The Miami Dolphins got the guy they wanted from the start when they hired Jon-Eric Sullivan to run the team. Sullivan got the guy he was most familiar with, hiring Jeff Hafley. To say they have a lot of work to do is an understatement.
It's been two weeks since Miami decided to hire the former Packers' DC, but the grades he has received across most of the media remain lower than those of other hires in this cycle. So low, in fact, that two teams without coaches are listed as hired in many instances simply based on an assumption.
Hafley has been graded as low as a "D" and as high as a "B-." Fans, however, don't care about what the grades are; they care about the results. This time around, it could go one of two ways, but fans should ignore the media grades for now.
Miami Dolphins have to give Jeff Hafley the time he needs to turn this team around
Lost in all of this "grade" stuff is that Hafley was not just a name associated with the Dolphins. He was a "hot" candidate around the league. It's not really "grades" either. Media sites have been ranking this cycle's HC hires, and Hafley consistently lands at or near the bottom. Why? Well, the Dolphins don't have much success.
Hafley had a team wanting to meet with him in Miami before his interview with the Dolphins. He had another team's owner send a plane, and still another wanted to do a Zoom call immediately while he was in his Miami hotel. Hafley was drawing interest from at least six teams, including the Dolphins.
So why is Hafley ranked so low? It's not about him being a bad head coach; it's the fact that the Dolphins are a team that has little to offer. The only way Miami would have hit it out of the park was by hiring Jon Harbaugh, and frankly, he wasn't joining this mess. Salary cap, Tua Tagovailoa, 34 impending free agents, Tyreek Hill, and just about everything in between are questions that Hafley and Sullivan will need to find solutions to.
When the Dolphins hired Mike McDaniel, they were the only team that interviewed him. In fact, the only coach they interviewed was McDaniel. It was a mess. Miami wanted someone who would work with Tua Tagovailoa and fix the offensive side of the ball.
Hafley, however, wasn't the only candidate the Dolphins interviewed, and unlike McDaniel, he was a priority for other teams. Ultimately, Hafley chose the Dolphins as much as they chose him. The question now is, can he turn it around?
It is easy to get focused on grading a move made by a team or a draft pick or even a game on Sunday, but it isn't always as cut and dry as an A, B, C system. In this case, Hafley could be given the time to turn the team around, and Jon-Eric Sullivan will get the time to find the right players to fit what they hope to build. Or they could all leave in another four seasons and find success somewhere else. That seems to be the "Dolphins-Way."