former team, the Packers, but is promoting from within on offense. Like McDaniel, Hafley has chosen to call his own defensive plays.
Bobby Slowik was the team's passing game coordinator and will now oversee the offense as the new OC. An in-house promotion that looks good on paper. Is it the right move or a temporary one?
The Dolphins' offense wasn't great last year, and Slowik was part of a passing game system that often failed. Like Boyer on the defense, another failed season on offense could send Slowik out of Miami after only one season.
First-time head coaches often rely on filling their staff from previous coaching gigs. Hafley is no different than McDaniel in that regard. Many fans would have liked the Dolphins to go big with their OC choice. Now, Hafley is relying on a coach to run his offense who was part of the overall failures of the unit last season.
We agree Slowik isn't a bad choice. He has the experience of having been the OC in Houston, but while teams like the Titans are looking to add Brian Daboll, other higher-profile coaches are landing elsewhere.
It's not easy for new HCs in the NFL to build experienced staffs. It's one of the reasons they are first-time head coaches. For Hafley, his two years in the NFL as a DC don't come with the experience outside of Green Bay. That has left him with fewer options.
Slowik might be the right choice, and for continuity purposes, it looks good on paper, but if the model McDaniel set in 2022 is any indication, it could also lead to another change after the 2026 season.