Jeff Hafley wants his Miami Dolphins to take the hard road now
Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley pulls back the curtain on his joint-practice philosophy.
The Miami Dolphins locked horns with an NFC East opponent last week for joint practice. The session, held with the Washington Commanders, gave Jeff Hafley’s bunch the chance to butt heads with someone else.
The next chance will be here before you know it. The Miami Dolphins will host the New York Giants on Thursday for a joint practice at Baptist Health Training Complex. And, before things kick off, it’s worth hearing (again) how Hafley’s Dolphins will be approaching the session under his watch. Hafley spoke about it on Tuesday morning to the local press.
Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley’s joint practice philosophy
“Just imagine I spent all this time the next two nights trying to drop a blitz and getting a free runner off the edge. What does that tell us about our players (in practice)? That they can run off the edge in a period where you’re not even going to sack the quarterback, and it looks cool? That’s not important to me…I want to see who can go up against their really good edge rushers and block them one-on-one…can we cover an elite wide receiver one-on-one and use good fundamentals and technique?
Now, when we get to the season, let’s be smart. We got to put a safety over the top and make sure that he doesn’t hit home runs on us…it’s trying to figure out who we are, what we have, get our players better. Get them more confident, push them to compete, rather than try to out scheme, confuse, and beat the New York Giants in a football practice. That would be more ego. And that would be a selfish move on my part than it would be about our team and trying to get them better.”
— Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley on his approach to joint practices
Peak behind the curtain
This is a really neat peek behind the curtain of what makes Hafley tick. He went on to specify that he still very much wants to “win” a practice or individual reps. But the approach that Miami is going to be taking to these joint practices under Hafley is rooted in training the individuals in their technique and fundamentals. This foundation will be built there. And the Dolphins will not compromise by using play scheme as a crutch prematurely as they’re training for the year ahead.
Hafley has maintained all year that practice is about practice. They’re not worried about the hypothetical score of a team session. But the biggest thing to know, especially as the team welcomes the New York Giants into practice this week? That the team will be operating differently than they would in a live game. That doesn’t make the looming results better or worse. But it does offer some helpful insight as we watch this team continue to prep for 2026.
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