Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley's media availability on August 18, 2026.

Obviously we're at the injuries adding up stage at camp, and just to hit on a couple of defensive linemen first, how long will Kenneth Grant be out and is Sieler in question for the regular season opener do you think?

Jeff Hafley: No, I would say the answer is no to that. I mean anything can happen, right? And I would say KG is probably week to week right now. Will not see him today and will not see him the remainder of this week.

How about Caleb Douglas?

Jeff Hafley: He'll be back today. Nothing to report there.

Hydration?

Jeff Hafley: Just something small and he's back ready to roll. It was hot out yesterday though, wasn't it? Yesterday might have been the hottest day. Today I heard it's going to be even hotter.

Is Chris Bell's activation – obviously it's good news. Does that mean that you are hopeful that he might be ready for the regular season?

Jeff Hafley: I mean, yeah, he's back at practice, so there's always hope. We have to be careful. You'll see him, yesterday he was in individual and today he'll do a little bit more in individual, but he'll be in a red jersey so it's non-contact, and then how he progresses. I give Kyle Johnston and Todd and everybody involved a lot of credit for getting him back ready. He worked really hard at it, but there's still a lot of steps to go, so let's just see how he progresses. I mean, with any injury, could there be setbacks? Sure. Could it go smoothly? I hope. Step two will be getting involved in some team activities with a red jersey on. I don't foresee him practicing against the Giants or playing against the Giants, but we'll go day to day and see how he progresses. But I think everyone's really excited that he's back. He's got to get in football shape. He's got to get in some timing and rhythm with the quarterbacks, but it's good to have him out there.

What do you like about his skill set and how he can bolster and diversify the room?

Jeff Hafley: He's big. He's strong. He's fast. He can run through the football, his catch and run. I just love his play style. He plays with a violence to him, at least looking back at his college tape. He's an explosive player with size, so we'll see. We'll see what he can do. Like I said, it's really early guys, so I don't want to sit here and tell you that Chris is back, but it's a lot better than it was a couple weeks ago, right, because he's out there.

Are you a believer in the idea of a dress rehearsal game in the preseason, and if so, might this be the one?

Jeff Hafley: What do you mean by dress rehearsal?

Usually a lot of coaches have that one game where the starters will play longer, sometimes even to the third quarter, get into halftime adjustments.

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, that was big. I think that was really big and a lot of people did it when I was first in the league. It usually was your third preseason game where you got them out and they played through the half. They played at least a series going into the third quarter. The problem is now is the joint practices have kind of taken over, and I think a lot of coaches and a lot of players would rather get their reps in those practices. Because here's how we have to look at it, so say our starters on – we practice against the Giants on Thursday and then the games on Saturday, so you're talking you get one day of rest and then you're playing a game. If our starters go out and play 40 snaps against the Giants on a Thursday practice, that'd be like playing two games in three days, which nobody's going to do. So where do you want to see your starters get more reps, in practice against the Giants starters or you want to kind of hold them off in practice and go do a dress rehearsal? I'd rather get the practice done the right way against the Giants, starters get great work in and then we'll see where we're at. But if a player plays 40-plus snaps on a Thursday, you can't play him in three quarters on a Saturday. It's not fair to the player. It's not safe.

Having two fewer joint practices than maybe like for example what we've seen here in the past. Would that alter whether you want to have a dress rehearsal in one of the last two preseason games?

Jeff Hafley: No. I mean, all I'm looking at is player safety, player reps, ramping these guys up so that they are getting enough reps in practice. So by the time we kick off, they can hit that 60, 65 mark for some guys who aren't going to come out of the game. If we were having a joint practice on a Tuesday and we played on Sunday, that would still be – I mean in the NFL, playing a Sunday game to a Thursday game is a tight window, right? I value the practice reps. Those are really important. We get the starters in for a limited amount of reps, that's our dress rehearsal. We'll see the third preseason game where we're at, who's healthy; we're not having a joint practice, which I don't want to do in the last week. But those aren't for those reasons, those are for other reasons, and we'll see where we're at for that one.

I think you mentioned last week that joint practice with the Commanders, it's not about trying to scheme them up, it's more still drilling your fundamentals and your technique. Does that remain the same through every preseason week, or does it change from week to week?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, I'm not looking to see if we can outsmart a coaching staff in a preseason practice. I mean, I don't think that gets our players any better. Like I said, just imagine I spent all this time the next two nights trying to draw up a blitz and getting a free runner off the edge. What does that tell us about our players? That they can run off the edge in a period where you're not even going to sack the quarterback and it looks cool? Like that's not important to me. What's important is building the foundation the right way. I want to see who can go up against their really good edge rushers and block them one on one, right? Is there times in a game when we're going to go on a joint practice, if there's an elite pass rusher, are we going to chip that guy and double that guy and slide to that guy? Absolutely. But can we block him one on one? It's practice. Right? Can we cover an elite wide receiver one on one and use good fundamentals and technique? Now when we get to the season, let's be smart. Do we've got to put a safety over the top and make sure that he doesn't hit home runs on us? This year in these joint practices, it's trying to figure out who we are, what we have, get our players better, get them more confident, push them to compete rather than try to out scheme, confuse and beat the New York Giants in a football practice. That would be more ego and that would be a selfish move on my part than it would be about our team and trying to get them better, if that makes sense. And I guess I'm pretty passionate about that, because I feel the same way in preseason games. It's let these guys go play as fast as they can, as hard as they can, and who can get off a block and whose eyes are in the right spot, and who can set an edge and who can do all the little things that really matter in our game when things get hard. And then I think when you get into the season, then it is our job to get our guys in the best positions and protect weaknesses and emphasize strengths and game plan. I personally don't believe that's our time in practice, I want to get our players better.

It sounds like preseason joint practices measure success by self-scouting, not necessarily like what you do, how you shut down the other team?

Jeff Hafley: I want to shut down the other team, but I want to do it with fundamentals and technique, not trying to confuse them or trick them or be smarter than the coaching staff. I want our guys to whip the block in front of them, and I want our running backs to break a tackle, and I want our wide receivers to go up over the top of a DB or beat him off the line using great technique, not some tricky pick that's going to rub the guy and just create open space right now. So I want to win everything that I do, I think everybody does. The focus on practice right now is to get our players better with what's important to me, and that's the fundamentals of how you play this game. It's fundamentals, it's technique, it's toughness, it's effort, and then we'll worry about scheme as we get into the season. That's what practice is about for me. And in doing so, I think you're going to find out who your best players are because if not, how are you going to find out who your best players are? Just the guy that made the most would-be sacks because no one blocked him? We're not figuring out who our best players are that way. I mean, there's some coaches that just want to go up and scheme and win practice. I got it, that's great. Congratulations, maybe we'll do that one day. I just don't want to do that right now.

With Kyle Louis, when you drafted him you talked about experimenting with him as safety. Is that what's going on now or is it just cross training?

Jeff Hafley: You're talking about that because yesterday you saw him back there? Just a package that we put in. I mean, he is a very versatile player, and it kind of goes back to what we talked about earlier. There's a time and a place, right? You can't have one guy do everything right away until you feel comfortable with certain things, or until you want to see something else. And I personally just felt it was time to see what he could do in different spots. Now based on how we've taught everything kind of part to whole, it's just plug and play for him at this point. I'm just putting him somewhere else and moving him, and it's just going to give me some ideas and some thoughts on how we can use him and how he's going to react. But he is a player that he has a knack for getting around the football. He's fast, he's strong, he can tackle and we are just trying to figure out the best spots for him and how many packages he can handle right now. He seemed pretty excited though, huh? I think he borderline had a huge smile on his face.

How would you evaluate what you've seen from safety so far in training camp?

Jeff Hafley: I thought they've been pretty solid, pretty consistent. Early on in camp, the ball was going over our head a lot, which scared me so I would say that's not very good. I think after the first few practices, I think we've kind of settled in. We're being where we're supposed to be. Guys are consistent, the communication is better, and they've really eliminated the big plays, which has been awesome to see. I think one of the biggest things you really want to see is who can get the ball down when it breaks, and I think that's really hard to do in practice because you're not usually tackling live that far down the field. In the preseason, I thought some of those guys did a really nice job and hopefully we'll be tested in the next two. But the guys have done a nice job stepping up. Trader will be limited today; I think he'll be out there doing some individuals. So hopefully we'll have a chance to get him back doing some stuff and then figuring out who the best two are to start the season.

I wanted to ask you, Ronnie Harrison Jr., Mason Reiger, their status – are they hurt?

Jeff Hafley: Reiger will not be out there today, and Ronnie will be out today. I think Ronnie is more day to day, but Ronnie will not be out there today.

We talked to you about 7-on-7s, team period, individuals, but haven't really gotten your gauge on 1-on-1s. What do you like about those and what do you look for in 1-on-1s?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, 1-on-1s, I think they're great. I think it tests everything that I believe in – your fundamentals, your technique. Can a wide receiver get off press, can a receiver press, can a receiver use his hands, can he play at the line of scrimmage? And then I also think there's a mental component to it. It's really the only time in our game usually 11-on-11, you're counting on other people; 1-on-1, it's one guy against another and there's a mental aspect to it too. There's a competition that kind of creeps up too, because everybody's watching and I think it's important to see that, just like the o-line, d-line in the pass rush, the tight ends versus safeties, the running backs versus the linebackers. I think it's a very, very competitive period that's physical and mental. I'm a big fan of those periods. We'll do those against the Giants when they come here as well.

You've spoken about how you want your cornerbacks to shed blocks and engage in the run defense. Conversely, how do your young receivers, especially with Chris Bell coming back, fit into the idea that receivers can block too?

Jeff Hafley: What do you mean? They better block. If they don't block–

Some receivers don't like to block.

Jeff Hafley: Our receivers are going to block. No block, no rock. How about that one? (laughter)

Did you come up with that?

Jeff Hafley: No, I've heard Matt (LaFleur) say it a few times or Kyle (Shanahan). So sorry, I didn't mean to steal it. It just popped into my head. But our receivers are – they're going to block, that's the standard. They've done a really good job blocking, and I think Tyke (Tolbert) has gotten that point across and Bobby (Slowik), and they've done a nice job with it. But no, our receivers are going to block. I mean if not, now you're getting me started. How are you not going to block for the running back? That's just to me, that's part of team. You better care about that guy and you better block down the field, or if another wide receiver catches the ball, you better turn, flip and find and go block a guy because you're going to want the same thing to happen when you catch the ball, right? You want everybody to block for you? It's a team game. So I think you teach that and you get guys who buy in and we have.

What have you seen from Zeek Biggers so far? I know that you know the outside inside thing, but is he making good progress at both positions or is he better at one?

Jeff Hafley: I think Zeek is playing really well. He's really doing a good job at tackle, he's done a good job in the run and the pass, and then he's given us the flexibility to put him at defensive end, which makes him a really versatile piece. I think he's been one of the most consistent guys, so I'm proud of the way he's played.

You mentioned Jonah taking a step over the weekend. Yesterday he didn't really think that it was switching sides, it was maybe because of his comfort level. But when you see, when you got here, his stuff on film last year to this year, is that what you think that is, or does it really come down to fundamentals and techniques?

Jeff Hafley: I mean again, that's probably a better question for him. The thing that I liked about him in the game and I complimented him on was how physical he was. That's what we were hoping for. And truthfully, and I think he knows this, he didn't practice that way against the Commanders, and then he flipped the switch and he played that way against the Commanders. So we just need more of that, but that was as encouraged as I've been. I showed it to the whole team because I wanted everybody to see it. And I think he kind of saw it too and said, 'yeah, that's what it should look like.' Better question for him. If he doesn't think it's the side, then it's not the side. If it's more of a confidence piece and experience piece, he's year two player. Just like with all these rookies right now, I think we're going to have these conversations. We got a lot of rookies. We got a lot of second-year players. It's going to go like this guys. I mean that's the life of a young guy in this league. And just because a rookie doesn't start out great doesn't mean he might not have a great career. There's guys who didn't play their first year very well and are in the Hall of Fame. It's a tough league and that's why you got to believe in the players and keep coaching them.

Getting back to Kyle Louis, I'm curious do you see him as a linebacker with safety packages, a safety with linebacker packages, or does position not even matter if he comes in?

Jeff Hafley: I don't know what I view him as yet. I see him as a good football player who our job is to put him in position to make plays, and that's what we're doing right now. We've got a good sample size of him playing, on the ball backer, off the ball backer, an apex backer, and now just the ability to move him around in practice, which is why practice is fun, right? Rather than scheming up people, you just put them and see what he can do. I think these next few weeks will be really important to figure out as we get into the season what we can do with him early and then what we can progress with.