The Miami Dolphins have been one of the busiest teams across the NFL early in the offseason. Less than 24 hours after firing head coach Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins hired former Green Bay Packers executive Jon-Eric Sullivan to be their new general manager after they fired Chris Grier midway through the 2025 campaign. Now, the team will turn its attention to finding a proper replacement for McDaniel.
One guy Miami was expected to be interested in hiring was recently fired Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, but its general manager decision seemed to indicate the team was headed in another direction. However, shortly after hiring Sullivan, the Dolphins have made a surprising move involving Harbaugh that will catch fans’ attention.
Dolphins Express Interest in Hiring John Harbaugh
There’s been a lot of smoke surrounding the Dolphins’ interest in Harbaugh. Shortly after he was shown the exit door by the Ravens, rumors began to swirl, indicating that Miami reached out to Harbaugh, even though McDaniel was still with the team at the time. After McDaniel got fired himself, that seemingly opened the door for the team to make a run for Harbaugh.
Instead, the Dolphins’ decision to hire Sullivan instead of Los Angeles Chargers assistant general manager Chad Alexander seemed to close the door on that. Alexander has ties with the Harbaugh family, so many folks deduced that if Miami wanted to hire Baltimore’s longtime coach, it would bring Alexander to town so that the two could work together.
With other teams, like the New York Giants, expected to make a big push for Harbaugh, it looked like the Dolphins were going to pursue other candidates, with guys like Mike McCarthy and Jeff Hafley emerging as frontrunners given their ties to Sullivan. In a surprising turn, though, Miami has now officially expressed interest in discussing its head coach opening with Harbaugh in the wake of Sullivan’s arrival.
“On the day the Dolphins finalized an agreement with GM Jon-Eric Sullivan, they finally reached out to John Harbaugh and let it be known that they, too, are interested in him, per sources. So add Miami to the list of teams that would like to meet with Harbaugh,” Adam Schefter of ESPN shared in a post on X.
Should the Dolphins Hire John Harbaugh?
GettyHead coach John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens
Despite all the rumors swirling around the two sides before this, Miami hadn’t actually previously reached out to Harbaugh to discuss his interest in the team’s vacant head coach position. Sullivan’s hiring seemed to take the team out of the running for him, but he’s pulled a 180 and shown that the Dolphins are willing to go big-fish hunting in their head coach search.
As noted above, there are several other teams expected to make big pushes for Harbaugh, which could make Miami’s quest to bring him to town a bit difficult. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and if the Dolphins lock in on him as their top target, anything could happen. It’s still very early in the team’s process for finding a new head coach, but it doesn’t look like Harbaugh can be counted out just yet.
Dolphins Make Surprising John Harbaugh Move After Hiring New GM