Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley and GM Jon Eric Sullivan's media availability on April 25, 2026.
General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan:
(How did the draft experience work for you overall, the first one with you guys together?) – "I would say it was collaborative, cohesive. Felt like we executed. I think again, like I told you last night, I think we helped the Miami Dolphins. It was a great experience, it really was. We're very excited. I think I speak for both of us when we talk about the excitement of the players that we drafted, the culture that we're trying to build – No. 1, they can play. Don't ever mistake that. We're not going to bring guys in here that we don't think can play on the field, but then when you talk about the wiring of the individuals, we feel like we accomplished what we set out to accomplish."
Head Coach Jeff Hafley:
"I'd just start off, I think Jon-Eric (Sullivan) and that entire staff did an incredible job. The work that they put in, the process for me to sit in there for the first time, really in a full draft rather than just on one side of the football; it was really cool to see. Incredible process, the communication, the collaboration in there, just sticking to all the hard work that they'd already done and watching the guys kind of fall in place. It was really cool for me to see. Again, I think he did an unbelievable job in his first draft. I'm very, very excited about the players that we picked, and I can't wait to coach them. So just a cool experience and really excited about the players that we got."
Jon-Eric Sullivan:
(There's this trend. I think you had four or five sets of college teammates now drafted here. Was that coincidence or is that ever factored into the equation when you're making these picks?) – "Purely coincidence. Purely coincidence. It's cool. It's a cool story, but no, there was no agenda or intent there. It just happened."
(Speaking of no agendas, it's hard not to notice that there's one particular state you seemed to draw players from. What can you tell us about that?) – "Again, we let the board talk to us and it's the best player available approach. Just again, it's coincidence that we had a lot of guys from the state of Texas this year. They play good football in Texas, so I think that's probably a good thing, but again, there was nothing that was intentional. It's just the way that it kind of fell."
(How much of a priority was physicality in selecting players?) – "It's always a priority. I think we've talked about from the jump just what we're trying to build here – the culture, the competition – and then on top of that, the play style. I'll let him speak to the play style, but I can tell you from the moment that we started working together back in Green Bay, he says that word or that phrase quite a bit, and the players adhere to it. Play style, physicality is a big part of what we're trying to accomplish and build here."
Jeff Hafley:
"If there's one thing I told him when he asked me my opinion on things, it's one thing I was not going to back away from. I just believe this is a physical game and you need tough guys to play this game and guys who want to be physical. I think if you look at this list and you watch how hard these guys play, I think it's impressive, and what really that that says to me – and I've said this before – you can find out if a guy loves football based on how hard he plays. You can find out how much a guy loves his teammates based on how hard he plays. And when you look at this, I think we got the right type of guys and I'm excited to work with them."
Jon-Eric Sullivan:
(I know we previously talked about the quarterback position, infusing competition into that room, potentially drafting a QB every year. How close were you to going QB? Why did you ultimately decided not to and where are you on the competition in that room right now?) – "Sure, good question. I did say that and it came up a couple times throughout the course of the weekend. We felt like the better option was the other pick. Just a chance for a guy to get on the field and help us this year with where we are as a roster, but the conversation happened multiple times. I'm certainly not backing off what I said initially. We will take a quarterback every year, every other year when we have the opportunity, but just the way that it fell this year and part of that is we like our room. We're happy with Malik (Willis), Quinn (Ewers) is doing a good job and will continue to do a good job. And we like our No. 3 as well. So we're in good shape there. Just the way the board fell, it just didn't work out this year, but we'll take one next year, if not the year after that."
(I've got a question about BPA and conviction I guess over need and I want to see if I have examples correct here. You guys took T Kadyn Proctor over Rueben Bain Jr. when you needed an edge rusher, but BPA and conviction. You take ILB Jacob Rodriguez over Derrick Moore and Zion Young, BPA over conviction. And competition – you had two starting offensive tackles, you had two starting inside linebackers, am I reading that right? Are those examples of BPA and conviction over need?) – "Yeah, and those other guys – again, I want to make sure I'm being very clear here, those other guys that you mentioned are very good football players and the Dolphins would have been lucky to have them. But yeah, it is a best player available approach and there's a lot of conversations that go into it. You never have any way of knowing what your needs are going to be. I've said that to you before, and I believe that in my heart of hearts. You can have an embarrassment of riches in a room and then you got a hamstring and an ankle, and now you're going to your emergency board. We took the players that we felt like were the best for the Miami Dolphins. That's no shot at anybody that didn't end up here. I'm sure they'll go on to have wonderful careers and we wish him nothing but the best. But we're very happy with who we took and who we wound up with."
(Was there a point in the draft where you might have considered Jermod McCoy or did you guys have a medical red flag?) – "He's a wonderful talent and a really good kid. I'm going to stay away from talking about the medical of anybody or any players up here, but I wish him the best. I hope he has a great career."
(Can you speak to your process now batting undrafted guys? I guess you can get a handful since you already had 13 draft picks and how much of that has already happened?) – "Yeah, it's going on as we speak. It's always a fast and furious process post-draft. We have our targeted guys and we're in the process of trying to lock those guys up currently."
(About how many might you have room for?) – "It's a fluid number. Probably I would say eight to 10, just depending on how that goes."
(One of the more interesting picks I thought was TE Seydou Traore. The Dolphins have had pathway players before but not drafted pathway players. So what attracted you to him and where do you see him in his development right now?) – "Yeah, he's kind of a very raw, athletic ball of clay, if you will. He can move. He's an interesting athlete. He's got twitch, he's got speed. He's got good hands. I think he's a mismatch as a route runner, and he should only get better; he hasn't been playing football real long. So that was what was intriguing to us, especially at that value. We felt like a player who's ascending and whose best ball is in front of him and can be a problem for defenses in time, I have a lot of faith in the coaches who are going to coach him every day to continue to develop him as a pro. He was somebody that we had our eyes on for a while and he fell to us at the right value, so we took a shot."
Jeff Hafley:
(Were there one or two tangible qualities where the Dolphins got better through the draft, whether it's competition or speed or size or anything along those lines?) – "Yeah, I think we added competition throughout our whole roster, and I think that's what you're looking for. I think that brings out the best. You could look at all these players and there's different qualities that each of them have and there's different reasons we like some of these players over others, but like we said, competition is going to be the key. These 13 players bring that, as well as the guys that we have right now on the roster. They'll be here not this week, but the week after and we'll kind of get them acclimated and then mix the team together and I'm excited to do that."
(Do you envision giving T Kadyn Proctor – no matter where he ends up – do you envision giving him looks at guard and tackle in the spring and summer?) – "Yeah, for sure. I think we'll sit down and talk where the best available position for him will be. I think ultimately our job is to get the best five on the field, and however that shakes out, it's our job to figure that out. Extremely talented player who can do both, which I think is a plus anytime you have versatility in a player, I think he can excel at both. We'll figure out where the best spot is for him as soon as we get on the field."
(Speaking of versatility, you picked a few guys Day 3 in LB Trey Moore and LB Kyle Louis that are kind of viewed as tweeners, right? I'm curious how their versatility will play a role in your defense?) – "It excites me. I think anytime you can draft a player who can do multiple things, it's our job as coaches to have a vision for him and figure out where to play him or play him in multiple spots. What's the down-and-distance? What's he going to do on early downs? Is he going to be a stack backer on early downs? Is he going to be a sub rusher on second-and-7-plus, third down? Is he a guy that can line up as a spinner and pick guards and rush? Then you look at the other guy, can he play outside backer? Can he play inside backer? Can you insert him in different spots on the field? The great part about our conversations is if you find a really good football player, and I mean smart guy, tough guy, a productive player that jumps out on tape, I think it's our job as coaches to have a vision for him. Then I think it's our job schematically to figure out how to make it work for him. I think sometimes coaches look at, 'We're playing 3-4. We're playing 4-3, and he doesn't fit the scheme,' I don't agree with that. I mean let's get the best football players we can and let's figure out what they can do and now it's going to be fun trying to figure out these guys as we watch them do individual and then we watch them play football to figure out how to make it work. That excites me as a coach and I've said that before. I think we've got a lot of pieces now to do that. I was sitting there today in the draft meeting, I even showed him, I was like drawing up different things different guys can do like that. That's fun for me and these are really good players that mixed in with the players that we have, now it's our job to go to work and go through the OTAs and go through training camp and by preseason, we'll see what we can do with them.
(On the same topic on the other side of the ball, you guys added a bunch of players on the o-line, tight end that really can play downhill in a phone booth, and they have other skills as well, but you also inherit a bunch of guys that have excelled at outside zone scheme. How important was it to you guys to diversify what you can do from a running game scheme standpoint?) – "Well I think the guys that we have can run outside zone, can run inside zone, can run gap scheme. I think it's the same thing that I just said; the more we can do, the more our players can do, and then let's figure out what they do best and let's go get good at it."
(We heard General Manager Jon-Eric Sullivan's comments on CB Chris Johnson, but I want to go back to some things you said about how you scout cornerbacks at the league meetings, the three levels of play. When you're watching Chris Johnson play, how did he fare at all three levels?) – "It's cool that you remember that. I think he can win at all three and he can take the ball away and he tackles and he's aggressive and I love his play style and he can play inside. I mean, this was one of my favorite guys in the draft that when we started talking about him and it came time to pick him, I mean, I would not have been surprised if he was taken earlier than we took him. So he can win at those levels. I'm excited to coach him. He was here yesterday. He's got good size to him. He's got length to him. He's a great person. He loves football. I am very excited to get a chance to coach him."
(When it comes to edge rusher, did you hope to maybe get one in-house in the first two days, and then how did you feel about coming away with the two you did get here on Day 3?) – "I just wanted the best player available, and I think that's the cool part about this draft and the process and really learning from him and going through this the first time. It kept coming back to that as we talked – it's 'do you take this?' No, just keep taking the best player you can and we did that and we stuck to it. I think that will help our team as we go forward. And then the other guys that we took, really excited about them. I mean, guys that have versatility. At the end, Max (Llewellyn) has got a toughness to him that we liked. He's a rugged player. He plays really hard. Then even like a guy like Trey Moore, all the things that Trey can do, the amount of sacks that he's had in his career, the ability to play linebacker, the ability to play off the edge. That's really exciting for us, so I look forward to seeing those guys and coaching them."
Jon-Eric Sullivan:
"If I can chime in here, the theme is good football players who can do different things. And as you build a roster, injuries – it's inevitable – injuries are going to happen. So it's no different than in life, right? The more you can do, the more value you bring. That's been our theme all the way through. Let's just collect as many really good football players as we can who can do a lot of different things, throw them in the mix and good things will happen that are also – I know you guys are tired of hearing me use the phrase 'wired right' – but they're wired right. They love what they do and are passionate about what they do and have leadership skills and physical and mental toughness. You're not going to go wrong that way. You can win with that mindset and win with that process. I believe that in my heart of hearts."
Jeff Hafley:
"I agree with 'Sully,' (Jon-Eric Sullivan). I think what should excite people and what's exciting to us as coaches, as I look at these names, these are not only good football players, but they're smart football players. They're tough football players. It's going to be cool to see this group mix together because I think they all have a very similar mindset, and I think they all have a little bit of edge to them. That excites me to start coaching them."
(Now that you guys have this full picture for the draft class and you try to define the scheme, does it work as starting broad and getting more narrow or is it a matter of starting narrow and then building it out once you kind of get a feel for the guys?) – "I think we have right now Bobby (Slowik) on offense and obviously I'll have a say in that as well, and in our defense with Sean (Duggan); we have a system that we're going to run, but there's tweaks within a system and there's evolutions within a system. There's things that we'll think outside the box to add to the system, but in general, we've got a really good solid core foundation of the systems that we're going to run that are in place and we've already started teaching to the guys that are here because let's not forget, we've got some good pieces here already that have been working really hard and doing a really, really good job. We had two really good days of minicamp out there, so this isn't reinventing an offense or defense. This is now plugging in players to see who does what best and creating some really, really good competition, which that is what excites me the most. Any time you can add that, you're going to bring out the best in these guys."
(For an entire secondary that needs to be rebuilt – you guys basically parted ways with just about every starter – why only one cornerback and why one safety?) – "We like a lot of the guys that we have. We've got to spend time with them. We have some guys that were injured last year that are back, and we've got to watch them on the field. And then same with some safeties. We brought in some guys. There's guys that were here and we did – obviously we added a safety. We added Chris (Johnson), and then really even getting Kyle (Louis), who's got the versatility – I know he's listed as a linebacker, but I think you're going to see him move around and do some things back there as well."
Jon-Eric Sullivan:
(Guys talk a lot about size, toughness, versatility. The only player that I guess doesn't necessarily – I don't want to speak on the toughness part of it because we'll learn that in time, but I guess size and versatility – WR Kevin Coleman Jr. is the only player that comes to mind that doesn't necessarily fit those. I'm curious what you guys saw out of him?) – "It was just it was an opportunity to add some explosiveness to the offense. Some speed, guy that's again versatile, can return, help in the return game and has been a good player in the most competitive league in college football in the SEC or at least in my opinion. It was just again an opportunity to add some speed, some juice to that position group and a guy that we think can do multiple things."
