Jeff Hafley Bringing Schematic, Personnel Changes to Packers’ Defense
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The last time the Green Bay Packers made a seismic change in defensive philosophy was 2009, when Dom Capers was hired as defensive coordinator and installed a 3-4 scheme.
For 15 years, from Capers to Mike Pettine to Joe Barry, the 3-4 was a way of life. With the firing of Barry and the hiring of Jeff Hafley, the Packers are flipping back to the 4-3.
Why? Coach Matt LaFleur said he wasn’t necessarily looking to make a schematic change when he made the coordinator change.
“I wanted to get who I thought was the best for us,” LaFleur said on Thursday, when Hafley was introduced as defensive coordinator. “I equate putting a coaching staff together to putting a puzzle together. And how does each piece fit? And that’s an important part of it, the fit, and he just happens to run more of a 4-3. But I felt comfortable with what we had. Because the last thing you want to do is just scrap everything that you’ve got going for you, especially when you’ve got some pretty good players that have performed at a high level and guys under contract.”
To be sure, the change is noteworthy and overblown all at once. Going to a 4-3 base defense will require another starting linebacker. And switching coverage philosophies from Barry’s preferred Cover-2 to Hafley’s Cover-1 and Cover-3 schemes will demand a new type of safety.
Those are important changes.
At the same time, as general manager Brian Gutekunst said earlier this month, “this league’s a 4-2-5 league.” That 4-2-5 is the universal nickel package run by every team in the NFL. That’s four men up front, two linebackers and five defensive backs. Green Bay operated out of that look about two-thirds of the time in 2023. The 11 men on the field for the season-ending loss at San Francisco with Barry as coordinator might be the same 11 men on the field for a hypothetical rematch with Hafley as coordinator if played today.
Still, about 30 percent of the time, the Packers will line up in a 4-3. Depending on the future of high-priced veteran De’Vondre Campbell, the Packers might enter the 2023 NFL Draft looking for a third linebacker to join Quay Walker and Isaiah McDuffie. Even if Campbell returns, the Packers will have to bolster their depth chart.
Will the rangy, athletic Walker be the man in the middle? About a week-and-half into the job, Hafley wasn’t ready to say.
“Quay’s a talented player,” he said. “As we build this thing, we’re going to make sure he’s in position to make a lot of plays. So, whatever we feel, as we piece this together, where that is, that’s where we’ll put him.”
The other big change will be in the secondary. Or at safety, specifically.
As part of the Vic Fangio coaching tree, Barry was a proponent of Cover-2 schemes. That meant two safeties stationed deep to take away big plays and force offenses to dink and dunk the ball down the field, with the drawback of being a bit light in the box to stop the run. Sure enough, the Packers since LaFleur was hired in 2019 are last in the NFL in yards allowed per carry.
Hafley at Boston College was heavy into Cover-1 and Cover-3, ranking No. 1 in the ACC by considerable margins over the conference averages in both, according to Pro Football Focus. That means one deep safety with the second safety stationed near the line of scrimmage to help stop the run. In fact, no team in FBS played with more heavy boxes in 2023 than Boston College, according to PFF.
Safety might have been a position ripe for upheaval, anyway. Darnell Savage, Jonathan Owens and Rudy Ford – who combined to play almost 2,000 snaps last year – are set to become free agents. What is Hafley looking for in that deep safety (aka post safety)?
“I want a guy who can erase things,” Hafley said. “We’ve got to eliminate explosive plays when we play this defense, so if a run hits up the middle, this guy’s got to come out of the middle field with his hair on fire (and) he’s got to be able to get a guy down. I want a guy who can go from sideline to sideline and take the ball away. I think that position has to be a guy with high ball production, meaning he’s got to be able to intercept the ball.”
LaFleur is looking for the new defense to play fast and physical. It’ll be up to Hafley and his defensive staff to make it happen. That has nothing to do with 4-3 or 3-4 but their ability to teach what needs to get done.
“Can you take your players and maximize their ability?” Hafley said. “Every player wants to get better, and that’s our job to do. Our job is to put the players in the best position to succeed and make plays, and that’s through scheme, right? People can say a lot of the scheme is simpler, but it’s very detailed.
“We try and make it simple for the players so they can play fast, so they don’t have to think, so they can be confident and not be afraid to make mistakes, so we can get them the information that they need, so they can go out there and be fearless and play with their hair on fire and run and hit and cover and get off blocks and tackle.”
