Why Slowik Was a Logical Choice for OC

New Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley will retain at least one member of the previous coaching staff, and he'll play an imporant role.

Bobby Slowik will be back for a second season, this time with a shorter title but a lot clearer role, as the offensive coordinator.

The Dolphins made that decision Saturday, five days after Jeff Hafley was named the 12th full-time head coach in franchise history.

Slowik joined the Dolphins last season in the role of senior pass game coordinator, though his exact duties never were quite clear.

Slowik does have a prior working relationship with Hafley, the two both member of the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff in 2017-18, Hafley as defensive backs coach and Slowik as defensive quality control coach.

What's unknown at this time is whether Slowik will continue to work with his brother Ryan, who spent the past four seasons as a defensive assistant under Mike McDaniel, most recently as the DB/pass game specialist.

BOBBY SLOWIK'S RESUME

Bobby Slowik's father, Bob, is the defensive coordinator for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. Bob Slowik had a long NFL coaching career that included a stint as an assistant with the Green Bay Packers and he was their defensive coordinator in 2004 when new Dolphins GM Jon-Eric Sullivan began his NFL career as a football operations assistant.

Bobby Slowik attended high school in — of all places — Green Bay and played wide receiver at Michigan Tech.

After getting his coaching start on defense, he moved to the offensive side of the ball in 2019 and worked his way to offensive pass game specialist in 2021 (McDaniel's last year in San Francisco before the Dolphins hired him) and offensive pass game coordinator in 2022.

Slowik then was hired by the Houston Texans as offensive coordinator, and had mixed success there.

Houston finished 12th in the NFL in total offense in 2023 with rookie C.J. Stroud at quarterback, with the Texans routing the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the playoffs before they lost against the Baltimore Ravens.

As a rookie, Stroud led the NFL in lowest interception percentage, had a passer rating of 100.8 and appeared on his way to stardom.

Things took a downturn in 2024, though, in large part because of injuries and ineffectiveness on the offensive line (sound familiar?) and Stroud and the offense all regressed.

Stroud's passer rating drop to 87.0 and he was sacked 52 times.

Houston finished 22nd in offense that season, but still won the AFC South title and defeated the L.A. Chargers in the wild-card playoffs before losing against the eventual AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs in a game where Stroud was sacked eight times.

Slowik somehow became a scapegoat for the inconsistent Houston offense and he was replaced after last season by Nick Caley. Stroud was a bit better during the 2025 regular season and was sacked only 23 times in 14 games, but had a really rough outing in the team's two playoff games, though the defense was able to compensate in the wild-card round to help the Texans defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium.

Beyond his familiarity with Hafley, Slowik's previous experience as an offensive coordinator along with his knowledge of the Dolphins' offensive personnel always made him a good candidate for this position, as we chronicled earlier in the week.

Some of the other potential targets we mentioned had previous connections to Hafley and this doesn't preclude adding a, say, Sean Mannion, though a lateral move would require permission for any coach under contract to another team.

But the Dolphins have their most important hire on the offensive staff with Slowik.