Chris Perkins: Five major takeaways from Dolphins' offseason

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Miami Dolphins’ rebuild is in full swing. And now that general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and coach Jeff Hafley are about to turn the page this week from the end of the offseason (free agency, draft, organized team activities and minicamp) to focusing on the regular season, starting with next month’s training camp and then the opener in September, it’s a good time to examine the offseason.

The Dolphins, such as most NFL teams, embark on a six-week break between Thursday’s final OTAs to the start of training camp in late July.

So let’s review the five most important things we learned during this offseason.

Dolphins headed in a good direction

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again because it’s a crucial first step in the rebuild — Sullivan and Hafley have this organization pointed in the right direction through both word and deed.

There’s no guarantee that they’ll deliver the franchise’s first playoff victory since 2000, or that either will still be held in high regard in, say, two or three years.

But for now, among knowing that they want to build from inside to the outside, knowing they want to run the ball, and knowing they want to play strong defense all indications are that the emphasis is in the right areas.

In other words, the Dolphins are now about substance more than style.

Hafley reminds one player of Belichick

Hafley is striking the right chord with players in the sense he reminds one of one of the game’s all-time great coaches — Bill Belichick.

Hafley said culture change and establishing a new standard are the two most important things he’s done since being named head coach in January. What does that look like in practice?

It’s exacting.

“There’s a focus on every little detail right now,” said wide receiver Malik Washington, the 2024 sixth-round pick.

Dolphins linebacker Josh Uche, who spent five years in New England with Belichick (2020-24), sees similarities between the way the coaches conduct practices.

“It’s just detailed,” Uche said of Hafley’s practices. “Like coach Belichick, any little thing he saw, it was like, bro, he’s pressing it. With Coach Haf, it’s the same detail. Like, every little detail matters. And that’s how you win games.”

Hafley is succinct with a sense of humor

Hafley is intense. That’s the first thing to know about him. You get a sense of his intensity during his press conferences, which are informative above all else, and his answers, which are almost always succinct.

Compared to former coach Mike McDaniel, whose news conferences were almost like a standup comedy show (that’s not a criticism; I liked and respected McDaniel, and still feel that way), Hafley’s news conferences answer twice as many questions.

And, such as McDaniel, Hafley jokes around.

Prior to recent news conferences he’s playfully chastised one media member for owning two cell phones, chastised another for not having their cell phone on silent/vibrate, and he got on the media group as a whole for allowing one media member to ask so many questions in a short time period.

It’s been an enlightening and entertaining first few months.

Quarterbacks seem OK

Quarterback Malik Willis, the four-year veteran and first-year starter, and fellow quarterback Quinn Ewers, the 2025 seventh-round draft pick, have both been good during the offseason workout program.

Yes, they struggled Tuesday. And we don’t yet know whether either can consistently win games during the season.

But overall their offseasons have gone well.

Willis, who works with an unproven group of starters, has clearly been the better quarterback. He makes fewer mistakes, has a stronger arm, and offers the ability to use his legs, a trait we haven’t yet seen. Hafley complimented Willis’ confidence Tuesday.

“Even the conversation I had with Malik today walking down the hallway, you can just see he’s more comfortable. He understands the answers that are being provided for him on each play, and I think he looks as good as he’s looked since I’ve known him.”

Ewers, who works with a less-than-average group of reserves, has been solid but hasn’t displayed any above-average qualities. Still, Hafley complimented Ewers, offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, quarterbacks coach Bush Hamdan and passing game coordinator Kevin Patullo.

“I think Quinn has gotten better,” Hafley said. “And I just think Bobby and Bush and KP, they’ve all done a really nice job in that (quarterbacks) room and will be excited to really ramp them up once we get to training camp.”

Throughout the offseason program, Willis, the unchallenged choice as the starter, has been better at making players better.

Practices are active and interactive

We’ve previously told you about the Dolphins offseason practices, about how they feature a lot of teaching and interaction — coach-to-player, player-to-player and coach-to-coach.

You also see some competition in practice. For example, a recent minicamp practice featured the defensive backs split into two groups in a competitive drill that featured the losing team doing pushups.

Also, there seems to be less wasted motion in practices nowadays, which means players participating in drills more frequently and standing around less frequently.

Sully and Haf are big on competition, and we’ve seen more of it in our limited practice viewings.