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When the\u00a0Green Bay Packers\u00a0decided to move on from Joe Barry after the 2023 season, nobody had Jeff Hafley on replacement lists. After all, Hafley was established as a\u00a0head coach at Boston College, with a contract securing him $4 million a year. But Hafley wasn\u2019t happy, and the\u00a0Packers\u2019 offer came\u00a0at the perfect time.<\/p>\n
A former assistant coach with the\u00a0Tampa Bay Buccaneers,\u00a0Cleveland Browns, and\u00a0San Francisco 49ers, Hafley went to college to be the Ohio State\u2019s co-defensive coordinator, but was quickly hired as a head coach by BC. College football drastically changed in Hafley\u2019s four seasons there, though, which affected his passion for the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s devastating,\u201d Hafley told\u00a0Fox Sports\u00a0about losing transfer players. \u201cWhen that keeps happening, over and over again, you pour everything you have into these guys and you\u2019re teaching them and coaching them and you were maybe their only offer, and now they potentially might be leaving for money. They\u2019re not thinking about their degree. They\u2019re not thinking about their education. So instead of coaching, I\u2019m on the phone trying to raise money. I got to the point where I said, \u2018I don\u2019t want to do this.\u2019 I had stopped coaching. I was doing a job that wasn\u2019t what I\u2019d always dreamt to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeff Hafley talks like a head coach, acts like a head coach, he has everything to eventually become an NFL head coach. But for now, he\u2019s happy to be a football coach. As an NFL defensive coordinator, he has once again the chance of working exclusively around real football stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know what my expectation was, other than I couldn\u2019t wait to get back to coaching football and immersing myself in football again,\u201d Hafley added. \u201cSo far, it\u2019s been a lot of fun. You ask if this is what I expected? Yeah. I love what I\u2019m doing. I love going to work. I love the guys I coach. I love being around the staff. I look forward to it every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Hafley took over as the Packers DC in 2024, the defense is sixth in EPA\/play. Under head coach Matt LaFleur between 2019 and 2023, with Mike Pettine and Joe Barry as the coordinators, the unit had been 16th. It\u2019s a major improvement, with hopes to get even better over the course of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s to develop players and teach these young guys the fundamentals and technique. I think that\u2019s still the most important thing that people forget about sometimes,\u201d Hafley said. \u201cI think in the NFL, people get caught up in scheme, scheme, scheme. Ultimately, I believe in all my heart that it\u2019s about fundamentals and technique. It\u2019s about your eyes and your feet. It\u2019s about getting off blocks. It\u2019s about tackling. It\u2019s about leverage. At BC, we didn\u2019t always have the highest-rated recruits, you had to develop guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe\u00a0Jeff Hafley won\u2019t be in Green Bay for much longer\u00a0as he\u2019s already been mentioned as a\u00a0head coaching candidate. But the Packers changed the trajectory of his career \u2014 and there will always be a special connection.<\/p>\n
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When the\u00a0Green Bay Packers\u00a0decided to move on from Joe Barry after the 2023 season, nobody had Jeff Hafley on replacement lists. After all, Hafley was established as… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-bay-packers"],"yoast_head":"\n