Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley's media availability on July 28, 2026.

Tell me about this time of year for you as a coach. I guess to fans it's kind of like Christmas or first day of school. What is it like for you as a coach?

Jeff Hafley: I guess it's probably the same thing. I mean, by the time we were finished with OTAs and getting ready for vacation, I think we all needed it physically, mentally. The players certainly physical, the coaches mentally. Then you go on vacation and pretty soon towards the end, at least for myself, you're usually excited and ready to go again, fresh mind, rested and just it's what we do. So excited. It's real football. The pads will eventually come on. You're not just gearing up for OTAs; you're gearing up to play in real football games. So there's a level of urgency, there's a level of excitement. It's what we love to do and it's why we do it. So I can't wait and it's good to be back in the building.

What sort of message do you think was sent to the team of locking up De'Von Achane, Aaron Brewer and Jordyn Brooks, as well as how do you hope this kind of helps the team?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, I think it sends a really positive message, and I think Sully (Jon-Eric Sullivan) did a really nice job, the timing of it and the communication of it. One, production, if you're here and you do a really good job on the field. Two, you do things the right way, you're a good teammate, you're a good person, you make good decisions on and off the field; you'll be rewarded. And I think that's a very clear, very good message to send the younger players on this team, that if those things happen, there's a good chance that we'll take care of them and we'll want them around. We'll want to build this through guys that we see do that, so congrats to those three. I think they've earned it. I was excited to talk to – Achane was done before we left, but Brew (Aaron Brewer) got done shortly after, and then Brooks was after that. So it was exciting to talk to him. They deserve it. And as a coach, when you see a player get rewarded and can take care of himself and his family, that's a really cool deal because sometimes, you got to take a step back and think about the lives that are changed, right? And those are important.

What would you say is the single-most important thing you want to get across to your team on Day 1?

Jeff Hafley: Getting back to how we want to practice. The competitiveness, eventually the physicality, which we'll still have to wait until pads come on, but I want it to be competitive and I want them to feel a sense of urgency in that.

There's some first-year head coaches and first-year with new team head coaches that have had immediate success in the NFL. I don't know if you've studied that at all, but is there anything that you can apply during studying that that you can apply to this team to have immediate success?

Jeff Hafley: I think all those are different, right? Where are they at when you take over? Who's on the team, what the roster looks like, what the division looks like. There's a whole lot that goes into that. So no, I have not taken a lot into that, rather taken into going through our offseason, figuring out who we are, who we have, what we can be good at, what schemes fit who we have and what we can be good at and try to worry about ourselves. I've learned a lot from other coaches around the league, and I'll take a lot of that with me and I'll have questions along the way; but that is not just – I'd be making it up if I told you I did.

How do you work through whether to reference or not bother referencing sort of the national forecasting and projections? We're not oblivious to this. None of us have our head in the sand. So do you bring it up or not so much?

Jeff Hafley: Not immediately, no, but I think there will be moments that I will. I don't think now is the time for that. Now is the time for us to focus on ourselves and for our guys to go out and win jobs, and for our coaches to put together schemes and develop and get ready to play. I think certainly there's a time and a place for that. I'd be lying to you if I just said we're going to ignore it. I'd rather not have that be the main focus because I think that kind of goes in one ear, you get fired up for a couple minutes and then you leave and it has to become real again. So I think there's bigger things to talk about, foundations to build. And maybe if we need a jolt here and there, throw it at them, but nothing I'm concerned about right now.

When you when this fan base looks at this team, whenever they have their availabilities for the seven weeks leading up to the regular season, what do you hope that they see from the Jeff Hafley Dolphins?

Jeff Hafley: Practice wise?

Practice, exhibition season.

Jeff Hafley: I want them to see a physical team that that lays it on the line, that plays together, that has fun together and that can execute without making a lot of pre-snap, post-snap mistakes. A smart football team who plays as hard as they can for as long as they can and enjoys playing together, and that's really important because those are the things that we can control.

It's a big rookie class in both size and importance to the team's future. What did you take away from how they arrived back to training camp and back to the facility last week?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, I mean, they look good. They've been working. And as far as what we did with them, it was all meetings and in the classroom to try to get them a head start. Try to get them going, re-acclimated to the playbook because a lot of it's still new for them. But other than that, watching them in the conditioning test today, I think give us about four or five practices before we kind of get a view on what they look like and how they came back. Again, I don't want to sit here and make anything up. We were in meeting rooms with them and talked to them and they looked good. It looks like they worked out, so that's a positive.

In regard to Chris Bell's eventual return to practice, just so we don't ask every day...

Jeff Hafley: You're going to ask me every day. That's okay if you do. (laughter) No, just ask.

Are we looking more at months than weeks?

Jeff Hafley: 'Months than weeks,' I think that's up in the air. I think he's in a really good place right now, and we'll see, but I don't think it's like way off in the distance, all right, but I am excited where he's at. I can get a smirk on my face and have some optimism there. He's worked really hard. Our training staff, Kyle (Johnston) and those guys and Todd (Hunt) have done a great job with him. I think he's had a great summer and he's in a good spot. You're going to see him running around out there. Did the conditioning test today with the team. So we'll see where it goes. I just, as much as there's optimism and I get excited about where he's at, I think we also have to be careful. So we'll continue to work through it.

Storm Duck and Darrell Baker, same question.

Jeff Hafley: They'll be a little bit further off. They'll be further off down the road. At some point this season, I see them coming back.

And Austin Jackson, we didn't see him in 11-on-11s at the end of minicamp. Is he...?

Jeff Hafley: He's back. He is back.

You told us in the offseason program that you wanted to keep Kadyn Proctor at left guard, just not overwhelm him too much. Does that apply through training camp as well or will you cross-train him?

Jeff Hafley: No, he's going to start off with left guard and try to get good at one position. I think that's fair to him and it's the best thing. Ultimately, we need to do what's best for our team. In this case, I think it's best for him and I think it's best for our team. So that's what we've decided to start and we'll go from there.

During the spring, we saw Malik Willis start to build a rapport and chemistry with the receivers. What do you want to see from him during camp but also at what point do you want to start to see real progress with the chemistry between Malik and the receivers?

Jeff Hafley: I saw progress in the last couple OTA practices, and what I saw was his confidence started to go like this. (gestures upwards) It was not just the reps with the players, but it was the reps of the same plays over and over again and just building those cumulative reps that, he started to feel comfortable with more plays than he did when he started. I think the key for Malik will be, it is his confidence and it is his chemistry with those wideouts. And we need to figure out exactly who those wideouts are and what the chemistry is going to look like, but I want to see his confidence, and I want him to focus in on that and let me take care of the rest. But I'm excited for him. He worked really hard this summer. He was in Jacksonville (doing) a bunch of training. He had a bunch of receivers running routes, running the plays with him, holding workouts out there, which was really cool to see him kind of lead that charge. So we'll see.

When you say confidence, do you mean like his command of the offense, stepping into a new role as starter? Kind of a mix of everything?

Jeff Hafley: A mix of everything. I want to see when he's at the line of scrimmage there's no hesitation. I want to feel his confidence. I want to see his confidence. I want him not to be discouraged when he has a bad throw or throws an interception. I want him to step into that role and all of the above.

Do your plans for training camp include live tackling at any point?

Jeff Hafley: They do. They do. Are you excited about that? They do.

The thinking and signing of Clelin Ferrell?

Jeff Hafley: Just we watched him on film and talking to Sully, a guy who plays really hard. Obviously he was a high draft pick. I think it brings competition to that room. He's got good strength. He's got some good clips on tape and hopefully we can get everything out of him. The more competition that we can bring in, I think you're going to see a lot of that as we turn through things and just see what we can get in him, but I'm excited to work with them. I've really only talked to him briefly because it just happened, but I'm glad that he's here.

With the amount of one-year deals and guys trying to make the team, how do you eliminate the "me, me, me" mentality? And along those same lines, do you empower your leaders to kind of focus on or kind of address this team first mentality or just how do you go about that?

Jeff Hafley: I think everything we do, from coaches to players has to be talked about team first. And I think that just like in anything else, when you have team success, you have individual success. Individual success without team success in my opinion, is meaningless, and we don't want to build our team like that. At the same time, I mean, you're right, we probably have more guys on one-year deals than anybody in the NFL. So a lot of those guys, rightfully so, they're going to be fighting for their jobs. So there's probably going to be times where we have to have those conversations and that's our job to figure it out. I'm not just going to sit here and say that that's never going to happen, because that's not the real world, right? So we'll deal with it when it happens. At the same time, I think you're going to see a lot of guys playing and practicing at a very high level, pushing each other, competing with each other because they know they're on a one-year deal and for some of them, this is it. This is their shot.

Based on what you've learned in a short period of time about Jordyn Brooks and Aaron Brewer, who obviously the organization is now committed to, how does their approach help you set the tone for what you want here?

Jeff Hafley: I think it kind of goes back to what we just talked about. One, production. They're very productive players. We're not just going to reward guys for doing everything the right way, practicing hard, being in the weight room, being great leaders. They're productive. They've had success. But on top of that, I mean, the way those guys go out and practice, the way they are in the meeting room, the way they are in the weight room, the way they take care of their teammates and look after their teammates and try to lead the younger guys; I think it says to everybody on our team, okay, if I go out and I can produce and I do things the right way, then I will be rewarded here. I think that sends a very powerful message to all the young players on our team. I think that's very important and again, I think Sully did a great job there.

The Dolphins were ranked number one in the NFLPA team report card. How do you translate elite player resources into better execution on Sundays?

Jeff Hafley: I mean, I take all of that with a grain of salt, right? I mean, all that report card, all that stuff is great. I'm just not overly concerned about that. I'm concerned about obviously, the support here and Mr. Ross and ownership has done an unbelievable job. All the resources, everything that they put into it, it's all there for them. And now we need to use all that and we need to use this training camp to go out and get better and develop these players and have the results show up on the field.

We saw that Jordyn Brooks drove to the facility to (celebrate) Jacob Rodriguez after he got drafted. Just how important is that relationship going to be moving forward?

Jeff Hafley: It'll be really important. They also spent time together training this summer, which I thought was really cool. When you guys get a chance, you guys can talk to them about that. Obviously there's a connection there with where they went to school, right? So that's pretty powerful. They both are linebackers, so they're going to be working together, but again, I think it relates back to your question. You get a guy who's a vet and he could kind of probably go out and just do whatever he wants on his own, but instead he's bringing a guy along and trying to help him, which I don't think everybody does in this league. There's some vets that are really good players that they come in, they do their job, they focus on themselves, they get their plays done, they work really hard and they leave. He's taking an extra step on trying to help and bring along a younger player, which I think says everything about him.

Florida high school football started practice yesterday. Any advice for the kids stepping onto the field this year?

Jeff Hafley: Enjoy it. A lot of football memories, right? I've been doing this from college to the NFL. Some of my best memories are still in high school with the guys you kind of grew up playing with, which is becoming even rarer right now in college because your teammates are different teammates every year. So it's the one time where a lot of times it's the guys you grew up with, the guys you were playing in the backyard with, the guys you're now in the locker room with. Just enjoy it. It's one of the best times of your life and I wish everybody good luck.

How did you yourself prepare to lead your first NFL training camp as a head coach? Did you reach out to certain guys for advice, study things that you've seen in the past?

Jeff Hafley: This summer I rested my mind because I was exhausted. I spent a lot of time with my family. I think the biggest thing for me is always coming in with a clear head. I do some reading over the summer. It's the only time where I can do that. I have time, so sometimes I just look for different ways to say things and what I want to say, but maybe different ways to say it. I talked to certain coaching friends and bounce ideas off of, but the biggest thing for me is that I have to continue to remind myself is I just want to be myself. I think that's where people can get caught up. At least for me, I'm just going to do this and be myself and kind of bounce ideas off of certain guys, but I don't want to change who I am. I want to do it a certain way. I want to trust the guys that we have on this staff to help. I think we have a really good staff put together. Lean on them, get really tight with these players and just be myself.

So there's like a balance between I guess, preparing and overpreparing...?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, because here's what happens, right? It's all of a sudden, it's, oh, I found this great idea or these great slogans or these great things that I'd like to do for team building. But deep down, that's really not you. And then all of a sudden you become someone you're not. And do you really believe in that stuff? So I'm going to do and preach and talk about the stuff that I truly believe in, so it's real, because I think that's really important. They feel that from me, so I'm just not 'bs-ing' them and looking at a book and throwing up quotes that I don't even really know where they came from or what they mean but sometimes they give you some good thoughts

Is De'Von Achane cleared for full?

Jeff Hafley: Ready to go.

What did you read?

Jeff Hafley: I'm not telling you. (laughter)

What kind of books do you read?

Jeff Hafley: I don't read, like storybooks, if that's what you're asking. I don't have time. (laughter)

Did you see Odyssey in IMAX? It was awesome.

Jeff Hafley: No, you know what I did see? The movie. Can you guess the one movie I went...?

Toy Story.

Jeff Hafley: I did. Why is that funny? You see, he went. I went and saw Toy Story 5. Did you see it? My kids were so excited to see it. It was actually very good. So yeah, some good lessons in that. You can find lessons and you can find thoughts in anything that you watch. No romance novels though.

Did you watch the World Cup?

Jeff Hafley: I had it on. Yeah, I had it on. As long as there was a TV, I had it on. Usually I like to check out like the last five minutes when it got really exciting, root for the shootouts, but I always had it on so it was fun to watch. I thought that was really cool.

Didn't go to any games here at the stadium?

Jeff Hafley: I didn't.

Would you would you rather have a number one NFLPA ranking or a lower ranking and a Super Bowl win?

Jeff Hafley: In all due respect to the report card, I want to win. They can grade me whatever they want, I want to win and I want to do it the right way. That's the report card, right? So how we do it, how we build the foundation, how hard we play, how physical we play, how we grow throughout the way, how we develop these players, finding small victories and little things; like those are the report cards, right? There's going to be some hard conversations with some guys that, we're not going to be able to keep everybody. There's going to be some guys that beat some people out, and I'm going to be honest with them and not everybody's going to like what I say. And I'm not going to sugarcoat stuff. I'm going to tell them the truth. And there's going to be some people that might not grade me high because of... that's just, I don't care. I want to do it the right way and build this thing the right way so we can win. And that's what I care about.