AFC East Coaching Updates: Duggan, Dolphins, Bills

New Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley has worked quickly to fill out his first NFL coaching staff. We’ve reported several confirmed hires, but one addition hasn’t yet been publicly made official. According to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, it’s believed that former Packers linebackers coach Sean Duggan has followed Hafley from Green Bay to Biscayne Bay.

Duggan has been a longtime Hafley disciple. After serving as a linebackers coach at Hawai’i and UMass, Duggan took a graduate assistant position at Ohio State, where Hafley was co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach. When Hafley was named head coach at Boston College, Duggan followed, getting promoted to linebackers coach and, eventually, adding co-defensive coordinator to his title. When Hafley was hired as defensive coordinator in Green Bay, he brought along Duggan, who served a year as a defensive assistant before being named linebackers coach this past season.

Now, while Duggan’s hire in Miami hasn’t been officially announced, the hire of new Dolphins linebackers coach Al Washington has been, per Jackson. Washington was also on staff with Duggan and Hafley at Ohio State back in 2019. He followed up his tenure with the Buckeyes with a four-year stay as Notre Dame’s defensive line coach. With Washington occupying the LB coach position, though, Duggan’s position in Miami becomes a mystery. Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has ventured that Duggan could end up being Hafley’s pick for defensive coordinator. The Dolphins have reportedly only interviewed one candidate for that position, so they may not be able to officially announce Duggan into the job until they’ve satisfied the Rooney Rule.

Here are a few other coaching updates coming out of the AFC East:

• On the offensive side of the ball in Miami, the Dolphins have also hired Matt Applebaum to serve as assistant offensive line coach, per Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports. Applebaum was Hafley’s offensive line coach at Boston College for the first two years of Hafley’s four-year tenure. Applebaum then, oddly enough, left the Eagles to accept a job as the Dolphins offensive line coach, his first position coaching role in the NFL. He was let go after only a year at the job, though, and returned to his old position in Chestnut Hill for Hafley’s last year with Boston College, remaining with the team until Hafley called him to Miami. On the other side of the ball, the team also added assistant defensive line coach Chuka Ndulue, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2. Ndulue made the jump to the NFL ranks of coaching last year in the same position for the Chargers. He represents the minority of coaches on staff in Miami who do not have a working history with Hafley prior to this.
• Lastly, in the AFC East, the Bills are reportedly hiring respected veteran offensive line coach Pat Meyer, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. A former collegiate strength & conditioning coach, Meyer started coaching offensive line in 2008 at Colorado State. He made the jump to the Canadian Football League in 2012 before landing as an assistant offensive line coach with the Bears the following season. After two years in Chicago, he spent another two seasons as an offensive assistant in his first stint with the Bills. That led to his first NFL full-time position coaching job as the Chargers offensive line coach/run game coordinator, a role he performed for three years before a two-year stint as the Panthers OL coach and a four-year stint in Pittsburgh. He returns to Buffalo now to serve as a position coach with the Bills for the first time.