The latest John Harbaugh news on Monday looked ominous for the Dolphins — but the full picture says it’s not time to panic just yet

The John Harbaugh sweepstakes is not for the faint of heart.

Kyle Crabbs — NFL National Writer
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The Atlanta Falcons helped to kick up a firestorm on Monday afternoon with their announcement of an interview of John Harbaugh for the team’s head coaching vacancy — a post that prompted a surge of several insiders to offer clarification on the coach’s status. One post in particular drew the ire of Miami Dolphins fans, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter name-dropped five teams across the league who have had “preliminary and extensive phone calls” with Harbaugh. The issue? The Dolphins were not among the five teams included.

The concern is obvious. Are the Dolphins out of the running? Did they get axed before even securing an interview? Not so fast. A pair of reports seems to suggest there’s more to this story and book isn’t written on John Harbaugh’s coaching search just yet.

A pair of reports offers clarity on where Dolphins stand in the John Harbaugh sweepstakes

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer brought the Dolphins back into the conversation shortly after Schefter reeled off a series of names to have had contact with Harbaugh. Miami, per Breer, was apart of the group that had “preliminary calls” with the highly coveted head coach. The clarification seemed to minimize the Falcons’ initial claim: that they’d completed an interview with Harbaugh on Monday. At the very least, it clarified that the Falcons had not earned the first in-person visit.

Breer left no room for imagination or misinterpretation on that front: “He hasn’t met with any team in-person yet.”

But Breer wasn’t the only person to offer an update that was much more inclusive of the Dolphins in the conversation that what we’d seen from Schefter. The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson, the gold standard of insider journalism on the beat, also chimed in and stated that the Dolphins plan on having additional conversations with Harbaugh as well.

Part of this chase is that the teams aren’t exclusively courting the coach. Harbaugh is a uniquely qualified candidate and has the luxury of dictating terms to those teams who would have him as their coach this offseason. Miami very well may not make the final cut for the interviews. It seems as though they’d like to — but it is in part not up to them.

It seems we’re no closer to finding out whether or not the Dolphins will be invited to the next stage of the interview process from Harbaugh or not as he seeks his next team. But given the fact that the Dolphins are only now calibrating much of their head coaching search after going through general manager interviews last week means a slow process hasn’t put the Dolphins too far behind the rest of the pack in their messaging and preparations.

It may be all for not — and I don’t actually expect the Dolphins to land John Harbaugh when it is all said and done. There are teams better suited to compete in his timeline in 2026 as an older coach. But an elimination hasn’t come just yet for the Dolphins; despite what Monday afternoon appeared to suggest.

Miami Dolphins requested interviews for head coach vacancy

  • Seattle Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak (completed virtually)
  • San Francisco 49ers DC Robert Saleh (requested)
  • Los Angeles Rams DC Chris Shula (requested)
  • Green Bay Packers DC Jeff Hafley (requested)

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