Jeff Hafley offers a definition for the biggest motivator in his choice to serve as the Miami Dolphins new head coach
What is “alignment”?
New Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley will have his work cut out for him in Miami.
The former Packers defensive coordinator was, reportedly, a coveted coach throughout the 2026 cycle, with teams like the Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, and the Pittsburgh Steelers all having eyes on Hafley once the in-person interview window opened last month. Miami landed the first interview and sealed the deal. The Titans have a No. 1 overall pick at quarterback. The Steelers made the playoffs last season. The Raiders have the No. 1 overall pick this season. So why did Hafley choose the Dolphins? In a word, alignment. But what is organizational alignment and how does it show itself in a team?
Hafley offered an explanation for that very question during a recent interview with long-time sports media figure Jim Rome.
Jeff Hafley defines the biggest determinant in his decision to join the Miami Dolphins
“Not being afraid to have hard conversations. Whether it is in the draft and (GM Jon-Eric Sullivan) and I have a disagreement and being able to have input, being able to work through it together. Or whether he has input on a player we might want to play — or a position that he should play. You just want to have each others’ back because things are going to get hard. Right? We’re going to face adversity and you need someone that has your back, and vice versa when you hit that adversity to work through it. I think that’s the key to this whole start as we build our foundation. We’ve got to be able to communicate and we’ve got to be be able to work together regardless of who is in charge of what.”
— Jeff Hafley to Jim Rome on what it means to be organizationally aligned
The connection between Hafley and general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan is one that fans have weighed in as both a pro and a con. But as Hafley explains it, the trust and comfort that comes with a familiar face in the leadership roles is less about being incubated from hard decisions and accountability but rather helps to foster those very things internally.
There’s a lot of pressure to win in the NFL. When things don’t go as planned (and they never do), teams can often default to a ‘Game of Thrones’ style melee behind the scenes, creating a mad scramble for the ear of the owner and protection from the dreaded “hot seat”.
The Dolphins have been the victim of these circumstances many times. And, if you’re in place long enough, even the best programs are still vulnerable to it. We’ve just seen it unfold up north with a divisional rival. The Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott after another disappointing playoff letdown despite McDermott helping oversee a general manager search back in 2017 that landed a familiar face from his previous stop in general manager Brandon Beane. The two worked together in Carolina from 2011 to 2016.
The hope is for both Sullivan and Hafley that their familiarity together in how they handle the hard moments doesn’t avoid any hard moments but rather ensures they have the right mentality and trust to tackle them together and not let those instances chip away at the vital relationship that must exist between a head coach and a general manager. It’s a major reason why Hafley is here — straight from his mouth to our ears.