Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley's media availability on October 19, 2026.

How about Caleb Douglas?

Jeff Hafley: Caleb will be limited today. We'll see how he looks today and progress to Wednesday, but  I think there's optimism there. Let's see how it goes today and if he can get ramped up on Wednesday, it'd be good to get him back out there. Just looking back through the last couple weeks watching some of the things that he did, we've missed him and to see a rookie kind of have to stop and start like that, not ideal. But he's worked really hard and it would be great to get him back.

We saw Malik Willis wasn't throwing at that bye week practice. Was he dealing with something and will it affect him this week?

Jeff Hafley: No, he should be good. I mean, was he dealing with something? Yeah, I mean, we had a bunch of guys after the game that were and having a Tuesday practice, usually we don't go until Wednesday. So just rested him on that, but I foresee him being good to go today and then back to normal.

And how about JuJu Brents, he didn't return with the stinger?

Jeff Hafley: JuJu, same thing. I would say he'll be limited today and hopefully we'll get him back on Wednesday when we start real practice. We'll have a light practice today and get back into our routine on Wednesday.

Did Jaylen Wright have any setback during the game?

Jeff Hafley: He did, I know you guys saw him in the locker room. I would say, Jaylen right now, we'll see how he is on Wednesday. I think he had a setback a little bit before and just aggravated a little bit, but we'll see how he is.

And how about Jonah?

Jeff Hafley: Jonah will be limited today. He'll be limited.

When you did your self-evaluation, your self-scouting, just what were some of the things that stood out?

Jeff Hafley: I don't want to get into a whole bunch of detail for obvious reasons. From a defensive standpoint, I self-scout myself every week, right? And on the back of all the call sheets are what we looked like, things that they're seeing, so I think it's important as you go and five weeks is such a small sample size, but I'll give you some examples, so I don't not answer your question. There's things that you look back on because you have some extra time. For defense, for example, there's things that we haven't run that we ran in training camp that we just haven't carried in the game plans, so you can go and pull back some stuff. Are we ready to add or do we want to throw out some stuff and bring some of the stuff that we did throughout training camp? Because you can't carry everything into a game. I mean, there's just – you get limited calls. Whether you get 12 third down calls and how many first-and-10 calls and second-and-1-to-6 and second-and-7-plus. It was a good opportunity to go back and say 'hey, you know what, we really liked this in training camp, but didn't carry it into the first couple weeks for whatever reason it was. Let's pull this out and try that, and let's add this or let's take away that.' But really looking back through, we kind of have done it every week. So with such a small sample size, it's not huge, but a really good time to evaluate and catch your breath and sometimes when you get to step back, you can see some things clearly. We're excited to get back to work. I know Bobby did the same thing. I sat with him for a while with the offense, with Tabes on special teams, and I think it's all kind of the same thing. It's what are we going to add, what are we going to take away. There's been minor tweaks that we've made throughout, and we'll continue to do that. But it was good to reflect, it really was. I think for the players to get away, catch their breath and get a chance to come back excited and get going again.

I mean, the early bye, Week 6 bye, especially when you start the season, 0-5, do you almost wish that you could play through it or is a week off like a nice opportunity to rest and reset?

Jeff Hafley: I just I take it for when it is. I mean, you could look at your schedule early and say, oh man, we got an early bye week. We wish we had it Week 10 or 11, a little bit later, but it is what it is. So I don't think like that. We take one game at a time, the bye week came and we used it the best that we could and made the most of it and that's what we'll deal with. We don't get to control any of that stuff, so take it for what it is. We got 12 straight now, so I'm looking forward to those.

Looking into the Jets, where do you see opportunities against the specific matchup?

Jeff Hafley: Without getting too deep into the matchups, I just one, Aaron Glenn and I worked together. We were on the staff in Cleveland. We coached DBs together, it was his first two years, actually, coaching. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him, his family, and he's done a really good job on defense this year. He's got the defense playing well. They've got some good talent. They drafted good talent. Obviously on offense, they got two really good running backs. Garrett Wilson who's outstanding. I was with Garrett at Ohio State for his freshman year, so I have a lot of respect for him and all the things that he's been able to do throughout his career. Geno, they got a veteran quarterback who has played some really good football, played against him two years ago when I was in Green Bay and he was in Seattle. Frank Reich is the offensive coordinator, has been doing this for a really long time, so there's a ton of respect for him there. So there's familiarity with the coaches. There's a lot of mutual respect for those guys. They've done a nice job in the draft and free agency bringing in some talented players and they've improved. They've improved from last year. I think they've improved from week-to-week, and it will be a good challenge. We're excited to get back to playing.

You've had no division games to this point, now four of the next six are against AFC East teams. What do you think of just measuring you up against those rivals now?

Jeff Hafley: Just excited to get into division play and get our first crack this week. We're looking forward to it.

I got a question and a follow-up about self-scouting on bye week. Number one, I know Troy Aikman has served as an advisor. Was he consulted for bye week input?

Jeff Hafley: No, I did not talk to Troy this past week.

On your bye week scouting, did you find that perhaps you guys were playing tight or coaching tight, just afraid to make a mistake in an unfamiliar situation? Not being accusatory, just an inquisition.

Jeff Hafley: No, not at all. I don't think we're coaching tight at all, and the film says we're not playing tight. Our guys are playing hard. No, absolutely not.

Did you feel like you've discovered what your identity is in this stretch of games? I mean, I know you guys play physical. You want that to be the brand and style that you bring to the field. But do you think you've identified an identity?

Jeff Hafley: I think we're going to continue to develop an identity. I think we're building a foundation, which I think is the most important thing when you look back on is we build this year. This is about our foundation. So do we have our identity yet? It's five weeks, so I don't know if you can say. I think we need to look back after the season and figure out kind of who we were and who we've become on this journey, because I think you're going to be a totally different team at the end of the year than you were at the beginning of the year. But the foundation of who we are, the type of players that we're playing with, the type of style of football that we're playing with, I do believe when you turn on the tape, you can feel that, you can see that, and I think it's a starting point. So we're going to continue to work and build off of that. But for all those things, I am grateful to our players with everything that they've put in, especially with the youth and the development. It's a good starting point from that end, certainly not good enough because we're 0-5.

Will Kyle Louis be activated this week?

Jeff Hafley: Kyle, we'll see. Kyle, hopefully we'll get him back Wednesday and we'll see how he is.

You mentioned the youth and development. Is there a benefit from the bye week this early in the season for that aspect of the team? Or is it more about rest and relaxation for those guys? Are they in the building doing stuff? Like what does it look like in terms of developing young players in the bye week?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, there's only so many practices that you're able to have. And then because all these young guys that we have are playing, they needed the rest. I mean, you got some guys who are up there in tackles and snaps accounted for and played. It's not like you're in a situation where you have 10 rookies and none of them are playing and you can just do developmental periods. Those guys are the ones getting most of the reps, so those guys needed to rest. As for the guys not playing, that's the time where you can get those developmental practices and the plays that we did on Tuesday that we continue to do Thursday and Sundays during the season.

I've got a special teams question that's both situation specific and in general. You guys allowed the 81-yard kickoff return last game. Why not kick it out of the end zone the rest of the way? I mean, situationally and philosophically, was that just a case of you had it covered and somebody missed their assignment on the 81-yard return? Did you try to kick it out of the end zone? Do you believe in doing that?

Jeff Hafley: We did on some of those. We did try to kick them out of the end zone; that was discussed and just not executed the way that we wanted it to be. Now fortunately, we covered a bunch of those kicks better than we did on the first time. And yeah, they had a nice return on the big return, obviously we didn't execute it very well. So I would say it's a combination of lack of execution on the big one. Good execution on their part, I don't want to take that away from them. And then on the ensuing kickoffs, yeah, several of them were supposed to be touchbacks and weren't.

It might also be a good time to check on Trey Moore. Is he nearing a return possibly this week?

Jeff Hafley: No, he will not be here this week.

With Caleb, how much concern do you have about – obviously he started hot and then got injured and the rust and having to build and pick up momentum?

Jeff Hafley: It's kind of what I hit earlier, we'll be very excited if we can get him back and get him going this week, especially just looking back and seeing what he was able to do and what he brings to the offense. He hasn't played football in a while, so he's going to need to get back and get the rust off and get back into the rhythm of playing. Hopefully it doesn't take too much time. Hopefully he was locked in mentally like I'm sure that he was, because I watched him closely. I know he did a good job with the strength staff and with Kyle downstairs. If we can get him back for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and get him going, I'm excited to see what we can do on Sunday.

How much have you ever seen guys benefit from being taken out of playing situations and watching. Does that happen? Can you give an example?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, it does happen and not just with injuries. A lot of the times it happens when somebody has gone through something and it's just over and over and over and you don't get a chance to rest. You don't get a chance to process it, you don't get a chance to see it, and you step away for a period of time and you take a deep breath and then you kind of watch it and see it and get another chance to do it again and you kind of see guys take off. So yeah, I've seen that happen before. I've seen it happen with guys who really go from Year 1 to Year 2, and you see such a huge jump because they can kind of reflect and take a deep breath finally. Then looking back on it, guys who have taken a long time off, who have been injured and kind of could take a step back and catch their breath and come back, for sure. Hopefully he's one of them.

Two names real quickly, Darrell Baker and Kaytron Allen. Is Darrell Baker close and what do you like about Kaytron Allen?

Jeff Hafley: Darrell Baker, yeah. Darrell Baker is close. Kaytron, physical. We saw him firsthand when we played against Washington and practiced against Washington. Had a really successful career at Penn State, ran for a ton of yards, had a lot of success there. When he became available, Sully and I talked and it was a guy we were excited about. Young, he's only a rookie. I remember him in the draft process, but getting to see him live against Washington when we played them certainly helped. Excited to see what he can do.

I know it's more about the team than you, and I know this isn't high on your list, but you are going back to Jersey. Have you gone back to Jersey as a coach? Certainly your first time as a head coach, and is there a part of that will be neat?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, it's about the team. Correct, thanks for saying it for me. Played the Giants last year when I was in Green Bay. Look, my mom will be there. I'll have a lot of people there. My brother, my sister, I'll probably have 30-plus people at the game. For all of us, I think it's always nice to go back close to home and have a chance to coach against the Jets. But it'll be good to have family around, it always is.

How good of a player were you in high school?

Jeff Hafley: Me? I wasn't very good, that's why I'm coaching.

How good was your team?

Jeff Hafley: We were 7-2 my senior year, so not bad. Like I said, I played quarterback, so you guys can ask me about that one day. But going back home, there is always something special about that. But like you said, right now guys, I really like this team, and I know that at 0-5 everybody could look at me like I'm crazy. But the energy that this team has, the connection that this group has, the youth, it's almost like a fun youth to be around. They really love playing football. They really love playing with each other. Having the time to reflect, bigger than just – I know you asked me about the Xs and Os and all that, it's bigger than that. It's me reflecting on the people that we've brought in here. It's me reflecting on everything that these guys have put in and will continue to. And like I told you, you asked me about identity. It's me looking at the foundation that's being set for this team, and we all want to win. I want to win more than you guys have any idea. But what we're building right now, and a lot of people need to see before they believe. I believe. I believe in this team before maybe most people can see it. But what we're doing right now, we're going to look back on and it's going to be awesome.