MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- After Jeff Hafley was hired as the Miami Dolphins' head coach, and after all pleasantries were exchanged with his former boss, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur, the two men discussed who Hafley would be taking with him to South Florida.
LaFleur staked his claim on then-linebackers coach Sean Duggan; Hafley made a simple counter.
"No, Sean's coming with me."
Consider it Hafley's first win over his former employer.
Duggan, 32, is the second-youngest defensive coordinator in the NFL, four months older than Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis. He's also on a meteoric rise through the coaching ranks after meeting Hafley as a graduate assistant at Ohio State in 2019.
Since then, Duggan worked under Hafley as a linebackers coach and defensive coordinator at Boston College, and again as a defensive assistant and linebackers coach with the Packers. Hafley said that although he will call defensive plays himself, his experience with Duggan will keep him from having to hyperfocus on the Dolphins' defense.
"Ultimately [LaFleur and I] decided that it was best for Sean to come here," Hafley said Wednesday. "And I say that not because he's been with me for eight or nine years, whatever it's been. I say that I think he's a rising star, and he's going to allow me to be the head coach of his team.
"I'm going to be able to touch all three phases with how good this guy is, and he's going to allow me to be the head coach. And then when it's time for me to call the defense, I'll be able to call the defense."
Duggan played linebacker at Boston College from 2011 to 2014 and spent a year as a grad assistant for his alma mater in 2015. He spent the next three seasons as a linebackers coach at Hawaii and UMass before joining the staff at Ohio State.
Now in his first NFL coordinator job, Duggan said at any level players will respect you if they know you have their best interests at heart -- regardless of any age difference.
"Guys just want to be coached, right? If you can help them get better and you care about them, they're going to listen, right?" he said. "They're going to take in your coaching. So I take a lot of pride in getting to know my players, spending time with them, building those relationships and then developing that trust.
"And when I do coach them, it helps them get better. I think that's all players want to know, just how do you get me better? Do you care about me?"
In terms of schematics, Duggan said he wants the Dolphins to be "multiple" and capable of stopping a variety of offensive game plans. He also praised Hafley for showing him how to tailor your system to your players, rather than force your philosophy on players who aren't suited for it.
It's something he picked up during his previous stint as a defensive coordinator at Boston College.
"I just think you've got to be adaptable at all times. You can't just say, 'Hey, this is our playbook, this is what we're going to do,'" Duggan said. "You got to play to the players' strengths, figure out what each guy can do and put them in a position to go showcase what they can do. ... You've got to be able to kind of move and groove with the game; if the offense has given us this, OK, well maybe we need to do a little bit more of this and take it away."
Duggan said he's still in the process of evaluating the Dolphins' defensive players but praised the unit as a whole for playing "violently" and "hungry."
Miami has several foundational defensive players, including defensive tackle Zach Sieler and linebackers Jordyn Brooks and Bradley Chubb. It has also invested first-round picks over the past two years into defensive tackle Kenneth Grant and outside linebacker Chop Robinson.
The Dolphins may undergo widespread changes on that side of the ball this offseason but regardless of who's in the locker room come September, Duggan said his philosophy on building relationships with his players won't change.
"I just think that's such an important aspect of coaching," he said. "I think it's hard to hold a guy accountable to the highest standard and coach him hard if you don't have that relationship with him. So I truly believe time is a very valuable thing, right? When you invest time and you invest energy in people ... there's just nothing better than spending all the time with a guy investing in him and watching him succeed, right?
"I think that's one of the coolest things in coaching is seeing guys accomplish their dream individually and as a team. Because when you go in the locker room after a win, there's nothing better than celebrating with the guys."