When new Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan explained his philosophy in an in-house interview last weekend, he mentioned that one reason building the team primarily through the draft is essential is this:
“Culture is everything. When you raise your own, they’re bought in. They understand what the standard is.”
No NFL players are more familiar with the culture that Sullivan and new coach Jeff Hafley will try to create in Miami than Green Bay Packers players. Hafley, of course, was the Packers’ defensive coordinator for the past two seasons, while Sullivan worked in the team’s front office and personnel departments for two-plus decades.
So it’s natural to keep several impending Packers free agents in the back of all of our minds.
The most tantalizing, quarterback Malik Willis, could command $15 million annually or more in a QB-needy market. “Two years, $45 million,” predicted ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Chase Daniels.
The problem is the Dolphins are $30 million over the cap and creating space to operate as a functional team this offseason — and have enough leftover for Willis — would be very difficult, requiring Miami to part with several players they otherwise might choose to keep.
Willis is positioned to land the biggest contract in a weak QB free agent class, and Sullivan must decide whether it’s worth moving financial mountains for a player who flamed out in Tennessee but thrived in two years as the Packers backup.
Filling in for Jordan Love in three starts and moments of eight other games over two seasons, Willis completed 70 of 89 passes for 972 yards for six touchdowns and no interceptions (a 134.6 passer rating), went 2-1 as a starter and ran 42 times for 261 yards (6.2 per carry), with three touchdowns and 15 first downs.
A third-round pick of the Titans, Willis threw only 66 passes (no touchdowns, three picks) before Tennessee prematurely gave up on him.
Among the Packers other impending unrestricted free agents:
▪ Edge player Kingsley Enegbare: Beyond Willis, this is the one that makes the most sense for Miami because he was raised in the Packers system, plays a position of need for the Dolphins and wouldn’t break the bank.
The former fifth-round pick out of South Carolina started seven games as a rookie, four games the next season, seven games in Year 3, but just three this season.
He has 11.5 sacks in four seasons. This season, he had two sacks and 39 tackles (including six for loss). The 6-4, 258-pounder played between 468 and 511 defensive snaps (42 to 47 percent) each of his four seasons.
Pro Football Focus rated him 76th among all 118 edge players this season — better than Bradley Chubb (100) and Chop Robinson (101).
What’s more, PFF rated him 50th against the run, compared to 61 for Robinson and 71 for Chubb.
Spotrac.com projects he’s in line for $5.9 million next season, but his market could exceed that.
The Dolphins are in such cap hell that Chubb might need to take another pay cut to stick around. (That’s merely speculation at this point.) He likes it here, but if he doesn’t stay, then Miami needs three rotation edge players to join Robinson next season. At least one very likely will come from April’s draft.
▪ Linebacker Quay Walker: Like Willis, he spent his first two NFL seasons in Tennessee and last two in Green Bay. He had 128 tackles and 2.5 sacks, but his price is likely too high (spotrac.com projects he will command nearly $10 million per season) and inside linebacker is not a glaring need for Miami.
▪ Receiver Romeo Doubs: The four-year veteran who was drafted and developed by the Packers would be appealing, but money would be the big impediment, considering the Dolphins’ cap constraints. He caught 55 passes for 724 yards and six touchdowns; spotrac projects him to command $12 million a year.
▪ Tight end John FitzPatrick: He’s a highly skilled blocker (in the mold of Miami’s Julian Hill), but this one is tricky, because he’s recovering from a December torn Achilles.
A sixth-round pick of the Falcons in 2023, he lasted in Atlanta for one year before Green Bay brought in before the 2024 season.
It was notable that the Packers raised his offensive snap count from 73 in 2024 to 335 last season, and he had 12 receptions for 72 yards and a touchdown in 15 games and four starts. He would be very cheap to sign coming off the Achilles.
▪ Interior lineman Sean Rhyan: A third-round pick of the Packers in 2022, he started 17 and 11 games at guard or center the past two seasons, but it would be difficult to project him as a starter after a year in which PFF rated him the NFL’s worst pass-blocking center (29 pressure, one sack allowed). He was middle of the pack as a run blocker.
He has position versatility, but if Miami pursued him, he would be a backup behind center Aaron Brewer and potentially a No. 3 guard with a chance to compete maybe for something more.
▪ Safety Zayne Anderson: He played his first two seasons in Kansas City and past three in Green Bay, where he played regularly on special teams but started only two games (both coming in 2024). His defensive snaps each year in Green Bay: 0, 123 and 22 this year. So he wouldn’t be pursued as a starting safety, obviously.
▪ Linebacker Nick Neimann: Spent four years with the Chargers and didn’t play a single defensive snap in his one season with the Packers (2025). So move along.
▪ Rasheed Walker: The left tackle could command $20 million in free agency. Miami is covered at left tackle with Patrick Paul, whom Sullivan identified as a building block during his in-house interview.
▪ The Packers have another nine players under team control: five restricted free agents (running back Emmanuel Wilson, corner Bo Melton, right tackle Darian Kinard, running back and ex-Dolphins Chris Brooks and edge player Brenton Cox) as well as four exclusive rights free agents (defensive tackle Jonathan Ford, cornerback, Kamal Hadden, guard Donovan Jennings and kicker Alex Hale).
It’s pointless to speculate on their futures since they’re not slated to be on the open market.
This and that
▪ Hafley will get to work immediately on filling his staff.
On offense, among names that have drawn speculation include Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich (a former offensive line coach who doesn’t call the plays in Green Bay but worked with Hafley in Green Bay and San Francisco); Dolphins passing game coordinator Bobby Slowik (who worked with Hafley for two years in Green Bay; he’s interviewing for the Eagles’ OC job) and Steve Shimko (the Cowboys’ QB coach and Hafley’s offensive coordinator at Boston College).
Also keep in mind Packers QB coach Sean Mannion. Popular radio host Grant Paulsen said: “I‘d expect new Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley to bring Packers QBs coach Sean Mannion with him to Miami.
“Mannion was a backup QB in the NFL from 2015 to 2023 and has been on GB’s staff the last two years… Up-and-coming OC type everybody’s looking for.”
As Dolphins podcaster Chris Kouffman noted, names that would make some sense for defensive coordinator include Jaguars linebackers coach Tem Lukabu (was Hafley’s DC at Boston College and coached with him in three other places) and Packers linebackers coach Sean Duggan, who was Hafley’s co-defensive coordinator at BC and also coached with him at Ohio State.
▪ Hafley’s hiring drew positive reaction around the league.
Former Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman, who played for Hafley in San Francisco, said: “His preparation is some of the best I’ve seen. I’ve had some great DB coaches and he’s right up there — his preparation, how he breaks down film. How easy he makes it for guys to understand.”
“Genuinely happy for Haf!” Packers star linebacker Micah Parsons said on X. “Great guy, great person! Gonna miss his energy!”
Former Packers executive Andrew Brandt said he “knew there would be no chance he would be back with the Packers. Too good.”
Former NFL cornerback Logan Ryan predicted this past season that Hafley is “going to be the hottest coach” this January. “You need to get this guy. Brilliant mind, great guy. He saved my career. I was struggling to find what I was good at. He found that fire in me.… He gets the best [from players].”
As SI.com’s Albert Breer said, “He’s got a way of building relationships with people, a good job reaching people. He’s got a good eye for talent and a good ability to develop them.”
This story was originally published January 20, 2026 at 12:26 PM.
Barry Jackson
Miami Herald
Barry Jackson has written for the Miami Herald since 1986 and has written the Florida Sports Buzz column since 2002.
