Conversation with Former Dolphins Legend Trace Armstrong, Agent to Jeff Hafley
Fins Faithful had the opportunity to have a discussion with former Miami Dolphins Pro Bowl defensive lineman Trace Armstrong. The 1989 12th overall draft pick to Chicago was traded to Miami in 1995 after six seasons with the Bears. Armstrong spent six years with the Dolphins and concluded his career with three in Oakland with the Raiders.
A career that totaled 106 sacks, Armstrong pivoted to becoming an agent following his playing days, and represents college and professional coaches, including new Dolphins head coach, Jeff Hafley. Armstrong, a former president of the National Football League Players Association, had the perfect career progression moving to representation, and beyond telling Fins Faithful plenty of stories about his playing day, discussed his relationship with Hafley.
Detailing how he and Hafley met, and providing anecdotes about his early coaching days, Armstrong gave viewers of the podcast confidence that Hafley is the right man for a Miami job, that is setting the foundation again, in yet another rebuild. Starting with their introduction, Armstrong mentioned they met while Hafley was a defensive backs coach for the Cleveland Browns when Mike Pettine was their head coach. Upon meeting him, Armstrong said Hafley is a “really sharp guy, really good communicator and I just remember, you know, the time we met just being like really impressed with him.”
Armstrong detailed how in 2019, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was looking for a defensive coordinator, and Hafley stepped in with the Buckeyes and helped them be the nation’s number one defense. Also mentioning that season, Hafley was the nation’s second-ranked recruiter, and these elements helped Armstrong sign him to being his client.
He praised Hafley saying, “you know it was just easy to see the guy had bandwidth and talent and uh yeah so um, he became a client while he was at Ohio State there and then.”
The next step was a head coaching role at Boston College from 2020-2023, where Hafley did an admirable job despite a tough position to be in with that particular program considering the competition on the field and in the world of recruiting prospects. Hafley then returned to the NFL in 2024 for two seasons with the Green Bay Packers as defensive coordinator, and of course landed with Miami this offseason, as Armstrong told the story of how the process unfolded.
Armstrong said, “I’ll say this, Jeff wanted this job and you know, Jeff was a really highly sought-after guy in this coaching cycle.” He added, “there are a number of teams that wanted to hire him and when he was actually physically in Miami, there was just kind of a lot of frenzied activity about what Jeff was going to do. But, after meeting with the Ross family and, of course, he and Sully had a previous relationship from Green Bay, it was really clear to me like Jeff was not going to get on the plane and go to the next team.”
The interview had plenty of details on Miami’s newest coach’s work ethic, as Armstrong said with a smile that during his first job, Hafley spent a year living at the complex, and in a scene out of Seinfeld, would sleep under his desk. Additional to the Hafley talk, Armstrong told stories about his playing days with teammates Zach Thomas, Larry Izzo, Jason Taylor, Tim Bowens, Daryl Gardner and more. The player-turned-agent also had the opportunity to play for legendary coaches Mike Ditka, Don Shula, Jimmy Johnson, and Jon Gruden. Also, in a fun full-circle scenario, former Bears and Dolphins’ head coach of Armstrong’s, Dave Wannstedt, was Hafley’s boss at Pittsburgh from 2006-2010.
In perhaps the most enjoyable and comedic aspect or the talk with Trace, were his pranks and off-field shenanigans with Thomas and Izzo, which led to a story about needing a US Marine to literally swim and save one of the linebackers in the Atlantic Ocean. All of this and more was part of a jam-packed episode that past and present Dolphins’ fans will love, and can be found over on the Fins Faithful YouTube channel.
