MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Jon-Eric Sullivan has agreed to join the Dolphins as their general manager, making the former Green Bay Packers executive the first key piece in Miami's organizational reboot.
Sullivan, the Packers' vice president of player personnel, completed an in-person interview this week with the Dolphins, who were expected to move swiftly in hiring a new general manager after parting ways with longtime GM Chris Grier during the season.
“What an incredible honor it is to serve as general manager of the Miami Dolphins, an organization of history, tradition and great pride,” Sullivan said in a statement released by the Dolphins on Friday night. “I want to express my gratitude to (owner) Stephen Ross and his family for this exceptional opportunity and the belief they’ve placed in me to lead this storied franchise forward."
Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman was involved in the hiring.
Sullivan spent 22 seasons with the Green Bay Packers, beginning as a scouting intern in 2003 before earning a full-time position with the team’s football operations department in 2004. In 2022, he was named vice president of player personnel.
He is the son of Jerry Sullivan, a longtime NFL and college coach who was Miami's receivers coach in 2004.
“Jon-Eric brings a clear vision for how to build and run a football team, founded upon his own experience at a winning organization,” Ross said in a statement. “As we went through our search process, it became undeniable the respect Jon-Eric has across the league as a talent evaluator, leader and man of integrity.”
Sullivan’s first task will be finding a new head coach. Mike McDaniel was fired Thursday after four seasons following a 7-10 campaign in which the Dolphins missed the playoffs for the second straight year.
The Dolphins have been linked to former Ravens coach John Harbaugh, though the organization has reportedly not yet heavily pursued him. Other potential candidates who have a connection with Sullivan include Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley; Mike McCarthy, who coached the Packers for more than a decade; and Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile, Green Bay's linebacker's coach in 2024. Campanile also coached Miami's linebackers from 2020-23.
“Now, as we forge ahead, we will build a football team that is resilient, physical and tough," Sullivan said in the statement. "We will compete no matter the circumstances, with the ultimate goal of competing for division championships and Super Bowls."
Sullivan will also need to begin a rebuild of Miami's roster and figure out what to do with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who was benched the final three games of the season because of poor play.
Tagovailoa threw for 2,660 yards with 20 touchdowns last season but showed a stark decline in accuracy and mobility after signing a four-year, $212.4 million extension in July 2024. He finished second in the NFL with 15 interceptions, which was a career high.
Tagovailoa is guaranteed $54 million for 2026, and the Dolphins would incur significant hits to the salary cap by releasing him. Releasing him next year would result in a $99 million dead cap charge. If the move is designated as a post-June 1 release, those charges are split over two years, with $67.4 million allocated to the 2026 cap and $31.8 million in 2027.
With a new GM, little cap space and an incoming new head coach, the Dolphins are embarking on another rebuild after gutting their roster in 2019 and stockpiling draft picks.
But Sullivan should have no trouble turning Miami's franchise around.
He oversaw Green Bay’s college and pro scouting departments in his previous role, working with Packers GM Brian Gutekunst and coach Matt LaFleur. The Packers have reached the playoffs in three of the last four seasons while retooling their roster through the draft, free agency and trades.
Green Bay signed cornerback Keisean Nixon in 2022 and safety Xavier McKinney in 2024 through free agency. Both have since combined for three first-team All-Pro honors and a Pro Bowl selection. The team also acquired defensive lineman Micah Parsons in a blockbuster trade with Dallas ahead of the 2025 season. Sullivan was also involved in Green Bay's selection of quarterback Jordan Love in 2020.
The Packers are currently in the playoffs, set to face Chicago in a wild-card game on Saturday.
Sullivan, a Gardner-Webb University graduate, was a college wide receiver there and at South Carolina. He worked a few years in the corporate world before joining the Packers staff.
AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.
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FILE - Jon-Eric Sullivan, Green Bay Packers director of college scouting, talks in Green Bay, Wis., April 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer, File)
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A crack in a damaged chemical tank in Southern California has eliminated the risk of a catastrophic explosion but it's still not safe enough for the remaining 16,000 residents living closest to the aerospace plant to go home, officials said Tuesday.
Crews were spraying water to keep cooling the tank that overheated last week, prompting the evacuation of 50,000 people in the Orange County city of Garden Grove. Most returned home after a crack formed over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, relieving pressure inside.
The evacuation zone remained the same on Tuesday morning, said Orange County Fire Capt. Brian Yau.
Crews worked overnight to ensure two other nearby tanks were neutralized and would not be affected by the compromised tank, he said, adding that material from one of these two tanks was transferred to another that has a neutralizing agent.
“They are moving material over to ensure that all threats have been eliminated,” Yau said.
Those threats include the risk of a very small explosion and potential spill, officials said.
Exposure to methyl methacrylate — a highly flammable chemical used to make plastics — can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological problems and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The tank at the GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems plant contains 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of the chemical.
The interior cooled to 93 degrees F (33.9 degrees C), the county's fire division chief Craig Covey said Monday, down from 100 degrees (37.7 degrees C) a day earlier. The company said its technical specialists and the county fire authority have removed insulation from the tank to help cool it.
Health officials sought to reassure people who are returning to homes near the plant.
“There was no contamination. There were no fumes,” Orange County Health Director Regina Chinsio-Kwong said at Monday's news conference. “There was not a leak. So it should be, you should feel comfortable going home even if you’re across the street from that new zone line.”
The South Coast Air Quality Management District will monitor the air for several months and the EPA will be checking sewer and storm drains for spills, Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen said.
Garden Grove Unified School District said last week it was shutting a dozen schools through what was supposed to be the last day of the school year on Wednesday but later said only three would remain closed Tuesday. It was unclear if they would reopen before the school year ends this week.
At a parking lot at a large park in Fountain Valley, just southwest of Garden Grove, people sought refuge in an ad hoc shelter there or pitched tents outside. Other people gathered in the park to enjoy Memorial Day.
Kim Yen, a retiree who was still evacuated from her home two blocks from the plant, welcomed news that the worst was not expected.
“I am happy and many of us are happy,” she said Monday.
She said she's ready to go back but wants to be sure it’s safe first. She's also been worrying about the emergency workers, who she called “our heroes.”
As the tank heated up, the chemical converted from liquid to gas, ramping up the pressure and explosion risk, said Andrew Whelton, a Purdue University engineering professor who has studied environmental contamination. Some of the methyl methacrylate may already have hardened into a stable plastic similar to plexiglass, reducing the danger, he said.
The tank could eventually cool enough for crews to safely stabilize and drain the remaining material without triggering a spark or ignition, Whelton said.
However, he said there is still a risk of an explosion while the chemical remains hot and reactive. Temperatures need to fall closer to 60 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 to 21.1 degrees C) before conditions are considered significantly safer, he said.
GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems makes cockpit windows, canopies and windshields for military and commercial aircraft. It employs about 16,000 people across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries, according to the company website.
“We apologize for the ongoing disruption this incident is causing and our priority remains its safe resolution, so that residents can return to their homes as quickly as possible,” the company said.
GKN Aerospace agreed in 2025 to pay state regulators more than $900,000 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.
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This story has been corrected to attribute a quote to TJ McGovern, interim fire chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, not to division chief Craig Covey.
Willingham reported from Boston. Contributing were Associated Press journalists Jamie Stengle in Dallas; Ethan Swope in Garden Grove, California; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.
Two evacuees sit in their pickup truck at a gas station within the evacuation zone in Stanton, Calif., Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
An aerial view shows a police checkpoint enforcing a road closure at the evacuation zone boundary in Anaheim, Calif., Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Jan De Jonge and fiancé Sher Stuckman set up a tent with their belonging and pet outside the Elks Lodge in Garden Grove, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
An evacuation map is displayed at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
People walk outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
An American Red Cross volunteer walks outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif.,on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
People tend to their pets outside Freedom Hall, an evacuation center in Fountain Valley, Calif., on Monday, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
