Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley's media availability on June 4, 2026.
What can you tell us about how Jamaree Salyer is doing?
Jeff Hafley: He's doing okay. I don't think you'll see him out there today, but I do not think it will be anything long term.
And Caleb Douglas?
Jeff Hafley: Caleb Douglas just tweaked something. I'd imagine he'll be out today but nothing long term for him. Hopefully we'll have him back next week.
With Salyer, is there a possibility that his offseason is shut down?
Jeff Hafley: Really we have one more week to go so there's a good possibility that – I wouldn't say good. I'd say there's a possibility that he'll be out next week but maybe not.
When you looked at the Jason Marshall film from his rookie season, what stood out as things that he seems to do well and things he can improve on?
Jeff Hafley: Well, I studied him a lot in college because I remember we actually had him on a 30 visit when I was in Green Bay. Good length, good size. He could press, get his hands on people at the line of scrimmage. I thought he could play the ball well down the field. Had some instincts when he was playing off in man and in zone coverage. And then when I watched the film, I kind of saw the same thing and I also saw a guy that had to go inside and outside, which I think is really hard for some rookies to do like we said, and he played more on the outside in college than he played on the inside, if I'm remembering that correctly. But I did see him get better as the year went on. I saw consistent improvement. I think he made gains in the weight room. I think he's stronger now, and we've really kept him more on the outside than the inside. Though I'd be lying if we said we didn't put him on the inside at all. Actually, on some third down plays we did put him on the inside, but primarily he has and will be on the outside for us. And I think he's done a really good job. I think when the pads come on, which I keep saying, we'll find out how much improvement he has made in tackling, the physicality, playing at the line of scrimmage and all that stuff. But I like his demeanor. I like the way he's gone about the offseason, and I can look you in the eye and tell you I'm excited about him as a player.
I want to ask you about Jordan Phillips. I think Zach Sieler joked last week that he got in trouble for squatting too much. What's been the most impressive part about how he looks right now coming out of the offseason?
Jeff Hafley: Just like you said, he's strong. I think it's hard to see really how much improvement he's made because the lack of physicality in our practices, and I don't think he's a player that's going to kind of jump out as much when the pads aren't on, and he's not taking on double teams and trying to stuff the run; but you can just see how strong he is and you can see how violent he is in practice, whether he's on a sled or in his drill work. The thing I'll say about him is I think it was probably the day after I got hired, I came in early and he was probably the only guy in the building. I remember at that point, I had nothing to do and when I was walking out at night, he was walking out at night. So he was either following me or – I'm just joking, he wasn't following me – but the guy just, he always works. He takes care of his body. He eats right. He is in the weight room on days off and he embraces playing the run and he embraces double teams and he embraces the dirty work, which most people in our league don't like to do. He's an unselfish player who truly loves to play this game. Again, I'm very excited to see him when we actually start playing real football.
Could you see him as a 0-technique?
Jeff Hafley: Him? Absolutely. Yeah, I think he's a damn good 0-technique. I think he thrives the closer he gets to the center and he plays with more head up techniques. I'm not going to knock him as a pass rusher, that's not what I'm doing. Hopefully that will improve and he'll have some production in that regard, but I think he'll be a really good 0.
I have a hard-hitting question for you. Who selects the music for practice?
Jeff Hafley: Joe (Cimino). Joe selects it.
And that will be a constant throughout the year or will you tweak those plans?
Jeff Hafley: I don't know, it's like I said, Joe (Cimino) asked me if I had anything specific I wanted to hear and I told him to play whatever he wanted. So maybe he does select it. Maybe he asks the players or someone else who selects it. When I get tired of hearing it, you'll probably hear some Springsteen and you'll know that I chimed in. I don't even notice the music's going on. The only thing I ask is certain periods, is turn it down a little bit so we can hear us coaching and in certain periods when it's not needed, turn it up. But I couldn't tell you a song that played. I don't even know music's out there unless it gets too loud and I can't get my message across. I say Joe picks it.
Another one along the same lines. How is the placement of the players during the stretching period determined?
Jeff Hafley: Most of it is by position. If a guy specifically wants to stand somewhere he can. I think (Aaron) Brewer is the only one who kind of likes to hang out where the d-linemen are, which I think is pretty cool, so I don't say anything to him about it. Those are the things though. Like as long as guys are lined up and where they're supposed to be, we're not going to win or lose a game by if Brewer wants to hang out with the d-line.
Because there were some defensive guys that were with the offensive players.
Jeff Hafley: Yeah, as long as they're doing their job and they're stretching, they can stand whatever they want.
We've watched stretching for quite a while. You're probably the longest stretch I've ever seen. Like twenty minutes. Not to say this is a bad thing. Is that something that goes back to Green Bay, Boston College or...?
Jeff Hafley: I think I think probably more Green Bay. I think there's some studies now, especially with ACLs, that there are certain exercises if you do and protocols that you follow, that they've talked to us a lot about, I think it increases our chances not to have those injuries. I know we're taking that very seriously. So as long as we are stretching and sometimes it gets frustrating for you and me because we just want to start practice and you guys probably want to leave, I think it's really important to do. So that's been very intentional to try to follow those guidelines so we can maximize our ability for our players to stay healthy. But it is long. It's very long."
Short yardage was kind of a problem for the team for a few years and Ollie Gordon II early last year kind of helped solve that issue, big back obviously, and then it kind of tailed off. I'm curious your opinion on third-and-1, fourth-and-1, from your experience, what usually determines whether a team has success in that area throughout a season?
Jeff Hafley: That's a good question because usually I'm looking at it from the opposite side of the ball. I think it's tricky right now. I think it's where you are on the field. When I think of third down and short yardage, third-and-1, especially third-and-1, it's where are you on the field? I think if you're on the minus side of the field, a lot of the times you still have the option to run your big people, got to get the yard, less inclined to throw the ball than you are if you get close to the fifty on the plus side of the field, when your playbook's kind of opened up because there's a good chance you're going to go for it on fourth down. So now you're treating third-and-1 like fourth-and-1, where on the minus side of the field, third-and-1 is third-and-1. So it depends. I'd have to study what they did here in the past, but a lot of teams will get in the bigger personnel groupings and run the ball and try to get you downhill. A lot of teams will go under center and sneak the quarterback. A lot of teams on third-and-1 will get the quarterback under center. If teams get in the sneak defense and they'll try to get you on a perimeter play. So there's a lot of cat and mouse that goes into that and that we have to think about a lot of the times. Do we want to call something and then he comes out under center and get into a sneak front because the quarterback is just going to get up to the line of scrimmage and sneak the ball. And if he sees the two guys in the A-gaps, is he going to try to get something on the perimeter? But short yardage has become tricky, especially on the plus side of the field because it's more like second-and-1 and teams are taking shots. So we can't be as aggressive on defense. So stay out of third and fourth-and-1 on defense and try to get into it on offense and it's hard to stop.
Along the lines of third-and-short or fourth-and-short, what's your thoughts, feelings on the tush push or brotherly shove, whatever it is?
Jeff Hafley: It's hard to stop, so get good at it and do it. I mean, it's really hard to stop. So as long as it's a legal play, we need to figure out on defense a way to stop it, and with a quarterback like we have with Malik (Willis) and some big guys up front, maybe we can get good at it.
When we're out there at practice, we see a lot of interaction and a lot of teaching – coach to player, coach to coach and player to player. In your opinion, I know this is a young team and first-year staff, is there more of that this year with this team than you had maybe in Green Bay or anything along those? Do we see more of that, do you think?
Jeff Hafley: No, I think anywhere that I've been or any staff that I've been a part of or had a leadership role in, I think that's huge. For me, it's always been – and I'll kind of talk from a sense of a DB coach, right, because it's what I was for most of my career – stuff that would drive me nuts would be like if a guy gets beat on a go ball or a touchdown and the coach just starts yelling. I mean, what are you yelling at? Like the guy got beat and it sucks, right? Go coach him and ask him what he saw, why he saw what he did, what he did on his first step, where his eyes were, pick his brain on why he did what he did. Why was he in a trail position? Why wasn't he on top? Why did he finish the way he did? Why didn't he turn back? Why'd he play through the front shoulder? Listen to him. Then tell him what you saw and what he could do to correct it. And I think there has to be that constant communication, right? There are times when someone makes a great play and on this side of the of the field or an interception while the whole team's going to celebrate over there; I'm going to talk to this DB over here because he completely busted the coverage and there was a guy wide open down there. So while the result was good, the process could have been terrible because he didn't do his job on the backside. So it's constant feedback and coaching and teaching, because I do think a lot of the times if you get the feedback fast, it sticks longer, right? I think going to the film room is really important because then you can really spend the time to teach. And some coaches don't like a lot of teaching on the field because they just want to go, go, go, go, go, which is fine. I would just rather give constant feedback and constant communication as long as it doesn't hold up practice. It's the same thing in practice with coaches. If I see something, I'll ask a coach to come over and have a conversation and ask why he did what he did, or why he called what he called or what he's teaching there, or did he see what happened or say something else that I saw.
JuJu Brents yesterday spoke pretty excitedly about how often you work with the defensive backs and the feedback that you give them. I know you're kind of getting used to being everywhere around the practice field, but what is that experience like for you whenever you do go back to the defensive backs, considering your background coaching the position?
Jeff Hafley: Yeah, it's usually when things get going, it's usually when my eyes go first and I have to usually fight not to look there because I've done it for so long. If I could pick one meeting to sit in and I have to go around and sit in them all, I'd rather be in the DB meeting and having (Ryan) Downard and Mile (Jahmile Addae) and those guys in there and (DeShawn) Shead, it's awesome. I think they've done a really good job and they're really good coaches, and I have spent a lot of time in that room. But there's also some specific things that I want coached a certain way that I truly believe in, so I'm going to help use, if you want to call it, my expertise in that position to help everybody. But usually it's what I see the quickest. It's what I see the most and I usually like to give those guys a ton of feedback and help them. But I also know we have three good coaches in that room, and I want them to coach, but I love working with the DBs. I think you'll probably see me around that group more as training camp starts. I'm trying to fight it and go to other groups right now, but eventually I'll be there more.
If I could follow up, we get to talk to Chris Johnson after practice today. Just curious considering how much you liked him coming in the draft, what's the feedback been from you through these first few months on the field?
Jeff Hafley: I think he's done a really nice job. He is very instinctual. He sees the game very fast. He works really hard in the meeting rooms. He's super athletic, has really good coverage ability. He's been able to get his hand on the football and we've asked him to do a lot and he's handled it very, very well, which is what I kind of told you maybe a week or two ago. We've thrown a lot on his plate and he's responded and I'm really excited to continue to coach him. I think you guys will like him a lot when you talk to him. He's got a good energy about him and he's mature. You'll see it. He's really mature for a rookie.
I remember back at your press conference, you talked about using late season tape and late in games when you're out of the playoffs to kind of gauge guys' efforts. Are you doing that constantly at practice out here? Do you clock it live in the moment, or is that a film review?
Jeff Hafley: Effort? I watch effort when I watch the film on every single play, and then I show them in there. Today I showed them great examples of effort and I called out guys for great effort. I meet with the team every morning and I go through probably 30 to 40 clips on both sides of the ball. And I talk about ball security. I talk about taking the ball away. I talk about fundamentals and technique. I pull out plays on both sides of the ball and I show good execution, poor execution, why it happened. I try to show the offense how the defense made a mistake and the defense how the offense took advantage of it. I try to teach, but then it all comes back to the most important thing I show them, is effort, and I'll show defensive guys running to the ball in the backside. I'll show a defensive lineman putting his foot in the ground and retracing to the ball and I'll show them that and I'll call guys out by name. I'll call them out by number and I'll applaud them for that, because when they do that, and I've said this before, it shows me how much they care about their teammates. And then conversely, I'll show a guy who didn't run to the ball and I'll challenge him and I'll ask him why and I'll tell him that that's not good enough. I don't do it in an insulting way. I just continually show guys what I see and I'm trying to teach them what's good enough and what's not good enough. On offense it's the same way. When a wide receiver catches the ball, the other wide receiver on the backside better put his foot in the ground and go block for him to show him that he cares about him and he's unselfish and he loves his teammates and he's going to play for his teammates. And the same thing when I don't see that, I'm going to call it out. Today there were probably the most we've had on offense. Guys are starting to learn to transition. 'Oh, I didn't get the ball. I'm going to flip and go find somebody and block for him so he can score touchdowns.' So that is the most important thing to me. I cannot always see that on the field, but if I do, I will immediately grab a guy and tell him that that's not good enough, just as I think it's important for guys to jog on and off the field. I just think it's a habit that when you're out there and you're on the field playing the game, it's a respect thing, and it's a conditioning thing and all that stuff is really important to me because I do believe it helps win games.
