Packers Name Jeff Hafley New Defensive Coordinator for 2024

Here's a really interesting article I found on the " vision and break" principles espoused by Hafley and how they came into being.

https://www.elevenwarriors.com...yle-of-zone-coverage

"How do you limit explosive plays?" Barnes asked the crowd rhetorically. "Limit busts, limit lost leverages – make sure you’re guys are running to the ball, and limit missed tackles. How do you do that? Let them play fast. If a guy has to think, he’s going to miss tackles. If a guy has to think, he’s going to bust. If a guy has to think, he’s not running to the ball. Make sure they know what they’re doing."

One of the issues with the Joe Barry defense is that there were too many
"If this/then that" decisions to be made on the fly. And that led to communication breakdowns and busted coverages. The Hafley method aspires to remove that uncertainty and let the athletes shine. Looking forward to seeing it in action

@Boris posted:

I wonder why?? 🤔

Vikings / Bears / Cowboys / SF

Look at the tape and compare it to the previous 14 games.

Sure, I'll get right on rewatching the first 14 games right after I catalog each blade of grass in my yard.  Because I have the same amount of time for both.

And I don't know what on god's green earth you are saying.  MIN and CHI offenses weren't much good but DAL and SF came in near the top of the league.

My post was in response to Satori suggest Hafley had "his work cut out for him" regarding GB's poor tackling stats. They noticeably improved at the end of the season so their ability to tackle is somewhere between their pads. 

Frenchie helped coach the defense at the end of the season - when he was pressed about Barry's status after the Carolina game (I believe), he stated (paraphrasing a bit) "there wasn't anyone else on the staff that would be an improvement and he himself was going to get more involved".

@DH13 posted:

Did BC have a DB/S worth drafting high enough to start at S in GB?

Not sure, but holy shit... his players love him !

Here's some interview comments from the Combine, with a few of his players singing his praises. Couple of snippet below, but read the whole thing instead of counting blades of grass.

https://www.acmepackingcompany...proctor-elijah-jones

"Now that he is in Green Bay, there is a chance that the Packers could draft one of his former charges from his last five years in college football. Each of these four players had encouraging things to say about Hafley, and some common themes continued to show up throughout their answers.

One is that every one of the four prospects glowed when speaking about Hafley and their relationship with him as a person. “Man, he’s a great coach,” Eichenberg said. “All around, he’s just a great dude.” Jean-Baptiste was excited about the possibility of reuniting with his former coach, saying “It would be (fun), I wouldn’t be upset about that!”

Later, Proctor and Jones each started with the same sentence: “I love coach Haf.”

Proctor, meanwhile, focused on Hafley’s ability to get players to play instinctively: “He just made it easy. He helped us just play fast. There wasn’t too much thinking, We were able to be ourselves and he put us in the right spots so we was able to go play.”

Finally, Jones went into even more detail about the mechanics of how Hafley prepares his players. “The biggest thing I think that he helped change with my game is just how I learn about football,” he said. “It’s not just going out there and playing the game, it’s more about understanding your opponent and understanding how you’re going to get attacked. He was just a great teacher.”

Will have insight on a lot of ACC players and BIG guys left over from his regime.  I  (Jordan) Love the Haf hire

Matt Schneidman tweeted out a comment on Free Agent  CB CJ Henderson

Former 1st rounder, might be worth a look
He's an athlete; ran a 4.39 and plenty big enough at 6"1 and 204 lbs
Drafted by Jax and spent time in Car.
See his spider below

https://www.mockdraftable.com/player/cj-henderson

Don't know if he can play football good -  but he looks the part for this defense

@Satori posted:

Proctor, meanwhile, focused on Hafley’s ability to get players to play instinctively: “He just made it easy. He helped us just play fast. There wasn’t too much thinking, We were able to be ourselves and he put us in the right spots so we was able to go play.”

This eloquence doesn't speak very well of the quality of a BC education.

@Fandame posted:

This eloquence doesn't speak very well of the quality of a BC education.

These are languages nobody has ever heard of.

.
Drue Tranquill, LB, potential fit in Titletown

https://packerswire.usatoday.c...t-lb-drue-tranquill/

“New Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley plans to bring an attacking 4-3 base defense,” wrote Spielberger, “which could make Tranquill a great fit after he excelled on Steve Spagnuolo’s Chiefs unit, extremely efficient as a blitzer and ever-reliable in coverage.”

Over the last two seasons, Tranquill posted 37 pressures, including 22 with the blitz-heavy chiefs, and 10 sacks. Among all linebackers in 2023, Tranquill’s 22 pressures ranked as the seventh-most while he also ranked fifth in pass-rush productivity.

In coverage during that same two year span, Tranquil held pass catchers to just 8.9 yards per catch with two interceptions and three pass breakups. This past year, in particular, he was a very efficient tackler, missing only eight of his 98 attempts, while ranking 12th in stops—or a tackle that constitutes a “failure” for the offense, as PFF describes it."

Very inexpensive option....

Drue From Heaven

@Iowacheese posted:

Drue From Heaven

He looks  like he's from I-Wa
   
6'2" and 235 and he put up some impressive workout numbers

https://www.mockdraftable.com/player/drue-tranquill

4th round pick of the Chargers in 2019
played for $3M last year, OTC says he's worth $4M

https://overthecap.com/player/drue-tranquill/7921

A highly successful businessman from Spaguolo's D would be an ideal fit to captain Hafley's new arrangement in GB.

A little more fluffery on the Packers new DC and the type of coaches he added to his staff.

https://www.packers.com/news/j...etic-defensive-staff

…and that’s why Campbell was the first cut.  

So I was thinking about what Gute said with regards to strong safety and slot corner being interchangeable...

Maybe the plan is to play Keisean Nixon at strong safety & draft a slot corner ?
Nixon and that dude can be moved around like chess pieces, but I think Nixon is a better fit at SS generally speaking.

IF that's the case, then GB should be looking hard at nickel-capable CBs

FS - McKinney
SS - Nixon
CB1 - Jaire
CB2 - Valentine/Stokes
Slot CB: ? DeJean, Melton, others

A little FJB on the way out the door?

Of course it was JB. What a waste of seasons.

Gonna be quite the chess match for the defense in 2024

None of the opposing OCs have film on Hafley in the NFL, so he has a small advantage there until they have enough snaps to get a feel for what he calls

On the flip side, Hafley doesn't have years of experience going up against the current OCs and offensive players. That was one of the things Pettine talked about when he came to GB - he was coming from a year off and he was coming from the AFC -  so it was a steeper learning curve.

Two of Hafley's assistants - Ainsley and Campanile are coming from the AFC into the NFC North - so that's gonna test them a bit vs NFC teams. But the Packers do gain some insight vs the (5)  AFC teams on the 2024 schedule

I hope Hafley is a very good chess player.

Chess would be nice.  I would settle for Chutes and ladders. Replacing the drooler that liked to play dodgeball.

.
Very interesting description of how Hafley teaches his pass defense. Instead of focusing on positions ( FS,SS,CB) he focuses on roles. And then he teaches everybody each of the roles, so they become interchangeable

https://www.elevenwarriors.com...yle-of-zone-coverage

"I drew it this way for a reason," Barnes said when showing a diagram similar to the one above. "I didn’t say ‘corner-safety-corner, safety-backer-backer-backer,’ no, it doesn’t have to be that way… It’s plug-and-play.

I’ll show you a clip here where our SAM linebacker is in the middle 1/3. Sometimes our SAM is the outside 1/3. Our inside linebacker is going to the Buzz dropper. Our 5-technique is the Hook dropper. Our middle field safety dropping down to the Hook defender. It’s plug-and-play."

By teaching roles instead of specific positions, it actually provides more flexibility as the Buckeyes can rotate different personnel into each spot with ease. According to Barnes, this approach creates two distinct advantages.

"One, it creates a lot of confusion for the offense," he said. "Two, it’s inexpensive for us, so when we teach this, I don’t have to teach one guy one thing.
We do a circuit, so we’re going to teach everybody on the defense to learn how to be a Hook dropper. So now we’re all coaching Hook drop. We blow the whistle, we rotate the circuit and now, ‘hey, you’re a Buzz dropper there, this is the Hook station,’ and we roll it right through. So, we’re all learning, and then it’s plug-and-play."

While many teams use pre-snap motion to mess with defenses, forcing them to quickly react to new alignments just mere moments before the ball is snapped, the Buckeyes handled such shifts with ease as every player in the back-seven knows the responsibilities of each spot "

You're a hook dropper.

Play stopper. Buzz dropper

don't you mess around with me.

Did we ever hear of Barry doing innovative things like this?? You know a general gathering his troops....

Before I put another notch in my Lombardi Trophy.

You better make sure you stay friggin healthy!

------

C'mon NFC North.....

Matt LaFleur says #Packers new defensive staff, starting with DC Jeff Hafley, is high on Keisean Nixon's potential filling starting slot corner position: "They were really excited with what they saw on tape with his ability to play the nickel position."

— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) March 26, 2024

Dumbass posted:

So I was thinking about what Gute said with regards to strong safety and slot corner being interchangeable...

Maybe the plan is to play Keisean Nixon at strong safety & draft a slot corner ?

Apparently not.
Gute and Hafley both say I'm rong on that one.

Nixon fits the larger slot profile, NFL teams are asking that guy to play a substantial role in run defense - so having a stouter guy like Nixon makes a lot of sense. Gotta love those ball hawking skills too

From Schneidmann at The Athletic - more quotes on Nixon in the slot

"Having some stability within our secondary, I think the nickel position, in general, has become more and more important in our league. And having a guy who can do multiple things there, not only cover but be an instinctual guy who can take the ball away and also play against the run just because of how much those guys are involved.”

LaFleur added that new defensive passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley and returning defensive backs coach Ryan Downard were “really excited” about watching Nixon’s 2023 tape at nickel.

“He’s a big guy for the position — he’s 200 pounds or whatever,” LaFleur said.
“His willingness to fit in the run fits, whether it’s an A-gap or B-gap, stick his nose in there and then also his ability to play man coverage.

Certainly, there’s going to be some elements to our scheme that are going to be different. He’s going to have to learn the new scheme. He’s played in this style of system before with the Raiders when Gus Bradley was there, so he’s familiar with some of the things that are going to be asked (of) him.”

@Satori posted:

Apparently not.
Gute and Hafley both say I'm rong on that one.

Nixon fits the larger slot profile, NFL teams are asking that guy to play a substantial role in run defense - so having a stouter guy like Nixon makes a lot of sense. Gotta love those ball hawking skills too

We’ll see who the real dumbass is. You or Gute. I don’t like your odds, bud. I’m sure you’ve lost a few brain cells going toe to toe with IC.🤣

@Goalline posted:

I’m sure you’ve lost a few brain cells going toe to toe with IC.🤣

wishful thinking for a couple of fat bastards who can't even see their toes

More on Hafley's connections , didn't know he worked with Stenavich:

Goalrexline with the foot fetish

Wanna join me and hang out with Rex?

Will there be beer?

Bring your own nail polish.

I'm just here to keep learning so much from all the foot fetish eckspurts

@Boris posted:

I'm just here to keep learning so much from all the foot fetish eckspurts

A link just for you....

And I thought Fedyaya posted some weird links.  But you win the prize.

@lovepack posted:

Will there be beer?

Rex Ryan look like a wine drinker to you?

@PackLandVA posted:

A link just for you....

But only their feet were naked! 

@ammo posted:

And I thought Fedyaya posted some weird links.  But you win the prize.

Hateful®.

@Fandame posted:

But only their feet were naked! 

Naughty girl.😊

Lil' piggies.