MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- A former defensive backs coach, Jeff Hafley is learning how to spread himself to other positions ever since taking the Miami Dolphins' head coaching job in January. It's something he's aware of whenever the team takes the practice field.
So when he gets the opportunity to talk about defensive backs, he's typically loquacious.
"There's three things when I watch a corner's tape, when I evaluate a tape, that I always look at," he said at the NFL annual league meeting in March. "There's three levels of play that I want to see if they can win at. One is the line of scrimmage. I call that Level 1. Can he win at the line? Can he press, can he make a guy stop and start his feet? Can he use his hands? Is he quick enough to change direction? Can he take good cutoff angles? When a guy steps out and goes in, is he fast enough to come back inside?
"Level 2 is all the intermediate routes, all the in-breaks, the digs, the comebacks. Can he drop his hips and accelerate out of his cuts? Or is he a high-hip guy that can't do that and maybe he doesn't have to do that because he can win so well at the line of scrimmage? And then Level 3 is can he win down the field? Can he make a play down the field?
"Now, I don't know if you're going to find many that can be elite Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 -- those are the Darrelle Revises of the world and the Hall of Famers... but then you look to see can they at least do two out of the three? Then I go from there and then it's 'can they do one out of the three?'` If they can't do any out of three, then we're probably going to have to find a different player."
The Dolphins entered the offseason needing starting-caliber talent, depth or both at nearly every position, but cornerback was perhaps the most glaring. Last season's starters, Jack Jones and Rasul Douglas, left via free agency, as did three-year starting nickel corner Kader Kohou.
Best of NFL Nation
• Contract extension updates for every team • 4 lingering questions ahead of Packers camp • What's Zay Flowers' value to Ravens? • NFL offseason: Surprise players on each team • Titans' Saleh is living father's dream as coach
Miami didn't have the salary cap space to go after any of the top free agent cornerbacks, instead signing veterans Darrell Baker Jr., Marco Wilson and Alex Austin. It did own two picks in the first round, however, and used one of them to trade up for former San Diego State cornerback Chris Johnson.