MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins hired former Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley as their coach on Monday, ending a swift search and tasking him with turning around a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game in 25 years.
Hafley replaces Mike McDaniel, who was fired earlier this month after going 35-33 in four seasons. The Dolphins also fired longtime general manager Chris Grier during the season.
“I believe great things are ahead for the Miami Dolphins with Jeff Hafley leading the way,” owner Stephen Ross said in a statement Monday night. “Jeff is an accomplished coach with a proven track record as a leader and motivator. He has tenacity and grit, while at the same time establishing trust with his players in order to get the most out of them.”
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 46-year-old Hafley left his job as head coach at Boston College in 2024 to become defensive coordinator in Green Bay, where he worked with Sullivan for the past two seasons. Hafley also coached San Francisco’s defensive backs from 2016-18 after spending two years as Cleveland’s secondary coach.
Sullivan, formerly Green Bay’s vice president of player personnel, spent 22 seasons with the Packers before becoming the Dolphins’ GM.
“Jeff is a man of integrity, intellect and great passion who players will buy into and play for,” Sullivan said. “He has a vision for the kind of team we will be and the ability to motivate them to move in one direction on the path towards that goal. I’m thrilled to go on this journey with him and together we will build a winner that this organization deserves.”
Under Hafley, Green Bay’s defense ranked in the top 10 of the NFL in yards per play (5.0), yards per pass play (6.01), goal-to-go percentage (68.9) and quarterback hits (98). He's taking over a Dolphins team that
Packers players, who spoke highly of Hafley, had been preparing for the possibility he would become a head coach. He also interviewed for Tennessee’s coaching vacancy.
“That (expletive) would suck,” safety Javon Bullard said this season. “But, you know, that’s the beauty of this profession. That’s the sad part about this profession but it’s also a beautiful thing too. You want everybody to succeed and level up, because that’s the same thing with somebody here going to get a new contract somewhere else.”
The hiring of 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).
“I am excited to see where Jeff leads us,” Ross said, “alongside Jon-Eric Sullivan and our entire football operation, as we seek to return the Dolphins to sustained success.”
McDaniel was let go after going 7-10 and missing the playoffs for the second straight year. That set up an organizational reset that will likely include finding a new quarterback and moving on from former first-round pick Tua Tagovailoa.
Tagovailoa was benched for the final three games of the 2025 season after throwing for 2,660 yards with 20 touchdowns but showing stark declines in accuracy and mobility. He signed a four-year, $212.4 million extension in July 2024 but finished 2025 with 15 interceptions, second most in the NFL and a career high.
Tagovailoa is guaranteed $54 million for 2026, and the Dolphins would incur significant hits to the salary cap by releasing him.
The Dolphins also interviewed former Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski, who was hired as Atlanta’s coach this week; Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak; San Francisco defensive coordinator Robert Saleh; Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula; and Jacksonville defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile, among others, during their search.
AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi in Tampa contributed to this report.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
FILE - Green Bay Packers coach Jeff Hafley holds a ball before an NFL wild-card football game against the Chicago Bears, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File)
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government on Tuesday approved a huge new Chinese Embassy in central London, despite strong criticism from lawmakers across the political spectrum that it could become a base for espionage and intimidation of opponents.
Local Government Secretary Steve Reed formally signed off on plans for the building near the Tower of London, after years of delays and legal challenges.
Critics have long expressed concerns that the supersized embassy, set to be the biggest Chinese Embassy in Europe, will heighten risks of Chinese intelligence-gathering as well as amplify the threat of surveillance and intimidation of Chinese dissidents in exile.
The heads of two U.K. spy agencies said that while it's not realistic to eliminate all risk, appropriate “security mitigations” were in place.
Plans for the embassy have been plagued by objections and protests since 2018, when China’s government bought the site at Royal Mint Court, where Britain's money was once made, for 225 million pounds (around $300 million.)
Opponents say the huge site sits too close to underground fiber optic cables carrying sensitive financial information between London’s two main financial districts. British media have reported that the 20,000 square-meter (a215,278 square-foot) complex would include 208 secret basement rooms close to the data cables.
Dissidents have been among those who have protested the plans, saying a mega embassy housing large numbers of officials would further China’s repression of activists abroad.
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the opposition Conservative Party, joined hundreds of protesters who chanted “no China mega embassy” at the site Sunday.
Many critics argued that approving the embassy was a mistake that went beyond security at the building — they say it sends a signal that Britain was bowing to pressure from Beijing.
Conservative foreign affairs spokeswoman Priti Patel said that “Keir Starmer has sold off our national security to the Chinese Communist Party with his shameful super embassy surrender.”
Local residents said they were “determined to keep fighting today's decision” and planned to challenge the approval in the courts.
Helena Kennedy, a human rights lawyer and Labour Party member of the House of Lords, the upper house of the British Parliament, said that the decision was a dangerous step.
“We cannot reinforce the dangerous notion that Britain will continue to make concessions — such as granting a mega embassy — without reciprocity or regard for the rule of law,” she said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has repeatedly postponed its decision in recent months after multiple cases of alleged Chinese spying and political interference underlined concerns about the proposed embassy.
In November, the domestic intelligence agency MI5 issued an alert to lawmakers warning that Chinese agents were making “targeted and widespread” efforts to recruit and cultivate them using LinkedIn or cover companies.
Beijing has strongly denied those claims, calling them “pure fabrication and malicious slander.”
The heads of the domestic security service MI5 and the electronic intelligence agency GCHQ said in a letter to ministers that “as with any foreign embassy on U.K. soil, it is not realistic to expect to be able wholly to eliminate each and every potential risk.”
“However, the collective work across U.K. intelligence agencies and (government) departments to formulate a package of national security mitigations for the site has been, in our view, expert, professional and proportionate,” MI5 chief Ken McCallum and GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler said.
They said there were “clear security advantages” to consolidating China’s current seven diplomatic premises in London onto one site.
The government said that “no bodies with responsibility for national security ... have raised concerns or objected to the proposal on the basis of the proximity of the cables or other underground infrastructure.”
Starmer has stressed that while protecting national security is nonnegotiable, Britain needs to keep up diplomatic dialogue and cooperation with the Asian superpower.
The approval is widely expected to pave the way for a long-anticipated trip by Starmer to China, and an expansion of the U.K. Embassy in Beijing. The closely watched visit would be the first made by a British prime minister since 2018.
China has complained about the seven-year delay in approving the project, saying the U.K. was “constantly complicating and politicizing the matter.”
Demonstrators hold placards and flags as they attend a protest against the proposed Chinese embassy, in London, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer leaves 10 Downing Street to welcome President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia and after Britain's government has approved a massive new Chinese Embassy in central London in London, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Demonstrators hold placards and flags as they attend a protest against the opening of the new Chinese embassy, in London, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
A general view of Royal Mint Court where is planning site for the new London Chinese embassy, near London's financial district, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
