Only a couple weeks removed from their Divisional Round loss to the 49ers, Green Bay traded out Joe Barry for Jeff Hafley. Here’s what he brings to the table.
GREEN BAY, WI– The Green Bay Packers have had two hall of fame quarterbacks and now have a possible third. In that time, the Packers’ average rank was eighth on offense and 14th on defense. Only ranking top three on defense when they won the Super Bowl in 1996 and 2010, but ranking that high on offense seven times. The Packers were desperately in need of finding their defensive coordinator of the future.
The Packers organization fired their defensive coordinator Joe Barry on the morning of Jan. 24th; just a few days after their miserable loss to the 49ers in the divisional round of the playoffs. While Joe Barry had some great moments as the defensive play caller, he often struggled in clutch moments. Now the Packers can only hope for better as, once again, there is a new defensive mind in charge.
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Jeff Hafley was hired after a seven day search for the new Packers defensive coordinator. Hafley started his coaching career in 2001 with the Worcester Polytechnic Institute as a running backs coach. By 2002, he had switched to a defensive assistant Coach at the University of Albany. In 2004, he transitioned to the defensive backs coach at Albany.
He jumped around from school to school continuing his path as a defensive backs coach, before finally reaching the NFL in 2012 coaching assistant defensive backs for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2019, he made the jump to co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State, before leaving after only one season to join Boston College as their head coach. Throughout that time, Jeff Hafley not only established himself as a great coach, but as a great recruiter, being ranked 10th in recruiting by 247sports.com in 2020.
In four years time, Hafley led the Boston College Eagles to a record of 22-26. While his record with the Eagles was average at best, as a defensive mind, no one comes more prepared. At the end of the 2016 NFL season, projected hall of fame candidate Richard Sherman had a lot of praise for his coach of only 1 year, “his preparation is some of the best I’ve seen. You know, I’ve had some great defensive back coaches, defensive coaches, and defensive minds, and he’s right up there with his preparation, and how he breaks down film, and how easy and simple he makes the game plan sound, and how easy he makes it for guys to understand.”
Throughout Jeff Hafley’s career, his results are evident. With few exceptions, wherever Jeff Hafley goes, success follows; especially when in leadership roles. At Ohio State as co-defensive coordinator, Jeff Hafley allowed less than 20 points in 9 of 11 games. Then at Boston College, he led a dominant defense, with some exceptions for out of conference games.
The hire of Jeff Hafley prompts a lot of change within the Packers organization. Ever since the Packers hired Dom Capers in 2009, they have run a 3-4 style defense, with a lot of zone. The style of defense has led the Packers to having a very average overall defense and one of the least feared red zone defenses. Jeff Hafley has a history of being much more aggressive in his scheme than what the Packers are used to. He is known to play a lot of man with single high coverage and lots of blitzing within a 4-3 style defense.
That should benefit Jaire Alexander and Eric Stokes, the two best cornerbacks on the Packers, who have been much more successful within man schemes. Additionally, all 3 starting safeties for the Packers will be heading into free agency, so a single high coverage will allow for less pressure on finding the next man up. For the 4-3 style D-line, it will allow outside linebackers Preston Smith, Rashan Gary, and Lukas Van Ness to prioritize the pass rush, which is what they are best at. Within a 3-4 system, they played some coverage which made them a liability. Preston Smith in man coverage on Davante Adams is never ideal.
It’s clear that the head coach Matt Lafleur and GM Brian Gutekunst are looking to make some changes to the team as the history of defenses dragging down a strong offense has made its mark, and it seems as though the hype around Jeff Hafley is a great start to making that shift.
