“Green Bay Packers Defensive Coordinator Jeff Hafley Dives Into Personnel and Scheme in Exclusive Interview”
Jeff Hafley, the Packers’ defensive coordinator, must have some interesting insights. What did he have to say about the team’s personnel and defensive scheme in the interview?
Just a week before the 2024 NFL Draft, new Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley met with Larry McCarren to discuss his team’s roster, philosophy, and defensive strategy. With organized team activities now started, Hafley has finally had the opportunity to coach his squad firsthand as an NFL defensive coordinator, but we don’t know what we’ll be viewing on Sundays this season.
How will his defense be different?
We are going to attack. I informed the players that “I want to lead the NFL in effort.” I want to lead the NFL in terms of playing hard and taking the ball away. Hafley placed a strong emphasis on forcing turnovers throughout the interview. “[Turnover] is the priority: we want to take the ball away,” he told McCarren. He also stated that they prioritize turnovers. “It’s not just talk.” Head coach Matt LaFleur has stated multiple times that the Packers will transition away from Barry’s match-based approach and toward a more “vision-based” secondary defense. The hope is that by placing defenders in looser coverage with their eyes on the quarterback,
They’ll be able to lure quarterbacks into various routes that defensive backs can break on. Furthermore, Hafley stated that the new defensive line strategy is to “get upfield as fast as we can.” The Packers no longer intend to fill the box with interior linemen. The goal now is to establish penetration and, if successful, spill everything to the sideline.