Don't call it a rebuild: Hafley's Dolphins aren't viewing this season as a bridge year

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Don't call it a rebuild. Miami Dolphins players and coaches aren't viewing this season as one.

The team has a first-year head coach, a new general manager and a reshaped roster with a lot of young, unproven players but no one wants this to be just a bridge year.

“I don't know how you can have a conversation with a competitive player or a competitive coach and have it sit right with them where we're just going to say, 'We're just going to rebuild this year,'” Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley said Thursday ahead of Miami's second full day of training camp practice. “I mean, that's just not the mentality of any competitor who's made it to this level or any coach that's made it to this level. Whether it's practice or whether it's a drill. I think we all want to win. And our mindset is we need to get better.”

When GM Jon-Eric Sullivan arrived in January , one of his immediate goals was to help the Dolphins out of their woeful financial situation.

More than half of the Dolphins’ salary cap space for the upcoming season will go to players who are no longer on their roster. That includes $54 million they will pay to former starter Tua Tagovailoa after cutting him in March and starting over at quarterback with Malik Willis . The move resulted in a $99 million dead cap hit, the largest in NFL history, to be split over two years.

Over the past few months, Sullivan began a process that has included trading and releasing established cornerpieces with lucrative contracts and bringing in younger players, mostly on one-year deals. The former Green Bay executive is also employing the same philosophy that he has said allowed the Packers to build sustained success over the years: by drafting a developing their own players.

Both Sullivan and Hafley have said it will take time to develop into the perennial winner they're aiming to be, but that doesn't mean they don't believe they can see immediate returns from the current players on their roster.

“Everything we do is going to be about competing to get better throughout the process, and we want to win,” Hafley said. "So I just don’t think any player or any coach is going to sit here and say ‘I’m just going to throw in the towel and just rebuild.’ That’s probably why no one’s hearing that. I think if you had a group of players saying that, then I think we’ve got the wrong players.”

That mindset has trickled down to players.

“I don’t look at it as a rebuild because I’m in it and I play the game,” said veteran linebacker Jordyn Brooks, who recently signed a three-year contract extension . “I realize being in the league, everybody is super talented, and it’s not always what it looks like on paper. ... I don’t really care if people think that it’s a rebuild or they think we’re going 0-17 or whatever people have been saying. I look at it as we've got a bunch of football players who’s hungry, super talented. Nobody in this locker room would be here if they didn’t have what it takes."

Practices so far under Hafley have been lively and physical: characteristics the coach wants his team to embody all year.

Thursday's session was highlighted by a forced fumble and recovery by edge rusher Chop Robinson on running back De'Von Achane early in 11-on-11 drills. Rookie cornerback Chris Johnson also forced and recovered a fumble on running back Ollie Gordon II.

Hafley has opted to forgo typical 7-on-7 drills during the first two days of training camp, instead having team drills take place in a more game-like 11-on-11 format. The former Packers defensive coordinator said he prefers it that way to build better situational down-and-distance habits.

“All those little things with the officials being there in 11-on-11 and they’re throwing the flags will send the message of ‘this is important,'” Hafley said. “If they weren’t there, and we were just doing 7-on-7 — I mean, we had a great play on defense yesterday. It was third-and-10, and our defensive end lined up offsides. That doesn’t happen in 7-on-7. Like all those things, we have to get the rust off, and that’s what training camp is all about.”

Players like it that way as well.

“It's real life football,” said veteran center Aaron Brewer, also coming off an offseason contract extension . “We're not here playing flag football. When you go to gameday, it's 11-on-11 — not 7-on-7. It's more work to translate from practice to game day. That's what we're trying to do.”

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