The Miami Dolphins just hired the guy who led a defense that ranked among the top dozen in the NFL the past two years.

The Miami Dolphins also hired the guy whose defense just suffered an epic collapse in the playoffs.

See how easy it is to paint the incoming Jeff Hafley regime any way you like?

More Dolphins: Dolphins hiring Jeff Hafley: Fans seem happy with grabbing Packers DC

The Dolphins are going to introduce Hafley as their next head coach any day now. Monday night, a buzz came over their stadium, Hard Rock, and not just because Miami and Indiana were about to battle it out for college football’s national championship. In a most inopportune bit of timing, word leaked out that Hafley had been the survivor in a pool of 11 head-coaching candidates to succeed Mike McDaniel.

Hafley arrives after having coordinated Green Bay’s defense the past couple of seasons. His arrival came as a shock to anyone somehow unaware that the Dolphins had just hired Jon-Eric Sullivan as general manager, and Sullivan arrives from — yup — Green Bay’s front office.

So while Hafley will be the face of the Dolphins on the sidelines on Sundays, Sullivan is the guy really on the hook. Hafley pans out, Sullivan looks like a genius. He doesn’t, Sullivan’s pick will be looked at as cronyism.

No matter what, never underestimate the power of familiarity in the NFL.

Is Hafley another in a long line of Stephen Ross hires with no NFL head-coaching experience? Yes.

How did the others turn out? Well, uh, the Dolphins did wake up Monday morning searching for a coach, didn’t they? And we’ve gotten used to that every four Januarys, haven’t we?

Sean McVay was first-time head coach when Rams hired him

Does that mean Hafley won’t pan out? Of course not. Sean McVay was a first-timer when the Rams hired him and we all know how that turned out. Experience helps, especially when it comes to smoothing out the rough edges in dealing with today’s athletes, but it’s not a be-all, end-all. Everybody has to start somewhere.

Still, there’s a nagging thought that makes you wish the Dolphins had at least taken a harder look than they apparently did at Sean McDermott, the latest blockbuster firing/resignation by a proven NFL coach this cycle. McDermott had taken the Buffalo Bills to the playoffs eight of his nine seasons. The AFC East ran through him.

McDermott didn’t take his team to the Super Bowl, not even with Josh Allen, that’s true. But for a Dolphins franchise that struggles to get to the playoffs, let alone hasn’t won a playoff game in 25 years, if you offer them eight playoff trips from 2026-2034, the only proper answer should be: Sign us up.

A quick word, also, on one coach who we know was considered. Chris Shula, defensive coordinator of the Rams, is going to get his shot in this league, probably sooner rather than later. For anyone who has cared about the Dolphins, it’s impossible not to root for him. For anyone who cares about the Shula family, you had to hope it happens elsewhere, because the pressure on him here would be excruciating. Things go wrong, he’d be compared to how his grandfather, Don, did it while becoming the winningest coach in NFL history. Things go right, he’d still be compared to Granddad. It’s an unfair burden, even for a Shula.

As for Hafley …

In Green Bay, his defense ranked 11th in fewest points allowed and 12th in total defense this season after ranking sixth in points and fifth in total D last year. The year before he arrived, the Packers were 10th in scoring and 17th in total D.

Talk to Packers fans today and you may not hear much about that. What you will hear is how Green Bay took a 21-3 halftime lead against the hated Chicago Bears in the wild-card round and managed to lose 31-27 while giving up two touchdowns in the final 4:18.

It was the Bears’ largest playoff comeback. More importantly, it was the Packers’ biggest playoff collapse. It even appeared to crank up heat (temporarily) on coach Matt LaFleur.

Of course, Green Bay’s defense by this time had long operated without injured Micah Parsons, as elite a defender as there is in this league.

Few if any coaches relied on the kind of personal touch Dolphins players grew used to under McDaniel. But Hafley has said he has to know his players in order to lead them, so he’s not going to be a my-door-is-always-closed type, either. His pedigree, of having worked at various times with Kyle Shanahan and Ryan Day among others is a plus.

Hafley will be charged with cranking up the toughness and physicality on the Dolphins, a shift from McDaniel’s reliance (until 2025) on speed. He must make the defense better.

How would Aaron Rodgers look in a Dolphins uniform?

What about the offense? A major decision will be his choice of offensive coordinator. That’s Step 1. Step 2 will be straightening out the quarterback situation.

Suggestion: If the Miami Dolphins really want to be Green Bay South, might I suggest a certain 42-year-old former Packers quarterback who just threw 24 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions for the Pittsburgh Steelers? Aaron Rodgers, how ’bout it, for just a year while they get the salary cap straightened out?

Finally, Hafley does seem like the kind who has coaching in his blood and has long known it. Back when he was a 185-pound receiver at Siena College, he had leg injuries that required multiple surgeries. He made the most of his time.

“While I was recovering, I’d go in and watch tape with the coaches,” he told The Bergen Record. “Then they’d even let me sit up in the booth and I’d help them coach until I got better. At that point, I kind of figured, ‘You know what? Maybe I want to coach in college.’ ”

Hafley got that shot. Coached Boston College to bowl-eligible status.

Now, he must match that in Miami.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Dolphins GM banking on protege Jeff Hafley as head coach

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco 49ers Pro Bowl tight end George Kittle said doctors characterized his ruptured Achilles tendon as a “best-case scenario,” providing hope that he could return without missing significant time next season.

Kittle hurt his right Achilles tendon in a wild-card win over Philadelphia on Jan. 11 and had surgery last week in Los Angeles. Kittle said Dr. Neal ElAttrache told him he had a “clean tear” near his soleus muscle that is higher on the Achilles tendon.

“They didn’t have to drill into my heel,” Kittle said Monday. “Where the repair was, there’s more blood flow so it takes some time off the recovery time. So he’s very excited about everything. My recovery — when I’ll be running, when I’ll be ready to go play again — he’s very excited about it. So that puts me in a really good mood. It’s not as bad as other ones.”

Kittle didn’t want to give a timeline for his potential return, saying, “I’ll keep it a surprise.” But a return in eight to nine months could get Kittle back on the field near the beginning of the 2026 season.

Kittle said he knew immediately how serious the injury was, saying it “felt like someone put a shotgun up against my calf and pulled the trigger.”

He told the Eagles trainer who was first on the field to check on him that he needed a cart and was taken back to the locker room. Kittle was joined there by his family, as well as Niners owner Jed York, who procured a bottle of tequila for his star player.

“Getting his support was absolutely fantastic,” Kittle said. “Just the fact that the team owner comes down to come give his condolences to you, and just like stays there for you, just really means what kind of place this is, and the people that are in this building. And it makes me really happy to be a Niner.”

Kittle is a two-time All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowler who is a key part of San Francisco’s offense as a passing threat and a blocker in the run game. He had 57 catches for 628 yards receiving and seven touchdowns this season.

The Niners struggled offensively in his absence last week, losing 41-6 to Seattle in the divisional round.

Injury updates

There were a few other injury updates on locker cleanout day.

Star linebacker Fred Warner said he was ready to return had the team advanced to the NFC title game, but now will slow down his rehabilitation work with significantly more time to heal.

“I think my rehab had gotten obviously super accelerated to try to make the NFC championship game,” Warner said. “Now, I just get to kind of slow things down and really just work on all the little things that I didn’t get to work on before all this happened. It’s just business as usual.”

Rookie defensive end Mykel Williams, who tore his ACL in Week 9, said his rehabilitation is going well and he hopes to be ready for the season opener.

Quarterback Brock Purdy said he won’t need any special treatment for his turf toe injury that sidelined him for eight games during the season.

″The toe is good to go,” Purdy said. “Obviously, I’ll continue to strengthen it and give it some rest and whatnot. But it’s good.”

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

The Coloradoan is again proud to present our weekly Athlete of the Week series, partnering with Blue Federal Credit Union to honor the best Fort Collins-area high school athletes in the 2025-26 school year.

There are five nominees every week, and fans can vote every Monday through Thursday at coloradoan.com/sports.

This is the 17th week of the 2025-26 sports season as the winter sports heat up inside with snow finally arriving outdoors.

Programming note: There will be separate polls/winners for boys and girls athletes most weeks for the remainder of this school year.

You can find the nominees and the ballot below. Voting is open this week until 11:59 a.m. on Jan. 22, with the winner announced later that same day.

Fans can nominate their favorite athletes (deadline: 11:59 p.m. every Sunday) and the Coloradoan sports staff will ultimately select the nominees each week.

If you have nominations for a future Athlete of the Week, please send them via email to ChrisAbshire@coloradoan.com for consideration.

Meet the Blue FCU Boys Athlete of the Week nominees

The following Fort Collins-area boys athletes are nominated for their performances Jan. 12-17:

• Caiden Castillo, Liberty Common basketball: The senior guard was prolific in a big week for the Eagles. Castillo dropped 62 points with 16 rebounds and 12 steals in a 3-0 stretch, shooting an efficient 64% from the field in wins over Highland, Lyons and Dawson School.
• Tyler Coats, Fossil Ridge wrestling: The SaberCat junior won the first tournament title of his varsity career, taking the 150 class crown at the annual Lobo Invitational in Conifer. Coats won his first two matches by technical fall (18-3, 19-4) and then won the final in a third-period pin in the final 30 seconds.
• Robert Kendall, Windsor wrestling: The Wizards senior keeps dominating against some of the nation’s top wrestlers. Kendall bested a 64-man bracket in the 175 class at Utah’s prestigious Rockwell Rumble and was named the event’s Most Outstanding Wrestler after 4 wins by pin, a 20-4 semifinal win and a 9-4 decision over a two-time All American and Utah state champ in the finals.
• Dayton Long, Windsor Charter Academy basketball: The Firebirds junior caught fire shooting the ball during a 3-0 week for HCA. Long compiled 74 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists while shooting over 50 percent from 3-point range with three 20-point games in wins over Wiggins, Wray and Golden View Classical.
• Peyton Matkin, Rocky Mountain basketball: The Lobos had a strong week, going 3-0 with two league wins and a road win at Dakota Ridge. Matkin was central to it, scoring 58 points with 16 rebounds and eight steals while draining nine 3-pointers in the double-digit victories.

Vote here:

Chris Abshire covers high school and community sports for the Coloradoan.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Poll: Vote for Blue FCU Fort Collins Boys Athlete of Week (Jan. 19)

The Brooklyn Nets have 52 jersey numbers worn by over 600 different players over the course of their history since the franchise was founded in 1967 as a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA), when the team was known as the “New Jersey Americans”.

Since then, that league has been absorbed by the NBA with the team that would later become the New York Nets and New Jersey Nets before settling on the name by which they are known today, bringing their rich player and jersey history with them to the league of today.

To commemorate the players who played for the Nets over the decades wearing those 52 different jersey numbers, Nets Wire is covering the entire history of the franchise’s jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team.

And for today’s article, we will continue with the seventh of 14 people to wear the No. 40 jersey, big man alum Harvey Catchings. After ending his college career at Hardin-Simmons University, Catchings was picked up with the 42nd overall selection of the 1974 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Jackson, Mississippi native played parts of the first five seasons of his pro career with the Sixers, coming to an end when he was dealt to the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets in 1979. His stay with the team lasted until he was traded again, this time to the Milwaukee Bucks that offseason.

During his time suiting up for the Nets, Catchings wore only jersey No. 40 and put up 6.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game.

All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.

This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets jersey history No. 40 – Harvey Catchings (1979)

The Houston Rockets have had players donning a total of 52 different jersey numbers (and have one not part of any numerical series for Houston assistant coach and general manager Carroll Dawson) since their founding at the start of the 1967-68 season, worn by just under 500 players in the course of Rockets history.

To honor all of the players who wore those numbers over the decades, Rockets Wire is covering the entire history of jersey numbers and the players who wore them since the founding of the team all those years ago right up to the present day.

With seven of those jerseys now retired to honor some of the greatest Rockets of all time to wear those jerseys, there is a lot of history to cover.

And for today’s article, we will continue with the 15th of 18 players who wore the No. 5, big man alum Bruno Caboclo. After ending his high school career, Caboclo was picked up with the 20th overall selection of the 2014 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors.

The Osasco, Brazil native played parts of the first four seasons of his pro career with Toronto. He would also play for the Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies before he was dealt to Houston for his last two seasons in the NBA in 2020.

During his time suiting up for the Rockets, Caboclo wore only jersey No. 5 and put up 3.2 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.

All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.

This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Rockets jersey history No. 5 – Bruno Caboclo (2020-22)

Last night, the D-backs Dispatch crew had a long broadcast to chew over all the recent activity on the team front, and in baseball generally. As well as whether The Lord of the Rings is the best movie trilogy of all time [Jim: in addition to the Godfather trilogy mentioned on the show, I’d say Leone’s Dollars or the Edgar Wright Cornetto trilogies are probably also deserving of consideration there]

D-backs bring back Taylor Clarke

A return to Arizona for Clarke, after a very good season in 2025. He was drafted and reached the majors by the D-backs, but has been with the Kansas City Royals since 2021. Clarke has been using his sinker effectively of late, and could end up being a useful piece to add into the bullpen. But with the team still lacking a closer, until the return of A.J. Puk, it may not move the needle very much at this point. “Buying a DVD in the era of Blu-ray”. However, hopefully the bullpen will be better, and there is still time for further signings.

Dodgers Sign Kyle Tucker

Los Angeles are in a unique situation, thanks in part to the incredible amount they get from their TV deal, in addition their private equity ownership. It seems increasingly obvious that the team is in need of a salary cap and floor, in addition to limits on deferments. But it may well take a lockout at the end of this season before that gets agreed to by the players’ union. It still won’t necessary offer any immediate relief, with existing contracts likely grandfathered in. However, it’s necessary for the long term survival of the game.

D-backs International Player Signings

Ruben Gallego – and, yeah, everyone has made that joke already! – leads the class of eighteen players signed by Arizona in the international signing period. It’s still something of a lottery ticket, like a draft pick, and it’s a long-term situation: we probably won’t get to hear much about them for at least two or three seasons. But as a mid-tier organization, the D-backs have to find ways to get talent outside of the standard MLB draft, and you can never have too much pitching.

Chase Field Stadium Improvements

It looks like the team has started work on updating the scoreboard – hopefully the first step of significant updates to the ballpark. Beyond the obvious situation with the air-conditioning, the wi-fi needs to get seriously upgraded, as it basically useless when there’s a decent crowd. Beyond that, possible suggestions include the out-of-town scoreboards, and bringing back the clock and the keyhole between the mound and home-plate. We also have suggestions in regard to the food options available at Chase…

Check out the discussions in full below, and don’t forget to do all those like, share and subscribe things!

This Knicks fan base is running out of patience. The feeling has to be mutual from Knicks ownership and management. Because a nine-game slump was not on the bingo card of Knicks possibilities entering this season.

Yet there the Knicks were, at Madison Square Garden on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as the boos began to filter in over the course of a disappointing first half that would stretch into a 114-97 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday.

The Mavericks beat the Knicks — who Mike Brown declared, at long last, fully healthy — without stars Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving, centers Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively II, plus role players D’Angelo Russell, PJ Washington, and Dante Exum.

And they beat them thoroughly, right out of the gate, turning a 13-4 lead into a 30-point first-half advantage Dallas would never let go of. Fans in attendance sensed their Knicks go of the rope early.

That’s why they booed. They booed once after the loss in front of Knicks royalty to the Phoenix Suns on Saturday, a game Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart both sat with ankle injuries.

This time was different. The Knicks faithful booed their team on four separate occasions in the first half alone on Monday, each smattering of disapproval a response to a Brown timeout as the Dallas lead swelled over time.

The Knicks have now lost nine of their last 11 games. They have fallen from the realm of championship contender to the glut of teams that can call themselves pretenders. And each loss has been more embarrassing for the last, particularly for Brown, who, in his first year on the job, has experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows of coaching in the Mecca of basketball.

Brown, after all, installed the changes that helped the Knicks win the third-ever NBA Cup playing a free-flowing, fast-paced, three-point heavy style of play. They have since fallen off of a cliff in every recognizable way.

The New York Knicks are broken, and there’s no telling what in-house fix could be in store — if one exists — to get this team back on track.

All the while, Madison Square Garden, quite possibly the most electrifying venue in all of professional sports, hosted a silent party in the fourth quarter. They were speechless at the state of affairs of their team, a word that could also be used to describe owner James Dolan, who left his usually baseline seat and did not return in the second half.

Dolan’s Knicks, after all, traded RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley for OG Anunoby then signed him to a franchise record $212.5 million contract. They traded Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns. They traded five first-round picks for Mikal Bridges then signed him to a four-year, $150 million extension over the summer. Then they fired the head coach who authored back-to-back 50-win seasons and the team’s first Eastern Conference Finals appearance this century and hired Brown to install more up-tempo, modern systems on both sides of the ball.

The results were inconsistent at best, until the Knicks slipped into the spell that’s undone their season. And for Brown, the going has gotten worse since the NBA Cup.

Brown took an embarrassing loss in his return to Sacramento, where the Kings put a belt to the rear of the coach who they’d fired last season. He took tough losses in Detroit, where the Knicks lost by 31, and on Saturday, on Knicks homecoming night, in front of the very players whose jerseys could one day join the ranks of those hanging from the rafters.

Monday might be the toughest loss of Brown’s early Knicks tenure. Not only did his Knicks lose to a depleted Mavericks team, but Brown, as a coach, lost to the Knicks’ first option. He lost to the coach the Knicks front office wishes it hired, a coach who has full command of his team regardless of who’s on the floor.

So now it’s time to fire up the trade machine. Because this team as currently constructed is spiraling well outside of its head coach’s control — provided the front office is still sold on Brown being the man for the job at MSG in the first place.

Brunson and Hart returned to the rotation on Monday after quick bouts with ankle injuries, but on the day of his announcement as a second-time NBA All-Star starter, Brunson shot just 9-of-24 for 22 points and six assists.

Towns finished with 22 points and 18 rebounds but turned the ball over five times, shot 9-of-19 from the field, and recorded five fouls for the fourth game in a row.

Hart, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges each finished with less than 10 points, with Bridges shooting 3-of-10 for seven points in 32 minutes and Anunoby scoring nine points on eight shot attempts after combining for 46 points on 37 shot attempts in the previous two games with Brunson sidelined.

The Knicks, at full strength, got just 27 points from their bench, which only saw Jordan Clarkson play two minutes and miss all three of his shot attempts in that span. And Guerschon Yabusele, who the Knicks signed to their largest salary cap exception during the offseason, didn’t touch the floor until there were just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile the Knicks, who were constructed this way because of their defensive versatility but couldn’t stay in front of Collin Gillespie in Saturday’s loss to Phoenix, couldn’t stay in front of Jason Kidd if the 52-year-old former ball wizard decided to check himself into the game on Monday.

They certainly couldn’t do anything with Naji Marshall, the brute-force bucket who hung 19 points, most of which came as early damage in the first half. The Knicks couldn’t stay attached to Max Christie after he made his first two threes and allowed him to hit eight on 10 attempts from deep on the night. They couldn’t stop Klay Thompson — in a down year — and the ex-Warriors Splash Brother hit four threes with his girlfriend, award-winning artist Megan Thee Stallion, sitting courtside at MSG.

And they can’t stop this losing streak, bringing us back to the boos at The Garden, which rained down even more after the final buzzer sounded on Monday.

Those boos were the most faint of the night. Because a Knicks fan base that usually stays until the very end has begun to quit on this team.

And it’s only a matter of time before the person responsible for signing the checks follows suit.

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (24-22-2) at the Calgary Flames (21-23-4)

The Time: 9:00pm ET

The Broadcast: MSGSN, ESPN+, Devils Radio Network

The Game Preview:I wrote the preview this morning.

The Rules: If you have been a reader here, you already know the rules. But for the rest, a reminder: please do not swear in the comment section, and keep comments relevant to the hockey game going on. Beyond that, do not attack any other commenters, and do not ask for or pass along illegal streams on this board.

LGD!

The staff of Windy City Gridiron and 2nd City Gridiron would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for joining us for the 2025 season!

It was one heck of a ride!

The Chicago Bears, under the on-the-field direction of Ben Johnson and a great coaching staff, led Caleb Williams and company in a season of growth, winning, and a return to relevance.

Under the overall leadership of Kevin Warren, Ryan Poles and Ian Cunningham, great strides have been made on the field (we won’t talk about the stadium for now), completely overturning the culture of losing and sending the whole organization in a positive direction.

We took the North!

We knocked the Packers out of the race for the division. We knocked the Packers out of the playoffs. We went toe-to-toe with one of the top teams in the league on a deep playoff run.

All in all, it’s been one heck of a year, and the entire staff of your Windy City Gridiron and 2nd City Gridiron would like to thank each and every one of you for being a part of our family over the last season (and all the seasons before that you have been with us).

The season may be over, but we are not done here at WCG or at 2nd City Gridiron on YouTube and the podcast platforms. We will, as always, have fresh Chicago Bears news and updates as we move towards free agency, the draft, and all the other offseason milestones again this year.

The year 2025 was Good. Let’s buckle up for Better, and then Best.

From all of us here at Windy City Gridiron and 2nd City Gridiron, may you all be well and be blessed!