Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley met with the South Florida media ahead of the team’s second day of training camp practices in Miami Gardens. He was asked about the roster’s sweeping changes this offseason and how his players and coaches are dealing with the idea of a “rebuild” for the franchise.
“I don’t know how you can have a conversation with a competitive player or a competitive coach and have it sit right with them where we’re just going to say, ‘We’re just going to rebuild this year.’
I mean, that’s just not the mentality of any competitor who’s made it to this level or any coach that’s made it to this level… Whether it’s practice or whether it’s a drill, I think we all want to win it. And our mindset is, we need to get better, we need to develop — and everything that we do is going to be out competing to get better throughout the process. And we want to win, so I just don’t think any player or any coach is going to sit here and say, ‘We’re just going to throw in the towel and just rebuild.’ So that’s probably why no one’s hearing that. I think if you had a group of players saying that, then I think we’ve got the wrong players.”
It’s clear that despite the challenges that face an organization in flux, Hafley and the rest of the team are doing their best to prepare for those moments when they arrive. The 2026 Miami Dolphins may not win a lot of games due to the amount of roster turnover they’ve experienced and the cap constraints that go along with such major moves, but they’ll surely be trying their hardest to field a squad their loyal fanbase can be proud of once the season is in the books.
