One of Jeff Hafley’s more mysterious Dolphins coaching hires comes with a golden reputation
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The process of hiring coaches across the NFL is happening quickly. The Miami Dolphins are no exception.
Miami has landed on a slew of hires over the course of the last week, securing major additions to both side of the football as new head coach Jeff Hafley works to assemble the crew that will help him embark on a full and total rebuild of this Dolphins franchise. The staff has a lot of youth and a lot of former college coaches amid their ranks. No coach better embodies that than former Notre Dame Fight Irish defensive assistant Al Washington. Washington, who overlapped with Hafley during 2019 at Ohio State, has reportedly signed on to play linebackers. But because of his status as a long-time college coach, many Dolphins don't know what to expect.
I tapped in 'A to Z Sports Notre Dame' beat writer and NFL Draft analyst Ryan Roberts to offer the scouting report on Roberts and help give Dolphins fans some expectations around this reported hire.
What are the Dolphins getting in long-time college assistant coach Al Washington?
When Washington was hired by Notre Dame prior to the 2022 season, it was a hire that Irish fans didn’t know what to make of. Before coming to South Bend, Washington’s most recent coaching experience was as the linebacker coach for Ohio State. During those three years, he had tutored the likes of Pete Werner and Baron Browning. Washington hadn’t coached defensive line since 2017 with Cincinnati, where he was on the same staff as Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman.
Washington’s best stop as a defensive line coach came in 2016 with Boston College, his Alma Mater. Harold Landry led the FBS level with 16.5 sacks that season, while Zach Allen was also a tremendous player for the Eagles. Before Washington opted to take the job with the Dolphins recently, he was set to shift over to linebackers coach with the Irish. There is a career goal to become a defensive coordinator for Washington, so that shift to linebackers was viewed as the best step toward achieving that goal, at least in theory at the time.
As a defensive line coach with Notre Dame, Washington’s units were known for being consistent from a technical perspective, particularly in the run game. The units have experience with both one-gap and two-gap techniques, while the Irish defense was mostly a four man front unit. There was complete buy-in from the defensive line room and Washington was a very well liked coach in general. The motor they played with was admirable, and the defensive lines were very active in general. The biggest question mark with the Notre Dame defensive line has been around the pass rush. Notre Dame has used a lot of movement up front, and most of that was out of necessity.
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This story was originally published by A to Z Sports on Feb 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add A to Z Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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