It was fair to wonder whether Jeff Hafley and Jon-Eric Sullivan would raid the Green Bay Packers’ coaching staff after taking the general manager and head coach positions with the Miami Dolphins, respectively.
That’s typically how these moves unfold around the league, especially when an organization is coming off sustained success. Matt LaFleur has built a staff in Green Bay that guided the league’s youngest roster to the playoffs in three consecutive seasons.
So far, that has not been the case. Outside of Ryan Downard, Sean Duggan, and Wendel Davis – Green Bay’s former defensive backs and linebackers coaches, respectively, and its defensive quality control coach – Matt LaFleur’s staff has largely remained intact. On the one hand, it’s good for LaFleur that he’s been able to retain most of his trusted assistants. On the other hand, it raises a larger question, one that, when you really think about it, is genuinely concerning.
What does it say about the staff that Hafley chose not to take more of those assistants with him?
Miami is Hafley’s first head-coaching opportunity, so it seems like it would only be natural for him to bring along assistants he worked with after returning to the NFL in 2024.
Instead, he promoted Bobby Slowik to offensive coordinator. Slowik previously worked with the San Francisco 49ers as an offensive assistant in 2019 before moving into pass-game-focused roles in 2021 and 2022. While the Niners ranked fifth in EPA per play during that stretch, Kyle Shanahan was the mastermind behind the offense.
Slowik then became the offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans in 2023, a role he held through the 2024 season. He played a key role in developing C.J. Stroud during his Offensive Rookie of the Year campaign, but the broader offensive results were underwhelming. Over those two seasons, Houston ranked 21st in EPA per play and 28th in success rate.
So, aside from an outlier rookie season from Stroud, Slowik’s track record has been underwhelming when he’s stepped into larger roles. Still, Hafley viewed him as a better option than Adam Stenavich, even though Green Bay’s offensive coordinator has coached under Kyle Shanahan and Matt LaFleur, two of the best offensive minds in the NFL.
The fact that Stenavich doesn’t call plays on game day – those duties belong to LaFleur – may have factored into Hafley’s decision. After all, Hafley will call the defense in Miami, which makes having an offensive coordinator with play-calling experience a more practical fit.
Still, it’s notable that no reports ever surfaced of Stenavich interviewing with the Dolphins. He interviewed with the Tennessee Titans for their offensive coordinator vacancy, but Tennessee ultimately hired Brian Daboll.
That makes the fit question even more interesting, because Hafley has said he prefers an offense built around playing under center, running the ball, and being physical – core principles of the successful modern NFL offense that has reshaped how the game is played. That system comes from the Shanahan tree, which Stenavich has been part of throughout his entire NFL coaching career.
It’s also notable that Hafley didn’t poach Jason Vrabel or Luke Butkus from Green Bay’s staff. Vrabel was hired as an offensive assistant in 2019, promoted to wide receivers coach in 2020, and held that role through 2022 before adding passing game coordinator responsibilities.
Butkus served as an offensive line assistant from 2019 through 2021 before taking over as offensive line coach in 2022. During that span, Green Bay fielded a top-10 offensive line for three straight seasons, though the unit ranked 21st in pass protection in 2025. The overall results are respectable, but the turbulence of the 2025 season may have been enough for Hafley to look elsewhere rather than bring that inconsistency with him to Miami.
For a first-year head coach to pass on nearly an entire offensive staff that has worked within one of the most influential systems in the modern NFL is interesting, at the very least. Since LaFleur arrived in 2019 – when most of those assistants came with him – the Packers have ranked in the top three in both EPA per play and dropback EPA per play.
Green Bay’s system itself is clearly not outdated. Still, it makes you wonder how those position coaches are viewed around league circles, especially when so much of that production was driven by Aaron Rodgers’ back-to-back MVP seasons and, more recently, by LaFleur and Jordan Love getting elite results out of the youngest roster in the league.
