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Some notes from Zach Kruse at Packers Wire on Valentine
Dude is not lacking in confidence...
And with the way Hafley is scheming his single- high defense, the Packers are going to lean very heavily on the outside corners to hold up in coverage until the pass rush gets home.

https://packerswire.usatoday.c...depth-at-cornerback/



“If we can stay healthy there (cornerback), I like the way the competition in that room is shaping up,” Gutekunst said from the league meetings on Monday.

“I think he showed last year that he was (a starting level player),” Gutekunst said. “He played very consistent football for us, and I think his best football is ahead of him, like a lot of our guys. He needs to get a little bit stronger, and I think he will. But I think the positions we put him in this past season, he answered the bell quite a bit throughout. Some of those were on short notice. And to come in and compete like he did, you don’t see that a lot out of seventh-round players. He had a lot of belief in himself and when the opportunities came, he certainly capitalized on them.”

Valentine was on the field for 695 defensive snaps as a rookie, and he led the team with nine pass breakups. According to Pro Football Focus, Valentine allowed just one touchdown pass and a completion percentage of 57.4 into his coverage last season. He committed only two penalties, missed only two tackles against the pass and gave up a passer rating of 84.1.

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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 "

I wanted to re-visit this post about Hafley's defense in regards to drafting Cooper DeJean. A lot of ink has been spilled about whether he is best as a Safety or a Corner or a slot or whatever. Maybe it doesn't matter so much ?

If you read this link above, its not about "positions" for Hafley, its about roles. And to me - that's where DeJean really shines. He can play a lot of different roles and play them well. The Packers aren't the only ones looking at him through this lens.

So when you see debates about DeJean and which position he will play, or what type of player he is - just know the Packers don't necessarily see it that way.
He's not a press corner or a zone corner, he's a multi-dimensional football player and its up to Hafley, Ainsley and Downard to get the most out of him on a game by game basis.

Position-less players are one of the current trends in the league and its one of the reasons Gute loves the uber-versatile players. DeJean, McKinney and Nixon would give Hafley a lot to work with in muddying up the pre-snap reads.

Last edited by Satori

I'm all in on DeJean, unless a top Tackle falls our way that Gutey loves. At 25 the top Tackles could be gone. Trade up a bit and get the guy Gutey truly wants, preferably DeJean for me. We can get OL help in the 2nd/3rd. Again, unless a truly gifted tackle starts falling.

@Satori posted:

I wanted to re-visit this post about Hafley's defense in regards to drafting Cooper DeJean. A lot of ink has been spilled about whether he is best as a Safety or a Corner or a slot or whatever. Maybe it doesn't matter so much ?

If you read this link above, its not about "positions" for Hafley, its about roles. And to me - that's where DeJean really shines. He can play a lot of different roles and play them well. The Packers aren't the only ones looking at him through this lens.

So when you see debates about DeJean and which position he will play, or what type of player he is - just know the Packers don't necessarily see it that way.
He's not a press corner or a zone corner, he's a multi-dimensional football player and its up to Hafley, Ainsley and Downard to get the most out of him on a game by game basis.

Position-less players are one of the current trends in the league and its one of the reasons Gute loves the uber-versatile players. DeJean, McKinney and Nixon would give Hafley a lot to work with in muddying up the pre-snap reads.

Hafley also wants to run man and have players eyes on the QB.  Dajean played zone with his back to the QB.  As good of a player as he is, whether he fits the style of play Hafley wants is another thing.

@vitaflo posted:

Hafley also wants to run man and have players eyes on the QB.  Dajean played zone with his back to the QB.  As good of a player as he is, whether he fits the style of play Hafley wants is another thing.

I think you may have flipped your orientation. Zone coverage allows the DB to keep an eye on the QB. Man coverage involves keeping an eye on the receiver and reacting to them.

When a new coordinator arrives, teams typically like to give him a few shiny new players to work with and help make his vision a reality.

Gute spent big on Xavier McKinney, re-signed Nixon, added (4) DBs in the draft, snagged Cooper and Javon Bullard early and still has cap cash to work with if an opportunity arises. Hafley has to be stoked about all that

Full speed ahead...

I have a lot of hope for Hafley and the new defense.  Yet I have some reservations.  While he has been a position coach in the NFL and coordinator at the college level, he’s still new to GB and the NFL.  I’m hopeful of his attacking style, but wonder how long it will take coaches to learn his nuances, veterans to learn a new defense, and rookies to get up to speed in a new league.  I think we may be offense dependent for the first half of season until the defense clicks.  Overall I have much hope and look forward to the season and its possibilities. Just am hesitant to give a Messiah role to the new coordinator.

I have a lot of hope for Hafley and the new defense.  Yet I have some reservations.  While he has been a position coach in the NFL and coordinator at the college level, he’s still new to GB and the NFL.  I’m hopeful of his attacking style, but wonder how long it will take coaches to learn his nuances, veterans to learn a new defense, and rookies to get up to speed in a new league.  I think we may be offense dependent for the first half of season until the defense clicks.  Overall I have much hope and look forward to the season and its possibilities. Just am hesitant to give a Messiah role to the new coordinator.

I can definitely see how you feel about the the new DC and I would think many are thinking it sounds good with the aggressive talk but it hasn't happened. 

Honestly I think at this point we are all conditioned to think that a new DC will finally get us over the hump but it hasn't happened as of yet so I can see how you are cautious. 

Every time I hear this dude speak, I come away more impressed. Dude is bright...he answers questions about personnel guys quickly, directly with zero old boy gobbledly-gook. From an intelligence standpoint, I think we seriously upgraded the DC position.

One thing Barry's D did well was containing mobile QB's.  Bringing more pressure often makes a D more vulnerable to QB runs and broken plays so I hope he'll be able to reuse some of what worked before him.

@DH13 posted:

One thing Barry's D did well was containing mobile QB's.  Bringing more pressure often makes a D more vulnerable to QB runs and broken plays so I hope he'll be able to reuse some of what worked before him.

LBs with speed (Walker, Cooper), something the Packer D has often been missing, can mitigate that.

Last edited by PackLandVA
@DH13 posted:

One thing Barry's D did well was containing mobile QB's.  Bringing more pressure often makes a D more vulnerable to QB runs and broken plays so I hope he'll be able to reuse some of what worked before him.

That’s because he was always willing to give up 5 yards.   We will get burnt this year, more than previous years, and that’s just fine as long as it comes with 3 n outs and turnovers.

When you have a high powered offense, you want more possessions.   We believe we will score more points per possession than our opponent so forcing the issue of either score or get off the field is the way to create those possessions.  

Last edited by BrainDed

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