“Who the hell is Vince Lombardi?”
…and who the hell is Jeff Hafley?
Actually I like it—a new day for the Green Bay defense.
Go Packers!!!

Yes!!!

This should be interesting. Let's hope for the best.

He was a college WR, and he's worked with DBs and as a secondary coach. He's been in the NFL for about 10 years, a lot of 2 year stints, and he started as an assistant DB coach and worked his way to DC in 10 years. So somebody must have thought he was doing a good job because he got promoted several times.

He doesn't have nearly the experience that his predecessor did, but perhaps his youthful energy and new ideas will help improve our defense. I'm glad we got a guy with a background with the secondary, because that's where most of the work on defense is going to have to ta ke place.

Huh.

We'll see if the college gig and positional coaching work has helped him to be proficient as a teacher.

Our new D Coordinator is Jeff Hafley the former HC at Boston College?????? 4 year HC record at BC is meh.

From ESPN

"The future of the Packers proved a significant allure to Hafley, as they have a strong young core and bright future. He's a longtime friend of Packers coach Matt LaFleur and long-timer admirer of the Packers franchise."

I'll keep an open mind for now.

Boston College??
What Division are they in?

Long-term friend of Matt LaFleur? (oh, no)

Typical MLF hire.
I guess we’ll see.
GPG!

Huh? Talk about a curveball and rolling the dice....

He does have experience as an NFL defensive backs coach, and one of his Tampa Bay units had 21 INTs in 2013.

Apparently he is also a fine college recruiter. Well that will certainly help, won't it, LOL?

And of course he is a longtime friend of MLF. Gee, what a surprise!

I can't say I'm overflowing with enthusiasm with this off the wall hire, but at least we do get some experience coaching a secondary that's going to need it. Otherwise, this seems kind of risky for both the team and the head coach's self-preservation.

I'm sure he'll have a blast breaking down all the film and chuckling at some of Barry's crazy alignments and schemes. I wonder what assortment of new assistants he'll bring along--this will be interesting.

Can't wait to hear from this guy. Maybe he'll give us something to get excited about during the long off-season.

I've been doing some research. He led BC to a 22-26 record in four seasons and is a good friend of Matt LaFleur. The early returns are not looking good. But I'm just scratching the surface at this point.

Sigh...Well this is interesting. I'm waiting to see exactly who he has as assistants. Assistant Coaches are SO IMPORTANT so I'm curious who this guys brings along. More of the "Who the hell are you"?

Well, on first blush, it doesn’t make me angry. At least he hasn’t been an abject failure as a DC twice like Barry. And he does have plenty of teaching experience. We’ll see…

It's time to move on from Lamoron. Fire him and bring in Bill B. I can't just hear the complaining midway into the season. Then I can hear Lamoron making excuses for his friend that he needs a yr. Then after two years of losing the new Packer president fires all of them. So just do it now

"Boston College allowed an average of 28.3 points and just under 384 yards per game in 2023 while generating 1.3 takeaways per contest."

Sounds like a lot of points and yards, but the way the college game is played nowadays, I'm not sure how it stacks up against other college defenses.

After all the good will and excitement this year has brought us fans, this news is underwhelming to say the least.

Please prove me wrong Matt and your good friend Jeff. Good luck to you both!

Gotta trust the Coach on this one. Honestly, I only knew what I read about the other guys anyway. So how can I criticize? I’m going to give the guy a chance. Let’s see if Gute can get him some more players and he can get the D turned around. GPG!

Just glad we something new to piss and moan about! The complaints about Love fell to the wayside, so on to the next victim. How about we at least give it a try before we jump off the cliff?

Nothing like giving the guy a chance…whew!

Comfort matters. That he and Matt are approximately the same age, that they have friends in common, and that he can recruit speaks well of his fit. Fit matters.

Will be interesting to see who they retain in the assistants room. Matt didn't fire any assistants.

When the Packers fired Barry I thought "well, that's the move a team would make if they were serious about winning a Superbowl".

This... doesn't seem like a serious move.

Hoping for the best, but my off-season optimism is definitely getting dialed back now.

They're saying you sound like an owl.

Bringing back Joe Berry as a consultant.?
They played a 4 front at Boston
DE, Nt DT DE.

Can't say I'm completely surprised. LaFleur seems to want people around him he knows and is comfortable with. Not necessarily bad, but if there is one thing I've learned in my life is to be careful hiring friends. If they aren't doing the job, it's more difficult to discipline them/fire them. It tends to be human nature.

Maybe he can bring in Ravens inside linebackers coach Zach Orr in a lateral+ move if he doesn't get an offer. Get some of that aggressiveness in house.

Seems to me some fans are too quick to criticize a choice when the chosen one fails the name recognition test. Matt LaFleur, Jordan Love and Rashan Gary are three who immediately come to mind. How about we wait and see what the man has to offer the Packer D and then pass our judgments?

MLF better hope the third time is the charm. I would have went with Martindale, a proven commodity. Got him a few players to fit his style of defense. I saw GB as a real force with him running the defense.
Considering MLF is 0 for assistants in his career, perhaps he’s due.
The Super Bowl window doesn’t stay open long in the era of free agency… let’s hope for the best.

We'll have to hear the whole story...maybe the other candidates declined offers.

I"m guessing we got him cheap. My expectations won"t be high, but I hope he at least gives us somewhat of an improvement Hope he can help us in our draft

I somewhat agree with giving this guy a fair opportunity.
At the same time, it doesn't seem unreasonable to ask LaFleur why out of all the defensive coaches in the world, this was the right guy to get our defense up to the level of a Super Bowl champion in the next season or two (with a big step forward in 2024).
I'd like to hear some "wow" statements about what this guy has done to merit one of the best jobs in the NFL.
***
We the fans are the customers, which to me means not the right of approval, but the right of holding the management of the Packers accountable.
After Barry and Pettine, we have good reason to be wary of supposed expertise.
As a fan, I'm willing to show some deference to the expertise of the management of the Packers, but not to accept what they do blindly and unconditionally.
It's good to ask questions, and even to express concerns.

I would have liked one of those Ravens coaches.

I liked reading the passage below on Packerswire. Jersey Al, are you listening? The first sentence is misleading, though. Hafley was actually co-defensive coordinator for Ohio State, not the sole defensive coordinator:

With Hafley as the defensive coordinator in 2019, Ohio State went from ranking 72nd in yards per play to leading the country in that category. A key teaching point of Hafley’s that season was on tackling, an area where the Packers have been inconsistent at best.

“We don’t just talk about running to the ball,” said Hafley via The Athletic. “To me, the most important thing about tackling is the approach. I got up in front of the whole team, and Ryan had me talking about tackling in front of the whole team.

“I think people spend way too much time just talking about the finish and driving your legs and wrapping up. But people put themselves in such bad positions, where they’re not even close to being in a position to make the play. Everything we do, we just talked about tracking and the angle and the approach and getting yourself in the best position to actually get yourself having a fighting chance to make the tackle. Whether we’re doing a live period or not, we talk about that on every single play.”

I can’t take anything he did at BC and correlate it to NFL DC. He was the head coach at BC with DC and OC under him. His composite talent ratings (college recruiting sites track this) at BC is below average and BC is not a football power so on field results /expectations were to make a bowl and that is it. College head coach skill set doesn’t necessarily translate to the NFL. He was a co DC on a good Ohio state defense but…Ohio state has, unlike BC, an overwhelming talent advantage in 90% of their games so cannot out alot of stock in that either.

…his NFL experience is long ago. Can’t tell if he did a good job or not as it was so long ago. Most of the teams stunk but who really knows what part he played in that.

Friend of ML…huh. I don’t care all that much about that but…if he was NOT a friend if ML, would another coach with this resume get the job? Doubt it.

As someone else posted…he hasn’t failed as an NFL DC like Barry had before being hired. But…I think other potential options would instill more optimism. I also think this hire puts additional scrutiny on ML and his coaching hires. Not pressure, but really opens himself to more criticism if defense doesn’t show vast improvement.

I like hidden gems - whether it be players or coaches.

In situations like this, I am always reminded of Cubs GM Jim Frey when he was criticized for hiring his friend Don Zimmer to manage. Frey said, "Well, I have a lot of friends, and not all of them can manage the Chicago Cubs."

My first thought was who? He coached the DB's and secondary starting in 2004 in college for a couple of teams before going to the NFL in 2012. Starting with Tampa, he also had experience in Cleveland and San Francisco. He worked for 2 years on the 49ers defense under Saleh. It sounds like a 180 turn from Joe Barry, with frequent blitzing and more man to man instead of zone. One of the BC reporters said he likes the single high deep and Packers should see heavier fronts and more of an attacking style. A new scheme could benefit a few players, especially Alexander and Stokes. Richard Sherman spoke highly of him today, talking about when he played for SF. We can only hope and be happily surprised come next season.

I hate being right at times. When I went through the list of candidates my thought, these guys are good , in demand and won't come cheap. I bet we end up with someone we all say who? Aka Barry. Dam Why couldn't we get someone who knows how to coach D. Spend the Fn money. Cheap ball brought Barry here and it hasn't left obviously. I still firmly believe LeFleur does thing to appease Gutt and the bottom line

The same people an here ripping on the new DC I can guarantee have no clue about him and these are also the same angry bitter folks who said Jordan Stinks .

You folks who are always negative and have always been wrong should start your own site so you can all complain and be bitter together

At least he isn't a NFL retread. No idea about his scheme so really have to see what he brings. Have to give him a chance. But I really hate the nepotism in nfl.

Que Sera, Sera

I hope I never see our cornerbacks giving a 10 yard cushion on 3 and 10 again.

...friend of LaFleuzy, knew him from before, probably in his wedding, blah, blah, blah. I expected a new fresh, relatively unknown face from the NFL. But MLF takes a frat buddy as DC. This Hafley dude better be the answer and I hope he is. PackerNation will watch closely in the offseason, check him out in the draft, observe him in OTAs, interviews, and appearances all the way to training camp in July and beyond. While no one has any clue who this guy is - let's hope he succeeds. In reality, anybody is better than JBarry.

Okay correct me if I'm wrong but he spends two years as d coordinator at one team. Then with that experience he doesnt jump up to a D coaching job with another team but another d coordinator then two years later the same.
So it six years, if I'm counting right he was never thought highly enough to go up the rung to d coach.
So he leaves the NFL who he figures doesnt want him, and goes to BC where he had a so so record at best as hc.
Now after 6 years he doesnt like the fact he cant get the players via portal and all of a sudden is just available for us to save his life?
Why do I get the feeling he called LeFluer not the other way around. You can bet he was a lot cheaper option then the fine individuals we supposedly were interviewing. To me this is total bull shit and were in deep do do next year as this guy tries to figure out how to coach and entire defense in the NFL.

I wholeheartedly applaud Matt Leflore‘s decision. Keep it fresh. Keep it young. Keep it new. Keep it inventive. This guy is no slouch. He’s seen a lot! I think this is going to be fun.

This decision is quite the head scratcher due to all the quality candidates that are or were recently in the NFL. Since he apparently wasn't on anyone's radar except for MFL, our head coach's destiny is going to be forever linked to this new hire.

The good: he knows something about tackling
The bad: he wasn`t outstanding succesful so far
The ugly: another friend of MLF
Finally, who cares, as long as we win in New Orleans February next year

I always say the same thing about coaches like Hafley (and even some that are better known than Hafley):

1) I don't know sh!t about his coaching ability. How would I? Was I on the practice field or in the meeting room with him?

2) I don't think 99.9% of the other people know any more than I do. How would they? Were they on the practice field or in the meeting room with him?

Let's see what he's got.

Please tell me he's good at teaching players how to tackle....