Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley's media availability on July 30, 2026.

Did you have fun at practice yesterday?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, it was fun. It was quick. Really quick.

So today's will be longer?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, today will be longer. Today's a high day, which means it'll be the most reps for the week. You usually have, like a high, a medium and a low, so you don't wear them out. There's some science behind all this.

How far out do you formulate your practice plans? And the second part of it is how much do you tinker with those plans based on the team performance relative to your expectations?

Jeff Hafley: That's a good question. So to give you an example, I went through the first six practices, right. So the practice faces, how many reps we wanted, talking to Todd (Hunt), talking to Kyle (Johnston), how many reps – like everything, we've got to kind of gradually get them acclimated. So the first three practices, how many reps do we think the ones can get, the twos can get, the threes can get. Then we build them up and then we might bring them back down. And then the following week how much more. So I scripted the practice faces of what I wanted to do rep wise for the first six because really, we're going in blocks of three, so we'll go three days on, one day off. So I feel good about where we're at for this week. And then what I'll really do Saturday is I'll sit down with the coordinators and then we'll revisit what we kind of did for those three to make sure it's still what we want and we feel good about with our players being able to do. Then we'll go ahead and get the next three ready and we'll repeat that cycle. So we kind of have a blueprint, but we'll revisit it before we do it. Then from a coaching standpoint, there's some coaches that will script practices, and when I say script, they'll actually write the calls in that they want for like six, ten practices. I'll kind of do that three, three at a time, two, because things change, right? All of a sudden – I'll speak defensively for myself because as I script those practices, it's after three practices, wow, our guys are really good at this. I want to see more of this or wow, I was watching film and I got a really good idea and hey, maybe we should try this. So I don't just want to kind of sit down, script everything; I want it to evolve. I want to put thought into it. I want to see where the players are at. I want to see how healthy we are. I want to see one week we might be down receivers or DBs and we might have to do more run plays, right? So hopefully that answers your question.

Along those same lines, one of the things I noticed was it seems like there was an increased time spent on individual. There's no sevens, increased time spent with the team period. Just what was behind that as well?

Jeff Hafley: I mean, one, I think the only thing you can rely on when things get hard are your fundamentals and your technique. Big in teaching part to whole, right? So you teach the part, you teach the techniques within the scheme and individual. So you learn this drop, you learn this coverage, you learn how to run this pressure in those individual periods and you practice them. First you walk through them. I think in anything that you do, you teach it in the classroom, right? So I might draw it on the board, show a PowerPoint slide, show video evidence of it, then you walk through it. Okay, and I think this is how a lot of people learn. There's different ways people learn. So you have to hit all those different ways of teaching. So then you walk through it, which some guys need to do. Then you go out in individual and you kind of do the technique without the whole team there. And then you get to a team setting and that allows you kind of see if you can put it all together. Then you go back and watch it to see if it was right. And then you probably got to go through and do the whole thing again. So that's just to me, I think that's teaching. As we get into the season, you're going to lose individual time because you're going to have to practice more plays against your opponent. So now we have the time because we're not playing in games where we need to kind of sharpen the axe before we try to cut the tree down. Make sense? As far as 7-on-7, I don't like 7-on-7. I mean, in OTAs, we kind of have to do it because of the rules and I respect that, but for so many positions, it's just you want to play the game, right? You want to know the down and distance. You want to know the personnel. You don't want to just go out there and run plays. When you do 7-on-7, there's no rush. For the quarterback, they're not going to feel anything. There's no timing, there's no rhythm. I think you create a lot of bad habits, and spending time the last two years with Matt (LaFleur) and really Kyle (Shanahan), I mean those two guys from an offensive standpoint, they hated it. And then I started to feel the same way on defense. Imagine you're a linebacker and you're dropping back, right, and the quarterback is looking this way and there's no rush. Well, then he can look here and then he can look here and then he can look here. That's not real. Now I'm a linebacker getting set and now the quarterback's here, and you can kind of feel he's about to get hit, so as a linebacker you can start to anticipate and break. You can't do that in 7-on-7. It's the same thing for corners. If I'm playing press corner and I make a guy stop and start at the line of scrimmage, there's a clock in my head that I know there's no way, I just throw off the timing, he's not getting the ball. In 7-on-7, it's like counting Mississippi's when we were a kid or whatever you guys did; there is no Mississippi's. I want to just play football. I think that's how you get good.

What's your philosophy behind the three on, one off? I know a lot of coaches do four on, one off...

Jeff Hafley: I look at the season. We practice Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and we really don't ever go four practices in a row during the season. I think it's just something that our bodies can get used to and get them in a routine. I think it also allows us to recover, right, and allows us hopefully to stay healthy, which is more important than anything. So it's just between Todd (Hunt) and our strength coaches, we do spend a lot of time talking about that, so that's where we came up with that.

Limiting De'Von Achane to a few team reps, is that just his natural progression of where he's at or is protecting him of the utmost importance this training camp?

Jeff Hafley: Well, he just came back, so he's got to build up his reps just like everybody else to get ready to play in a game. But we've got to gradually increase it, and we'll do that throughout camp. So it's just first day back. Hadn't really played football in a while, but I am very glad that he's back.

What do you think of Jaylen Wright's skill set?

Jeff Hafley: Fast, explosive. When he hits it and gets vertical he can really go. I think he's a good scheme fit. I love the way he practices. I love the way he finishes. He's compact. He's strong. He's a hard guy to tackle and excited to see him in live settings. That will be fun.

Do you view the RB2 position as a particularly interesting sort of open competition?

Jeff Hafley: Sure. Of course, and I think we have some good guys that are going to compete for it. And that's why when we start practicing and playing real football, I mean, you got to get a good evaluation and let's be honest, we're going to need both of them. It's just the nature of the position and the shots that they take and the durability and we're going to need all those guys.

Doing more 11-on-11, I wanted to kind of drill down on that a little bit. Players seemed to like it yesterday. Achane said what you said, it's more real football. Austin Jackson was saying, "yeah, I loved it." Does that set a mentality for the players or can you kind of go more into that? Does it make them more aggressive? Does it get them more used to playing real football?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, I mean it's the muscle memory. It's everything. We're not just going to put the ball down and say it's first-and-10 every single play. It's in the huddle, what was the down and distance? Is it second-and-7. What are you expecting in second-and-7? Is it second-and-1? Is it a waist down or are they going to take a shot? We even started third down right away yesterday. It's third-and-7. In an example yesterday with the team in my team meeting, it's third-and-7. Most quarterbacks are going to get to the line and they're going to hard count to try to see if we can get everybody to show their hand and they can get into the right protection, maybe the right play, and our guys need to start to learn things like this. It's third and three and our corner's playing seven yards off. I mean, you can't play off on third-and-3, but the problem is sometimes if you just go out and practice and don't pay any attention to that, the guy didn't even know it was third-and-3, right? So this is a mental game as much as it's a physical game, and I think when you do 11-on-11, getting back to your question, you tie all that together. So when you watch the film, you're teaching situations and then the other big thing is this, we had officials there yesterday. I mean, the things that we can't have happen is you can't have pre-snap penalties and hurt yourself. There were examples yesterday, which I brought up again when I talked to the team, and I kind of bring it all together. It was second-and-10 and we hit a big play, but we jumped offsides. So like what happens there? It's third-and-8 and the defense jumps offsides and now it's third-and-3. All those little things with the officials being there in 11-on-11 and they're throwing the flags will send the message of 'this is important.' Like if they weren't there, we were just doing 7-on-7, I mean, we had a we had a great play on defense yesterday. It was third-and-10 in our defensive end lined up offsides. That doesn't happen in 7-on-7. Like all those things we have to get the rust off and that's what training camp is all about.

You said you just wanted to play football and several players yesterday said something they appreciated about you is you didn't make a loud entrance when you came here as coach. Was recognizing some of that distraction or noise something that you saw before you got here and is that a plan or are you just being yourself with that?

Jeff Hafley: Just being myself. I mean, just look forward to get out there and practicing and playing football again. That's just myself. Nothing had to do with anything in the past. It's just how we want to do things.

What did you think of Malik Willis' first practice and do you see his chemistry coming along after he had some throwing sessions with his receivers?

Jeff Hafley: I don't want to judge anybody off the first day. I mean, shoot, I was rusty. I'm looking down getting the call in, trying to see what the offense is in. Then I'm trying to compliment an offensive player, coach a defensive player. And I wasn't as good as I needed to be yesterday. So that's why we practice, right? I can tell you that. I need to get into a better routine and figure some stuff out and get going as camp goes and all of our coaches do. So when I look at a player, is Malik (Willis) going to be where he is in five weeks? No, I thought some periods Malik looked really good. The others, he looked rusty. Just like every other player. I just think, guys, it's going to be really hard to assess anybody in these first couple of practices. I think the key to everything is going to be consistency over time. It's like tomorrow, if you guys ask me, is this player above this player? I can't give you an honest answer. I mean, you'll know when you see it. We'll know when we see it. The players will know when they see it.

I wanted to ask about the word "rebuild." It seems like players here aren't viewing this as such. Is it important for you guys as coaches, as leaders, for them not to kind of identify with the idea of a rebuild?

Jeff Hafley: I don't know how you can have a conversation with a competitive player or a competitive coach and have it sit right with them where we're just going to say, we're just going to rebuild this year. And I mean, it's just not the mentality of any competitor who's made it to this level or any coach that's made it to this level. Whether it's practice or whether it's a drill, I think we all want to win it and our mindset is we need to get better, we need to develop, and everything that we do is going to be about competing to get better throughout the process and we want to win. So I just don't think any player or any coach is going to sit here and say, we're just going to throw in the towel and just rebuild. So that's probably why no one's hearing that. I think if you had a group of players saying that, then I think we got the wrong players.

I have a question and a follow up about Darrell Baker. We noticed him out there yesterday. Can you tell us what his ailment is? And did you notice him mimicking the drills? He's backpedaling. He even did push ups at one point, I think because the defense dropped an interception perhaps, but can you talk about him and what you saw?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, I love the mindset. Just like any other player who's not out there, hopefully they're going through the script. They know what the calls are, they're seeing it, they're visualizing it. I think for any injured player, it's one thing to get physically ready to play. You're injured, you're working through your rehab. You have a lot of catching up to do. You have conditioning to do. There's nothing like going out there and actually playing the game and putting your helmet on for those six seconds and then taking a deep breath and doing it again. That's hard. I think what people forget sometimes is mentally, there's very few players who can just see it in the room, see it on video without doing it and being able to get right back in there and do it. So the more they can visualize themselves going through it, the better chance they're going to have when their body is ready to play. Hopefully their mind will be closer. Does that make sense? So that's what we're trying to ask all those guys to do. What will drive me crazy is if guys aren't in, if they don't know the call and they're just kind of not paying attention. Like watch the guy at your position, see if he did it right. Help him if he didn't do it right. Don't make the same mistake he just made when you get the same play. And if he does something good, go congratulate him. That's what this should be about.

Can you tell us about his injury?

Jeff Hafley: A lower body injury.

When Aaron Brewer signed his contract, he brought along Jonah Savaiinaea, Kadyn Proctor and Patrick Paul. What does that moment say about him as a leader?

Jeff Hafley: Like most leaders, it's not just about him. It's about his teammates and he wanted to celebrate individual success with others because without those others, he probably wouldn't have had the same success and he's a good enough human and a good enough leader to appreciate that, realize that and share that with those guys. That's what this team hopefully will all be about. It will be about, hopefully there's team success, which will lead to individual success, and those individuals will share it with their teammates. So that's cool and I appreciate you bringing that up.

Can you talk to me a little bit about Josh Uche, just tell me about how his skill set aligns with what you want to do defensively?

Jeff Hafley: In just watching him over the years, he's had some really good seasons. He's had production, he's had sacks. Even going back and watching him last year in Philly when he was playing, he's had moments where he's played the run really well. He's a guy that's tasted success in this league, and I think he's probably been humbled and motivated by last year being inactive for a bunch. But seeing a guy and like a lot of guys that we have on this roster right now, he is at the point of his career where it's a 'prove it' year. It's a 'prove it' year for himself. It's a chance for him to say, 'I can still do this.' There's a lot that goes into that and I've noticed how hard he's been working. He's a very mature person. He's very smart, and he's been here working throughout the summer. And we need to get everything out of him as coaches. I think Austin (Clark) and those guys will do that, but I'm excited to see what he can do.

It looked like Chris Johnson during the indy periods bounced around with a couple of different groups of guys. What goes into deciding on any given day where your versatile guys invest if they're not going to just stick with one position?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, and that can be tricky. Hopefully an individual, it's more about the eyes, the feet, it's the training of the fundamentals that are really going to translate to playing whether he's playing corner or nickel. Like that should be the start of individual, right? And the way I always broke individual down as a position coach is you kind of do your daily drills that your muscle memory, whether it's your backpedal, your transition, all the things that all the DBs are going to do, right; and then usually at some point in individual, you get into a position-specific scheme-related things, kind of like teaching the part to whole, like I was saying. And there are some differences, whether he's playing corner and he's learning to play press man, or he needs to work at nickel where he's working a zone, maybe that the corners really don't have to work. Then we might set it up where the safeties are working those drops, which the nickels do the same drops, so we take the time and we organize it so then he might go over with that group. But I think as we watch the film and we say, 'man, Chris needs work at this, he needs to go here.' Like Trey Moore is a good example. Trey is playing linebacker right now, right? Trey had 14 sacks his junior year or two years ago at college. Trey needs to go down and also work with the d-line and get some rush work. So we talked about that in the meeting yesterday. I'm like, 'Austin, we need to grab him in indy, so it out with the linebacker coaches and get him some rush work.' So there's a lot that goes into that, too.