Hafley explains personnel decisions in Dolphins secondary. And quick hits

A six-pack of Dolphins notes on a Tuesday:

▪ The Dolphins made two personnel changes in their secondary against the Chiefs, and the results weren’t bad.

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Safety Julius Wood playing nine snaps in a nickel/corner role for the first time. And Michael Taaffe and Dante Trader Jr. played all the snaps at safety after sharing time with Zayne Anderson during the first two games. Anderson, who started the opener at safety, played only on special teams.

“We felt good the way Trader was playing, the way Taaffe was playing to keep them rolling,” Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley said. “The way those guys practiced last week and the communication between those two and having the same two out there constantly communicating and talking and practicing with one another, we just felt like that was the best way to kind of try to get the communication where we needed to be and I thought they did a really good job. I thought Trader played a good game. He was very physical. Taaffe was around the ball quite a bit.”

Chris Johnson played most of the nickel snaps, but Wood played some in an effort to get “a bigger body in there at times to try to give him a role and see what he could do,” Hafley said. “Just kind of getting to know him and getting a feel for him, but he’s a physical guy. I liked what I saw in practice with him the last couple weeks and wanted to give him an opportunity to get in there and get a couple plays.”

Wood played five defensive snaps for the Tennessee Titans in 2024, his only game experience beyond special teams before this season.

Wood was targeted by Patrick Mahomes once Sunday and allowed that pass to be caught, but for only 4 yards. Johnson wasn’t targeted at all.

▪ It’s early, but defensive tackle Jordan Phillips is making a case to be projected as a long-term building block. Hafley said he was “outstanding” against the Chiefs.

“That offense was the No. 1 offense in the NFL with yards,” Hafley said. “I think it was close to well over 400, close to 450 and the leading rusher in the NFL.

“And they ran the ball for I think 70-something yards and the yards per carry were down pretty low, and Jordan Phillips was a huge part of that. The way he was setting the edge and knocking back and setting the line of scrimmage. I think he’s one of the most untalked about underrated players on our roster right now.”

Pro Football Focus ranks Phillips 47th of 126 interior defenders.

▪ Hafley’s assessment of how Malik Willis played against Kansas City:

“I thought he made better decisions than he did and that’s a step forward for him. I thought the ball came out a lot on time. I thought the ball came out quicker. We took a couple shots down the field that we’ll continue to work through, and I told the team we’ll keep taking them and we’ll start hitting those. I thought overall he got better at his decision-making process, and I think that will continue to improve.”

What about Willis’ fumble?

“We got to hold on to the football,” Hafley said. “I mean, those are things that we talk about all the time, and it’s a position where in practice, he’s not getting hitand he’s not getting thudded up as much as the other guys, so we got to continue to work ball security at the quarterback position, especially with a guy like him who’s going to run the ball.”

▪ Kevin Coleman is the Dolphins’ only receiver who has learned to play all three positions, offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik said.

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He “has been fun to work with, a pleasant surprise — he’s a competitive son of a gun,” Slowik said. “He wants to make a play and block and do all that, which is awesome. When you add in the fact he’s got legit speed and really good separation ability on the top. And the best thing is he’s multipositional. He’s the one rookie we’ve asked to learn every position. He has taken that to heart and embraced that, and we will continue to use him more.”

As a natural slot receiver, the 5-11 Coleman has taken pride in learning how to play on the outside.

“I was in the slot the majority of college,” he said. Learning to play on the boundary “took a lot of work, a lot of attention to details, a lot of film study to get better and comfortable with that position. Every day after practice, I’ve been consistently working on my releases.”

The advantage as a 5-11 receiver playing on the boundary? “It’s my quickness,” he said. “You have to have good feet and quickness to play on the boundary. I know I might be a little smaller but definitely strong.”

The challenge is getting off blocks: “Release work is everything because you don’t have much room to work with,” he said.

Coleman made the first reception of his career Sunday for a modest 4-yard gain. It was his only reception Sunday; Willis underthrew him on a deep ball that could have potentially gone for a touchdown.

▪ Quick stuff part 1: Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell are now the first pair of Dolphins rookies to have two 60-plus receiving games in a season since Brian Hartline and Rex Hilliard it in 2009…

Hafley was particularly pleased with the offensive line’s play against Kansas City. The Dolphins didn’t allow a sack against a skilled defensive front: “Our offensive line played really well,” Hafley said.

“Watching Brew [center Aaron Brewer] and just showing the clips of him in the team meeting, how aggressive he was, and the same thing with [left guard Kadyn] Proctor and [left tackle] Pat Paul. I thought [right guard] Jonah [Savaiinaea] played his best game of the year, and I thought [right tackle] Austin [Jackson] took a step.”

▪ Quick stuff part 2: The Dolphins’ 91-yard touchdown drive Sunday was their longest TD drive in terms of plays (17) and time (9:12) since at least 2000. It was their longest TD drive in terms of yardage since Nov. 2008 against the Raiders… Willis’ 56 yards rushing were the fourth most by a Dolphins quarterback in history. Ryan Fitzpatrick holds the record with 65 against the Jets in a December 2019 game…. Fox assigned Kevin Kugler and Daryl Johnston to Sunday’s game at Minnesota (4:05 p.m., WSVN-7).

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This story was originally published September 29, 2026 at 2:39 PM.