New Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley says his team isn’t rebuilding, and good players wouldn’t want to to be part of a rebuilding team.
Hafley was asked today about the idea that the Dolphins are a rebuilding team, and he said that’s not a word you’ll hear around the team facility.
“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 you say, ‘We’re just going to rebuild this year.’ That’s just not the mentality of any competitor who’s made it to this level or any coach who’s made it to this level,” Hafley said. “Whether it’s practice or whether it’s a drill I think we all want to win it. Our mindset is we need to get better, we need to develop, and everything we do is going to be about competing to get better. We want to win, so I just don’t think any player or any coach is going to say we’re going to throw in the towel and rebuild, so that’s probably why no one is hearing that. If you had a group of players saying that, then I think we got the wrong players.”
It’s fair to say that some of the Dolphins’ offseason moves, most notably trading No. 1 receiver Jaylen Waddle to the Broncos, were the moves you’d expect of a rebuilding team. But the players who are on the 2026 Dolphins want to win, and Hafley wouldn’t want it any other way.
