When the Green Bay Packers decided to move on from Joe Barry as their defensive coordinator, the hunt began for a fresh face. Jeff Hafley was the right fit for the role, and he’s already making a mark on the NFL.
Jeff Hafley was the head coach at Boston College for four seasons, before walking away from the job. He opted to return to the NFL in a coordinator role, and was extremely excited about the potential of this young Green Bay Packers defense.
Jeff Hafley’s choice words when hired by the Green Bay Packers
The Packers needed a change. They’d gone from Mike Pettine to Joe Barry, with often lacking results on both counts. Despite making the playoffs in the 2023 season and beating the Dallas Cowboys in the wildcard round, head coach Matt LaFleur decided it was time for a change, and Barry was out.
His replacement, Jeff Hafley, had quickly grown tired of the college football world, and left his head coaching job voluntarily to join LaFleur’s staff.
An ESPN source said “He wants to go coach football again in a league that is all about football. College coaching has become fundraising, NIL and recruiting your own team and transfers. There’s no time to coach football anymore.”
In Green Bay, Hafley gets to focus purely on football, and that led to a sensational season for the Packers defense in 2024.
When he arrived, the DC sat down with Larry McCarren for his 1-on-1 segment on the Packers YouTube channel. He was asked how his defense would look different from what the Packers fans are used to seeing, to which he replied:
“We’re going to attack. I told the players I want to lead the NFL in effort, and I want to lead the NFL in how hard we play, and I want to lead the NFL in taking the ball away.”
McCarren then asked Hafley how you encourage the players to see takeaways as part of their DNA.
“You prioritize it, and it’s not just talk. It’s everyday meetings showing them how to do it and how we’re going to do it, and then it has to show up in practice, and then it needs to show up in the games.”
Hafley certainly delivered on his statements in the 2024 season. Green Bay had just seven interceptions in the 2023 season, second from bottom in the league. In Hafley’s first year in charge they jumped to 17 interceptions, third best in the league.
In 2025, if the Packers can continue to build on such positive momentum, their unit could be among the very best in the league.
Green Bay’s 2024 defense by statistics
Considering it was Hafley’s first coordinator role in the league, the results were phenomenal. They allowed 20 points per game (5th in the NFL), while allowing 5.2 yards per play (5th), and 2.3 touchdowns per game (7th).
The unit was consistently forcing teams into passing situations, giving up just four yards per rush throughout the season (3rd in the NFL). Despite facing passing downs nearly 58% of the time, Green Bay still only allowed 209.9 passing yards per game (8th).
While they lost Jaire Alexander during the offseason, he has only featured in 14 regular season games over the past two seasons. The new look secondary will be looking to prove itself without him, including star safety Xavier McKinney and potential breakout corner Carrington Valentine.
Edgerrin Cooper’s name is also on the list of potential breakout players in Green Bay, and the unit as a collective is poised to take another major step forwards in 2025.
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