The sudden availability of veteran head coach John Harbaugh for the 2026 NFL hiring circle may end up working out just perfectly for the Green Bay Packers.
The Packers will play a playoff game in two days and are in no position to start thinking too much about which members of their staff they might lose and need to replace in the 2026 offseason, but that has not stopped eliminated teams from pursuing their talent.
Specifically, the Miami Dolphins have honed in on one of the Packers’ top front-office executives — vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan — as a candidate for their general manager job. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Sullivan is one of the final four candidates for the job and will have a second-round interview this week.
When it comes to the Harbaugh of it all, though, the Packers may catch a break if the Dolphins decide to prioritize him as their top candidate for their head-coaching job.
Dolphins May Pass on Sullivan to Pursue John Harbaugh
The Dolphins fired Mike McDaniel after four seasons as their head coach on Thursday, January 8, less than 48 hours after the Baltimore Ravens parted ways with Harbaugh. They also have a GM candidate among their final four with strong ties to Harbaugh.
“As of last night, the Miami Dolphins had had no contact with John Harbaugh or his camp, per sources. I’d expect that to change,” ESPN’s Peter Schrager wrote Thursday morning on X. “And if you’re connecting dots, Chad Alexander (interviewing for Dolphins’ GM job) has a long history with Harbaugh from their Baltimore days.”
Alexander went from area scout to assistant director of pro personnel for the Ravens ahead of Harbaugh’s second season as head coach in 2009 and worked alongside him until 2019, when he took the director of player personnel job with the New York Jets.
If the Dolphins feel Harbaugh still values that connection, they could make pairing him with Alexander their top priority for their GM job, which would take Sullivan out of the running for the position and keep him in place as a valuable member of the Packers.
Packers Receiving Interview Requests for Jeff Hafley
While keeping Sullivan in the front office would benefit the Packers, he is not the only staffer who has received outside interest ahead of the first round of the NFL playoffs.
The Atlanta Falcons, Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans have also all requested to interview Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley for their head-coaching vacancies, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. The Packers must first permit the teams to speak with Hafley, but he is eligible to start interviewing for jobs after the wild-card round.
Expectations have been that Hafley would be a popular head-coaching candidate for teams during the 2026 hiring cycle after leading the Packers defense to back-to-back successful seasons in 2024 and 2025. Not only does he have more than half a dozen seasons of experience as an NFL position coach, but he also worked as the head coach at Boston College before Matt LaFleur hired him to replace Joe Berry in 2024.
“Hearing my name out there, it’s obviously extremely flattering and very humbling,” Hafley said on January 7 about his hiring interest. “I think when you work for an organization like the Packers and have a head coach like Matt, and players like we do and a defensive staff like we do, I’m just honored to be in those.
“I think right now with all that stuff, it can be a distraction. So I’m trying to lock in on these playoffs and do the best that we can, and then whenever that time comes, we’ll figure it out and go from there.”
Packers Could Benefit From Latest John Harbaugh News