The Miami Dolphins are finalizing a deal to hire Green Bay Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan as their general manager, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Friday.
Sullivan joined the Dolphins after working for the Packers since 2003, starting as a scouting intern before being hired full time in 2004. He moved up the ranks from college scout to director of college scouting to co-director of player personnel before becoming Green Bay’s vice president of player personnel in 2022, working closely with general manager Brian Gutekunst for a team that has reached the playoffs six of the past seven seasons.
The first major move for Sullivan in Miami will be to hire a new head coach. Mike McDaniel was fired Thursday after four seasons that included a 7-10 record in 2025. That was the Dolphins’ second consecutive losing season after making the playoffs in 2022 and 2023.
The Dolphins have been linked to former Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh, though sources told ESPN’s Jeff Darlington that Miami had not yet been in touch with Harbaugh or anyone in his camp as of Thursday.
A possible candidate with an existing connection to Sullivan could be Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who has also received interest from the Cardinals, Falcons and Titans.
A looming decision also exists for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who was benched after Week 15 and said Monday that he was hopeful to get a fresh start with a new team in 2026.
Moving on from Tagovailoa will be expensive for Miami. He represents a $56.4 million cap hit in 2026, and cutting him before June 1 would result in a $99.2 million dead cap hit next season. Releasing him after June 1 would spread that dead cap hit across two seasons, with $67.2 million hitting in 2026.
The Dolphins could also look to trade the NFL’s 2023 leader in passing yards but would have to find a team willing to take on his salary.
Sullivan is a son of Jerry Sullivan, the longtime NFL and college coach who retired in 2021 after more than 40 years in football. That included a stint as the Dolphins’ wide receivers coach in 2004.
Sullivan joins a long line of Packers scouts to become general managers, following in the footsteps of Ted Thompson, Scot McCloughan, John Schneider, Reggie McKenzie, John Dorsey and Gutekunst.
Other candidates for the Dolphins’ general manager position were interim GM Champ Kelly, San Francisco 49ers director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams, and Los Angeles Chargers assistant GM Chad Alexander.
Information from ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques and Rob Demovsky was used in this report.
