The Green Bay Packers made a splash this offseason when they fired defensive coordinator Joe Barry and hired Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley to replace him. Now, Hafley’s side of the ball has turned into the darlings of training camp so far and he’s loving his experience with Packers fandom.
“There was people tailgating in our parking lot, 9 o’clock at night on a Sunday,” Hafley said. “Practice was over for six hours. People were asking for autographs and running around, so yeah I'm really excited to family night. I have no clue what that’s going to be like.”
In his first season with Green Bay Hafley isn’t only experiencing the buy-in from the fans, but his players are buying into his defense.
“That's what we’re probably the most proud of right now as a coaching staff is just we appreciate the buy in,” he said. “These guys are doing everything we ask them to do and they’re really going hard.”
At the safety spot, there’s a battle to see who will start opposite of huge free agent addition Xavier Mckinney, between rookies javon bullard, evan williams and second year man anthony johnson jr. Hafley has been impressed with the way all of them work.
“They’re in here late at night,” said the Packers defensive coordinator. “They have extra meetings and I think early on they’ve done a great job of showing us they understand the scheme and make plays.
It hasn’t just been those guys making plays, the defense as a whole has been flying around the field creating turnovers and Hafley says it all starts up front.
“When you get a rush and you’re aggressive up front and the quarterback can’t throw in rhythm or we tip a ball or we get a ball hand up or we’re disruptive and they’re in the right place at the right time – I think it’s a combination of rush plus coverage,” he said.
Speaking of guys up front, Hafley talked about the importance of having veteran leaders and he sure is glad Kenny Clark will be with the team a lot longer thanks to his new contract.
“He’s so good with the younger players,” Hafley said. “He’s so fun to coach, he sits in his room and takes notes like he’s a first year player. He's a good teammate on the field and he’s disruptive. I love what he does off the field, I love what he does on the field even more. I'm very glad he’s going to be here.”
