Dolphins lose a safety. And Hafley opines on Willis, Robinson, other Dolphins

Dolphins rookie safety Kyle Louis will miss Sunday’s game in San Francisco and might be sidelined a few weeks because of a knee injury, coach Jeff Hafley said Monday evening.

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Louis, the Dolphins’ No. 4 safety, played three snaps on defense and also played special teams during Sunday’s season-opening 27-13 loss at Las Vegas.

Hafley addressed other issues during a Monday evening Zoom session from California, where the team will practice this week in advance of the game at the 49ers (4:25 p.m., Fox):

▪ On the struggles with run defense in the first half: “Early on, we kind of played things safe. We had some missed alignments. We were a little tentative, trying to be too safe.

As I watched in the second half, it was impressive how we played against the run. It was really a tale of two halves. Hopefully we get that out of our systems and build off it. There’s some coaching there too. We have to make sure we’re lining up in the right spots and seeing things the right way.”

▪ He said rookie cornerback Chris Johnson wasn’t solely responsible for the two touchdown passes that he seemed to allow:

“On those two plays, his help was not where it was supposed to be and he was playing the leverage he was supposed to be in; guys on the sidelines immediately took ownership for it. There are certainly some plays that Chris wants back. He showed a lot of flashes, played a solid game. He was good against the run in the nickel position. He had a good PBU [pass breakup].

“Chris did a lot of good things yesterday and Chris should be confident he can do a lot of good things in this league. With all these rookies we’re playing, there are going to be some really good moments and…some tough moments. We’ve got to develop these guys and I don’t want them to lose any confidence along the way. I’m really proud of Chris.”

▪ He declined to give an opinion about whether JuJu Brents’ taunting penalty was justified.

When Hafley said after the game that he would watch the film and shortly after said: “If it was indeed taunting, he will get fined for it” — what Hafley meant was the league (not Hafley) would fine Brents if it was taunting.

Hafley declined to say whether he thought it was a justified penalty, but it seemed like a bogus call unless Brents said something egregious.

▪ On the play of the rookie receivers: “There was some really good, and some stuff we need to work on. There were some shots of Chris Bell blocking down the field and knocking some guys down.

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“There were some plays [Caleb Douglas] made that were really impressive, and some times there might have been a missed signal or a route was a little bit off.

“When you have three rookie receivers playing as many snaps as we did, it will continue to be a work in progress. I thought there were some really good encouraging moments.”

▪ On how Malik Willis performed on off-schedule plays:

“Early on, there were some really good off schedule throws, where he stepped up with his eyes down the field… and there were some where he had to go off schedule and they adjusted to our scramble rules and there were some that were not good enough. There were times we needed guys to break a certain way and he didn’t. Those are things they will work on together.”

▪ On edge player Chop Robinson’s play (he had one tackle and no quarterback pressures), he said: “Early on, I thought he was a little hesitant. If you watch the film, I don’t think he set edges as violently as [he could]. As the game went on, he got better. We need him to pick up and make sure it’s consistent throughout the game.

That group of defensive ends “was a little too hesitant and too safe and not as violent and aggressive,” Hafley said.

▪ On special teams mistakes: “We’ve got to play smart. That was a huge part of the game. Our starting field position wasn’t good enough.”

Overall, the special teams performance “wasn’t good enough.”

▪ Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez – and not backup center Andrew Meyer – was the backup long snapper, when Tucker Addington briefly left with a shoulder injury, because Rodriguez has experience doing it and “is good at it,” Hafley said.

“It came pretty close” to Rodriguez needing to long snap in the game. Hafley praised Addington for coming back into the game “with what he went through.”

Here’s my piece with notes, grades, metrics and playing time news on every player on offense.

Here’s my piece with notes, grades, metrics and playing time news on every player on defense.

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This story was originally published September 14, 2026 at 7:15 PM.