Our Miami Dolphins hired a new general manager, Jon-Eric Sullivan, and a new head coach, Jeff Hafley, this past week. After those two hires, I followed with the question:
What grade (A-F) would you give each of the two big hires by our Miami Dolphins for head coach and general manager? Beyond the grade, do you believe they got the best possible man for the job in both cases, and if not, who would you have rather seen the team pursue and why?
Below are some of your thougths and answers-
CardiacPackM8 stopped in to share some insight into the two new hires. Sounds good!
You guys are going to love both of these guys.
I knew Hafley was going to be a head coach somewhere eventually. You just knew it from the first time you heard him speak in Green Bay. He just spoke like a head coach. I know he had been at BC but he was taking over a defense that, frankly, sucked and underachieved for years. Hell, that’s been the story of our franchise for the last 10-12 years. Haf got a lot from these guys on defense even with all the bad habits they picked up from Joe Barry and even with all the injuries. I loved listened to his pressers every single week because he isn’t a BS’er. He was going to explain things so you could understand and he’d even diagram a damn play on the board for the media members to drive his point across. He is genuine and, as he said today, what you see is what you get. Funny guy, too. I think he is going to be really good for you guys.
Sullivan, the same. He has been here forever and we normally hear him every year at the Packers front office press conferences after the Draft. He knows his shit. We’ve had immense talent on our roster for many of the last 7-8 years not to mention in the 2010s. That’s never been the issue in GB.
Just two really solid people who are going to grind and do everything they can to make this team better. Players are going to want to play their asses off for Haf.
Molly Polly II is happy with the hires at the top, but is more concerned about the rest of the foot soldiers.
Both have my vote. They certainly have the experience and hopefully it pays offs off for us. I am concerned about OC n DC, including Asst Coaching positions. Maybe consider recruiting Jason Taylor from the Hurricanes (or is it too soon)? Lucky for these guys, unless they completely F up, the only direction they can move this organization is upwards!
DolfaninME believes the real problems lie at the feet of the local media and us, the fans.
The real problem Miami is entitled media and fans. The expectation of winning a super bowl in year 3 or four is unrealistic. So we are on this roller coaster again. McDaniel was a good coach. He thought Tua’s quick read and release could compensate for a weak OL. It can’t. I believe he has learned this and will be an excellent HC somewhere in the future.
The new guys will also have a lot to learn. Before they get fired in 3 years.
Dolphindon52 says you need to get over the whole Ross thing, or kick rocks, I guess.
To those of you who keeps saying nothing is going to change until Ross sells the team, get over it or pick another team. It’s already been established. The team is staying in the family.
As for me…..GO PHINS!!
David7777 somehow believes that Tomlin is still coming, we just have to wait a bit!?!?!
Hopefully this guy is just a placeholder for Mike Tomlin when he comes back as our head coach after a year off
THEphinz is all in on these hires.
I give both an “A”.
I base this on their comments on size, playing in bad conditions, and setting culture.
Additionally both guys seem hungry. Like theyve got something to prove. Much more “no nonsense” but with the ability to connect the dots for the players and make the feedback make sense
dksurf thinks there is some risk in hiring two novices for their jobs.
Tough to say.
Starting with the Head coach hire he has a had a very mediocre track record including going 22-26 over 4 years at BC and only 1 year as the DC for the Packers where they ranked 9th and 10th in pass and run defense and zero NFL head coaching exoeriece
Meanwhile the GM history has similarities to the guy we just fired, appearing to be a lifer (22 years) with the Packers starting as a scout, with zero NFL GM experience.
In summary the upside is the Packers have been a more stable successful organization and the GM does have a track record of investing in premium positions, while the HC has had some success as a defensice minded coach. The risk, again for the Fins, is we hired 2 novices into their roles.
Bill Moody doesn’t really know what to think yet.
The GM is saying all the right things, and the fact that he isn’t Chris Grier is a huge plus. But other than that, I don’t really know much about the guy, so I can’t really grade him until we see his draft.
The coach is a complete unknown. The only thing I know about him is that his defense gave up like 28 points in the 4th quarter against the Bears to be bounced from the play-offs. That’s it… That’s all I know. Again, I can’t really grade him since I know nothing about him.
TheRoo1 gives us some pros and cons on both.
Sully B+
Pro’s Long term in successful franchise, has served in many capacities, doesn’t want quick flash, develop and support draftees, from fiscally conservative franchise,
Con’s doesn’t appear to have been main decision maker previously, not sure of negotiating skills, limited exposure to players or coaches outside Packers organization.
Hafley B-
Pro’s, Has experience in Packers system, prior familiarity with GM, appears driven to player development, Prior HC experience (although at college level). Was defensive playcaller in GB. Apparently well respected by players.
Con’s Limited network in NFL for assistants, No NFL offensive experiences, unknown gameday time management, challenge or other sideline processes,
This is an outsider looking in with no close or personal knowledge beyond whats readily available online. I’m sure there are plenty of other things covered in the meetings, how much Sully was involved in Cap planning etc that we reallydont know. These are just of f the top of my head.
MiamiItaliano gives them a B!
I give the hires a B grade. We’ll see if J.E.S. and Hafley turn this franchise into where the players think about football first, not partying in South Beach.
I would have liked McDermott when he became available. I’m also surprised nobody interviewed Joe Lombardi. If Bo Nix didn’t get hurt, the Broncos would have a legit shot to get to the Super Bowl. With Stidham, not so much.
Alpha6 says all things considered, they did pretty well.
Under the circumstances, based on available candidates… I give them an A.
Fresh & culture change.
A new chapter brings a new direction.
New characters with a new twist.
Letting the twist develop in the coming months…
Dolfanjoe is taking the sound wait and see posistion.
100 % They have made the right decision ! What are we supposed to say ? They screwed up completely ? 6 years down the road we will have the answers to if they hired the right combo. If in year four both are fired and we are 3 – 14 we might not be a happy crowd ! But until then who knows !
SlayerNation1 says the grade is incomplete at this point.
INCOMPLETE
… which is better than:
Grier F, He failed
McD F, He ultimately failed also
Will these two actually change the culture and talent or will the bad culture and bad talent change both of them? Which of those forces will win?
Saskatchefin really wanted McDermott.
Right now, I would say a B. Hafley does have experience as a head coach in college so he should be proficient in play calling. I did like Weaver as I heard multiple times he had the locker. I will drop it to a C if they don’t let Weaver get picked up from another team to collect draft picks. A if they can create the culture change.
As for some comments on defense, both ours and GB. Take into consideration for us we had no DBs. All hurt in preseason. I think Weaver should have been interviewed.
As for the GB loss, 28 points, simmer down. It was a playoff game in Chicago, Ben Johnson had that team playing a team game, and Chicago’s defense was good as well. Hafley, had Parsons go down. If you wanted to be critical like that then I can’t imagine your thoughts on Sean Payton’s defense when Miami went off. There defense played way stronger after that beat down and some of that is pride.
For me, I wanted Sean McDermott. 9 seasons HC for Bills, every year in playoffs. How do you fire that guy?
Just my 2 cents
phinsatx sees the hires as solid right now.
They seem like solid hires. We didn’t really seem to chase shiny objects or embarrass ourselves by hounding candidates that didn’t want to be here in the hiring process. So, that seems like an upgrade. There were a lot of temptations too.
I like the message of building through the draft and coaching the players up, so the talk of the walk/talk seems appealing. Obviously, 2026 could be a terrible season, so it is hard to be too psyched about any of it. I think I’m more curious to see how the offseason and draft go. That may be a big part of the walk the walk. Not saying they have a blank check, but I think they have a lot of room to do what is best for the future.
I also think this is a team that has been to the playoffs somewhat recently and is hovering around 500, so there is some weird expectation for them not to be awful and maintain some level of mediocrity. Unless by some miracle, they stick the landing and turn it around in one year, but that seems like a lot to wish for.
Well, that’s our random 15 for this evening. It seems most of the fan base is either on board with these two hires or in a wait-and-see mode. If you missed the original post, you can see it HERE with the rest of the fans’ comments. As always, thank you to each of you who took the time to read and answer our question of the day. Please be sure to join us tomorrow for our Conference Championships live thread.
See More:
