Miami Dolphins Open Training Camp as the Jeff Hafley Era Finally Begins

Training camp is no longer hypothetical in South Florida: Miami Dolphins rookies reported to the Baptist Health Training Complex on Tuesday, July 21, with veterans due a week later. That makes this the first real football week of the Jeff Hafley era — and the first time we get to see, in person, what's left after the most sweeping teardown in franchise history. Since January, the Miami Dolphins have fired their head coach, hired a new general manager and coaching staff, released Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill, traded Jaylen Waddle and Minkah Fitzpatrick, and handed the quarterback job (probably) to Malik Willis. Other than that, quiet offseason.

Miami Dolphins News This Week: Rookies In, Previews Rolling

The seven days leading into Tuesday's report date were mercifully free of drama — no signings, no trades, no injury designations surfaced — which counts as a win for a franchise that has generated headlines for all the wrong reasons since October. Instead, the team site rolled out camp previews, and they were revealing. The quarterback installment made the hierarchy plain: Willis is positioned as the starter, with Quinn Ewers, 2025 sixth-rounder Cam Miller and undrafted rookie Mark Gronowski behind him. New GM Jon-Eric Sullivan's framing of Willis was emphatic: "This is not a band-aid... He's got all the traits in the world. He's got an elite arm."

The receiver preview underlined just how much turnover happened: a 13-man room featuring exactly zero of the names that defined the McDaniel-era passing game. Malik Washington, entering year three, is now the longest-tenured wideout on the roster. Around him: veteran fliers like Jalen Tolbert, Tutu Atwell, Terrace Marshall Jr. and Jalen Reagor, plus a wave of rookies headlined by third-rounders Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell. Meanwhile, Hill — cut in February while rehabbing the knee he dislocated last season — remains unsigned, with at least one league insider suggesting he may not play at all in 2026.

How the Teardown Happened

For anyone who checked out after Week 18, a recap of the winter, because it was seismic. GM Chris Grier was already gone, dismissed midseason on October 31. Mike McDaniel was fired January 8 after four seasons; he resurfaced quickly as the Chargers' offensive coordinator. Sullivan arrived from Green Bay's front office the next day, and on January 19 Miami hired Hafley — the Packers' defensive coordinator — as head coach on a five-year deal, the eighth straight Dolphins head coach with no prior NFL head-coaching experience. His staff: Bobby Slowik running the offense, Sean Duggan the defense, Chris Tabor on special teams.

Then the roster went into the wood chipper:

• February 16: Hill released, along with Bradley Chubb and James Daniels.
• March 9: Tagovailoa released with a post-June 1 designation after the team couldn't find a trade — Sullivan admitted they preferred one but "it didn't work out." Miami absorbs roughly $99 million in dead money over two years, a record-setting bill. Tua landed in Atlanta on a one-year deal. Longtime kicker Jason Sanders was also let go.
• March 11: Fitzpatrick traded to the Jets for a seventh-round pick.
• March 17: Waddle traded to Denver for a package headlined by the No. 30 overall pick.

The rebuild's incoming class was mostly one-year veteran deals — Joshua Uche, David Ojabo, Willie Gay, Tolbert, Atwell and others — plus the one enormous exception: Willis, signed away from Green Bay for three years and $67.5 million, $45 million fully guaranteed, on the strength of six career starts and the conviction of two men who watched him daily in Green Bay. And in one genuinely warm story, De'Von Achane signed a four-year, $64 million extension in May after making the Pro Bowl, saying the team "made it clear" he wasn't going anywhere.

The Quarterback Question Hanging Over Camp

Willis got starter money, but Hafley has been careful not to anoint him outright. Ewers, who took over for a benched Tua down the stretch last season as a rookie, impressed enough in spring work that the coach went out of his way to praise him: "I want Quinn to continue to get better and battle and compete... I'm really pleased with where he's at right now." The realistic read: Willis opens September 13 in Las Vegas as QB1, and Ewers is the in-house insurance policy with a real developmental arrow. But $45 million guaranteed for a player with six starts is the kind of bet that defines a GM's tenure either way, and camp is where we learn whether the "elite arm" talk survives contact with live pass rushes.

Roster Battles and Rookies to Watch

Miami's draft leaned into the trenches and the secondary. Alabama tackle Kadyn Proctor arrived at No. 12 after a small trade down, and San Diego State corner Chris Johnson at No. 27 — acquired by packaging the Waddle pick — walks into arguably the most open competition on the roster, since starting corners Jack Jones, Rasul Douglas and Kader Kohou all departed from a secondary that managed just nine interceptions last season. Other battles worth tracking: Jaylen Wright versus rookie Ollie Gordon II for the carries behind Achane, and Jonah Savaiinaea's move back to right guard after a rough rookie year in pass protection. Second-round linebacker Jacob Rodriguez and a deep rookie receiver class round out a draft haul that graded out among the league's better ones.

How 2025 Set All This Up

The 7-10 finish undersells how strange last season was. Miami started 1-6, fired its GM, then ripped off a 5-1 stretch that briefly made the playoff math interesting before a Week 15 loss to Pittsburgh ended it. Tagovailoa was benched for Ewers before Week 16 after an inconsistent, 15-interception season and some pointed public comments about teammates. Hill's season ended in Week 4 with the catastrophic knee injury. The bright spots were real — Jordyn Brooks made first-team All-Pro, Achane made the Pro Bowl — but the franchise's postseason-win drought reached a quarter century, and ownership concluded the whole apparatus needed replacing. Hence: everything above.

What's Next on the Miami Dolphins Calendar

The runway to real football is short. Key dates:

• July 28: Veterans report to Miami Gardens
• August 2: First of nine open training-camp practices, including an August 8 session at Hard Rock Stadium
• August 14: Preseason opener at Washington
• August 20-22: Joint practice with the Giants, then the home preseason game against them
• August 28: Preseason finale vs. Atlanta at Hard Rock — a potential Tua reunion, if he suits up
• September 13: Week 1 at the Las Vegas Raiders, 4:25 p.m. ET

The regular-season schedule sprinkles reunion games throughout: a trip to Denver (Waddle), a trip to Green Bay (Hafley, Sullivan and Willis all returning), and the Chargers visiting Hard Rock with McDaniel calling their plays.

Nobody serious expects the Miami Dolphins to contend in 2026; that's not what this year is for. This year is for finding out whether Willis justifies the bet, whether Proctor and Johnson look like cornerstones, and whether Hafley can build the kind of physical, defense-first identity Miami hasn't had in a decade. The evaluation started Tuesday when the rookies walked in the door. For a fan base that has watched three regimes chase the same mirage, starting clean might be the most honest thing this franchise has done in years.