Hafley hired, McDermott fired as NFL coaching carousel reaches record high turnover
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Miami Dolphins and Jeff Hafley have reached an agreement to make the former Boston College head coach and Packers defensive coordinator their coach, a person with knowledge of the decision told the Associated Press on Monday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because a contract hadn’t been finalized.
Hafley replaces Mike McDaniel, who was fired after going 35-33 in four seasons. The Dolphins also fired longtime general manager Chris Grier during the season.
Hafley, who spent two seasons in Green Bay, met with the Dolphins for a second interview earlier Monday before he was offered the job. He will rejoin new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan in Miami.
The hiring of the 46-year-old Hafley continues Dolphins owner Stephen Ross’ trend of gambling on candidates without prior NFL head coaching experience. Ross has not hired a proven NFL coach since becoming the Dolphins’ majority owner in 2009. He previously took chances on Joe Philbin (2012-2015), Adam Gase (2016-18), Brian Flores (2019-21) and McDaniel (2022-25).
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Sean McDermott arrived in Buffalo in 2017, envisioning the day of looking out his office window and seeing a throng of fans celebrating a Super Bowl victory.
That possibility ended Monday, when McDermott was abruptly fired by team owner Terry Pegula following a nine-year tenure in which the coach transformed the Bills into perennial contenders but fell short of reaching the Super Bowl.
The move came two days after a heart-wrenching 33-30 overtime loss at Denver in the divisional round of the playoffs.
The new structure features general manager Brandon Beane being promoted to president of football operations. Beane will oversee his first coaching search since arriving in Buffalo five months after McDermott, who replaced Rex Ryan following two seasons in Buffalo.
Atlanta hired former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski over the weekend, which comes after the Giants hired John Harbaugh. Arizona, Baltimore, Buffalo, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Tennessee all have openings.
Bo Nix's broken ankle has placed Jarrett Stidham into most unusual territory.
After throwing no passes and taking four offensive snaps all season, Stidham will now take over as starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos in the AFC title game Sunday against New England.
According to Sportradar, Stidham will be the seventh quarterback since starts began being tracked in 1950 to start a playoff game in a season when he didn't start in the regular season.
Frank Reich was the only one of those six QBs to win as a fill-in when he won two starts for Buffalo in the 1992 playoffs in place of Jim Kelly.
Stidham will join Joe Webb as the only QB to start a playoff game after not throwing a pass in the regular season and the second to make his first start in the conference title game or Super Bowl. Roger Staubach made his first start in the 1972 season in the NFC title game for Dallas the year after winning Super Bowl MVP.
The other QBs include Washington’s Taylor Heinicke in 2020, the Raiders’ Connor Cook (2016), the Vikings’ Joe Webb (2012) and the Lions’ Gary Danielson (1983).
