Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley's media availability on June 9, 2026.
It's not over, but since we're not going to see you for a while, how would you describe how the spring went relative to your expectations and objectives?
Jeff Hafley: I didn't have any expectations. Like I kind of told you guys, I kind of wanted to come in open-minded. I like the way it went. I appreciate the coaches and how hard they've worked. We've been here, I mean a lot of us, since our last game ended, took a week off and were here. So I appreciate all their hard work. I like the relationships that we have built with the players. I like the guys that we have on the team, the veterans, the guys we signed in free agency, the young guys that we drafted. I like the group. I like the buy-in, I like how hard they've worked, the relationships we've built and I like the work that we've put in. I think it's just the very beginning, but I'm pleased with their attitudes and effort, which are the most important thing to me.
What have you learned about this team so far?
Jeff Hafley: Kind of like what I just said, they're a team that has connected with each other. They're a team that's connected with the staff. They work really hard in the classroom. They work really hard on the field. They're very coachable and they're a fun group to be around. I think we'll learn more when we start playing real football. I think we'll learn more as adversity hits, because I think you learn a lot about people when things aren't just going easy, and there's jobs won and there's jobs lost, and there's games won and there's games lost. I think now, now is an easy time, right? Everything's fresh, everything's new. But from the attendance to the effort to the buy-in, I really couldn't ask for anything more from this group of guys and the staff.
We talk about evaluating players and coaches, but how would you evaluate yourself and your first offseason here as an NFL head coach?
Jeff Hafley: I don't know if I'm ready to do that today. Your question is very good because it's something that I have thought about, and I think that once we finish this week, I think it's very important that I kind of take a step back and just reevaluate everything since I've been here and look very closely at that. The things that I like that I did, the things that I didn't like that I did; but I think that will be very important for me to do. I'd be making stuff up right now and just giving you answers you want to hear or didn't want to hear. So I'm going to take some time and think through that and go over the staff, go over the players, kind of like a clear head because it's been go, go, go. But that's something that will take some time and do soon.
Can you tell us what you saw from Malik Willis and Quinn Ewers in this offseason program?
Jeff Hafley: Yeah, progress. They're more comfortable within the scheme. They've taken more command of the huddle. They've taken more command when they're out there with the wideouts, confidence. I've seen the confidence grow and even the conversation I had with Malik (Willis) today, walking down the hallway, you can just see he's more comfortable and he understands the answers that are being provided for him on each play. And I just think he looks as good as he looks since I've known him. And I would say the same about Quinn (Ewers). I think Quinn's gotten better, and I just think Bobby (Slowik) and Bush (Hamdan) and KP (Kevin Patullo), I think they've all done a really good job in that room, and it will be exciting to really ramp them up when we get to training camp.
With Darrell Baker Jr. and Storm Duck, how are they coming along, and is there any reason for concern for their status to start training camp?
Jeff Hafley: You know, I wish they were coming along a little bit quicker, but we'll have to wait and see how they are once we get going.
What did you see when you turned on Kenneth Grant's tape? And then also how would you evaluate his offseason program?
Jeff Hafley: I think he's taking a step forward. I know he's changed his body. He's faster. He looks more like the guy that I saw in his college tape with his lateral quickness, his pass rush ability, his ability to play the run, just the way he's moving. And I also think that goes back to Year 1, lack of experience, lack of reps, lack of maybe a little bit of confidence as you're out there. I just feel like right now, he's starting to believe in himself and his abilities that we know that he has and hopefully once the pads come on, we'll see that to continue.
We know that today is an OTA, so it's voluntary. Are you expecting everyone who was here in mandatory minicamp, including Aaron Brewer and Jordyn Brooks, to be out there?
Jeff Hafley: I expect Brewer and Brooks to be out there. Brewer and Brooks are here today. They'll be out there today.
I know this is the end of the offseason program for the veterans. We've got the rookie development program. How long are you keeping the rookies beyond this week?
Jeff Hafley: We'll keep them a little bit into next week.
Another quick question also, we discussed the joint practices earlier. Can you shed some light on how many with Washington? How many with the Giants?
Jeff Hafley: Yeah, we'll go one and one. We'll go one against Washington, in Washington. We'll go one versus the Giants here. I'm not a fan of having two.
Can you assess Kion Smith's offseason, given that he's been in a little bit of an elevated role?
Jeff Hafley: Yeah, certainly. I think there's progress and we moved him around. I think he shows his versatility. I think he's done a good job with the scheme. We haven't had many team reps to really – there's no pads on. So even when we go team and it's passes and it's drop back pass and it's pass sets, I think there's been progress, but let's really evaluate him when the pads come on. I think we got to evaluate all these guys when the pads come on. I mean you can see who can process. You can see who can take from the field out to the grass. You can see who can see things and react. So those are all really important things. I don't ever want to slight OTAs. I think they are important and I think people that say they're not, then I mean, that's clearly their preference, but it's like part one; but part two is going to be really important when we actually play real football.
We know that Brewer, Brooks and Sieler are good team leaders. Throughout the spring are there just a couple of guys that you'd like to mention or could mention that you appreciated the leadership that you saw them show?
Jeff Hafley: I think all those guys that you mentioned have done a really good job. Malik's (Willis) done a really nice job of having guys over his house, just like Sieler has done that, trying to get guys around. Brooks has done an unbelievable job. T. Dot's (Tyrel Dodson) hung out with the rookies. I spend a lot of time in the DB room. (Dante) Trader has done a really good job, really kind of helping out those rookies. And even talking to him, through his experience, him having a little bit of help; he feels now like he can help the rookie guys out. Pat Paul is another guy, watching the o-line, with Brewer, I see have a leadership role right now. Those are just some of the guys off the top of my head.
I caught you saying that you're not a fan of doing more than one joint practice?
Jeff Hafley: Yeah. Are you a fan of doing two?
Sure.
Jeff Hafley: Why?
It's more. It's different than a normal practice for us and we're going to watch...
Jeff Hafley: So it's more fun for you guys.
To see how they respond. Corrections adjustments. You get to see how they...
Jeff Hafley: Why do you think I don't like the second day? (laughter) Yeah, I mean you're just inviting – every one I've experienced on the second practice, which is what we used to do, whatever team gets the best of the team Day 1, the other team comes out and tries to overdo it. And usually stuff just gets bad and you have a higher chance for injury. I mean, a fight's a fight, if it happens, you clear it up. It shouldn't happen in joint practice, I got it. You're just worried about it going too far and anybody getting injured. Our job is to protect the team and to protect the players and I think one good hard practice – because then the other thing is this, like when you look at blocks of practice, usually you have like a high day, a low day and a medium day. Like those joint practices, you should maximize your reps. So the ones might get 50 snaps, which is equivalent to we're working towards playing in a game. You can't do that two days in a row or it's like playing two games and you're going to wear these guys out. You know what I'm saying?
A quick question. Some of the players have told us that they're going to try to take this next couple of weeks to make sure whatever they've learned and keep themselves in shape and keep that going leading into training camp. What's your message to them in the next couple weeks of what they should be doing and based on making sure everybody comes back strong and ready to go once training camp starts?
Jeff Hafley: I kind of think it's just what you said. I mean, one, I think they need to take a deep breath, clear their minds a little bit, rest their bodies a little bit; but then they need to get back to work and make sure they come in shape, ready to go. The message is going to be make sure they're training outside a little bit so when they come back, the heat doesn't zap them. But a lot of them have made huge progress and the worst thing that they can do is not continue to build on that progress because say they're here right now and they go back and they don't do anything; to get back here (gestures), it's going to take them all of training camp. Where if they're here right now and even if they just go to here, we can get them all the way up there. But if we take a ton of steps back, it's going to take us all training camp to get them where they are now and we don't have time for that. The message is also pretty easy. We got some really good vets and some guys that are pretty solidified in some roles, but then there's a lot – I think there's 40-plus guys on one-year deals, and there's a ton of rookies. So there's a lot of guys on this roster who have a lot to prove. It's going to ramp up in training camp for guys to try to win jobs so we can really evaluate them when we play football to see who's going to be out there. The guys that put in the work these next few weeks, physically and mentally, are going to have an advantage, and if I were one of those guys, I would take every advantage of that.
Looking ahead, I'm wondering what your training camp philosophy is, because recently we've seen a trend where starters in training camp get their best work in those joint practices and preseason games, they maybe don't play as much or do you have an idea? Obviously it could change, but do you have a general idea?
Jeff Hafley: Yeah, like in Green Bay, that's what we did. Our starters would take – say we're practicing against the Giants – our starters would go like 55-60 snaps in the joint practice, and then we can't ask them to go play a whole lot in the preseason game. Maybe you give them the first quarter, the first drive to go out there. Where it's going to be a little bit different is when we get in the real football and there's guys battling for jobs, I'm not sure it's as clear cut where we're going to say, these are the 22 starters that are going to get these 50-60 reps. So I think it's going to be a mix because I don't think we're going to be to that point yet, so I think you're going to see a mix of guys are going to do both.
There's a picture with Jimmy Johnson and he posted, can you tell us a little about what that lunch was like and just being able to be out there, I think was it the Big Chill?
Jeff Hafley: Yeah, Dave (Wannstedt) and Jimmy (Johnson) are real close, and Dave was here all last week. Dave's been huge for me in my career and he asked me if I wanted to get together with Jimmy and just pick his brain and spend time with him. Brought Sully (Jon-Eric Sullivan) along and the three of us, we just drove out and met him for lunch and just asked him a lot of questions and listened to him about his first go in Dallas. They had a really rough first year and then he went on to win his Super Bowls. I asked him about his time here, and I asked him about his time in all of his stops and any advice that he could give me going forward this year, advice with the coaches, advice with the players, advice on game day and just really picked his brain. But to have such a good resource and one of the greatest coaches of all time an hour and fifteen minutes down the road, getting that opportunity was really cool for me. Not only to learn, but just, I mean, I said to my wife after, I'm at lunch with Jimmy Johnson. That's pretty cool. He's an unbelievable storyteller. He's got an unbelievable memory. Just a great guy and obviously one of the best to ever coach.
What was one piece of advice that he gave you?
Jeff Hafley: I'm going to share his advice just for him, I, Sully and Dave. His advice was to answer that question that way. (laughter) He knew it was coming. He ate nachos. I don't think he got tuna on them, but he ate them. We all ate nachos.
I wanted to ask you about the receiver unit. Obviously they have chemistry to develop with the quarterbacks. How do you evaluate the chemistry with wideouts in regard to chemistry with quarterbacks now versus what you expect when training camp gets here? And what kind of work do you want to see them do in the offseason?
Jeff Hafley: All the wideouts right now are working with both quarterbacks and we're just rotating them all in there. There's a lack of the numbers so it's not like there's one group going out with Malik (Willis) and one group going out with Quinn (Ewers). Those guys just rotate around so each quarterback is throwing with all of them. That's the best way right now for us to build the chemistry and truthfully, in training camp, it's going to have to be the same way. Because if you look at, say you have two racks of like four and four, I mean, you might go these receivers on the first two, take them out for two plays and put them in the next two plays just so you don't wear them out. I think it's important to do so all the quarterbacks get a chance to work with those guys, right? So that way it really doesn't matter what quarterback is going here and what quarterback's going here. You have all the wideouts working with both quarterbacks, which I do think is very important to build chemistry with both so we can properly evaluate the receivers and those quarterbacks.
