Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley's media availability on October 21, 2026.

The decision to replace Patterson with Gonzalez, would you say it was fueled more by wanting more touchbacks? Or would you say it was fueled more by Zane's record of long field goals? Obviously having a better body of work with 50-plus field goals.

Jeff Hafley: I mean, without going into specifics, I just think we felt it was what was best for our team right now moving forward. I have a ton of respect for him and wish him the best, but we felt bringing in Zane was what was best for our team right now.

How did his work out compared to the other guys?

Jeff Hafley: Zane did a great job yesterday. I thought Zane did a great job in camp when he was here and then he was injured. He did a great job.

I don't know if you're into sending messages, but is the Riley Patterson thing an isolated "we needed to replace the kicker," or does this serve as a message to the whole team? "If you don't do your job, we'll replace you."

Jeff Hafley: No, this wasn't meant for a message to our team. I mean, I'm pretty honest with the guys just like I am. I tell them how it is and this is just a specific switch that we made for now that we felt was best for where we're at right now.

And there was a report that Justin Tucker came in to try out. He's got a past. Do you have an issue with that or what is your stance on things like that?

Jeff Hafley: I'm not going to get into that. We brought in a bunch of kickers. Zane was the best one and we went with him.

With Darrell Baker, do you think we'll see him in practice this week?

Jeff Hafley: No, I do not think we will see him in practice this week.

And the thinking with moving on from Storm yesterday, is it that you just like the corners you have now with obviously Jaylin and Reese and Dial as your four through six?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, we like where we're at right now, and we'll continue to work and develop those players. I thought a guy like Simp came in and did a really good job last week. We have some guys that we're excited to see, continue to develop and coach, so that's really all that came down to.

You mentioned Kyle Louis on Monday. Will he have his practice window opened?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, Kyle will practice today, so he'll be out there, ready to go.

And what's the expectation for him going forward? I'm sure you gotta just get him acclimated.

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, I mean, we gotta kind of see, right? He hasn't played real football in quite a while. It's his first practice back, so as excited as I am to have him back, I think I got to kind of temper that and see how he practices today. And then how does he feel after he practices and getting through Thursday and Friday and then we'll see where he's at physically, mentally and see what he can do and if he's ready to play in a game. But I'm glad to have him back out there. He's very eager. He's been very good in meetings. He's a guy that we're excited about and we'll see where he's at today.

Ronnie Harrison's a guy who's also eligible to come off IR here, I don't think we've asked you about him.

Jeff Hafley: He will not.

What have you noticed about the team's energy and focus and mindset coming back off a week off?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, it's actually, it's always a concern of mine when you have a long period of time off, whether it's training camp, a bye week, some of the mini-byes on Thursday night games, usually you come back a little sluggish. I said after walking up, I think I was with a couple of the guys, I said, 'wow,' I mean, they had incredible energy. I mean, it was great. They were locked in. They had energy. They were flying around. They were having fun together. It's kind of like I said to you guys the other day. I mean, this is a fun group to coach and they just want to get better and they want to grow. It was fun to get back at it. I mean, I missed it. I missed them and now I'm excited to have a real practice today. We had a great walkthrough. Guys are locked in. Excited to get back to work.

You were asked a few days ago about this team's identity, and I think you said you weren't sure what the identity is yet. To me, you're a run team, and you're a team that plays physically. But my question is, how long does it take you to know what the team's identity is? Is it a few weeks, a whole season, and is it determined by how teams play against you, offensively and defensively?

Jeff Hafley: Well, I think you just it mentioned, right? Right now, we're a team that's running the ball very well, and we're playing pretty good run defense, too. We're a physical team. I think we have to build on that identity and continue to grow and develop. And kind of like I mentioned to you, we're through five games, so we're starting to see glimpses of who we are, but we need more. We need to develop in certain areas, like we've mentioned. I think over time, I'm not sure how long it's going to take, we'll find out what our true identity is. But as we build this thing and grow, I'm excited day by day to get better and we'll see when this thing's all said and done how much we're able to do and accomplish. But that's going to be a work in progress.

I imagine Caleb Douglas will be undergoing a ramp up, but what's the potential impact that his return could have on Malik Willis in the passing game?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, I think it has a big impact on our offense. I mean, he was a big bright spot early on. Everybody was excited about him from training camp to preseason and the first couple games that he played. We were counting on him and then unfortunately he got injured, so kind of in the same situation. Monday he was out there, limited. Today he'll be out there and getting acclimated again. My expectations can't be too high because we got to see him practice today. We got to see how he feels tomorrow, kind of like Kyle. And then Friday to see what he's able to do and if he's able to go and help us out. But I am excited. I'm very excited. We've got two young players practicing that we're excited about, and we'll see what they can do today.

You've had the opportunity to face five offensive-minded head coaches so far. How much are you looking forward to face a defensive-minded head coach like yourself now in Aaron Glenn, who you told me you know very well?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, and just getting back to AG, I think he's a great coach and he is a great person. When I was a DB coach in Cleveland, he was the assistant DB coach at the time. He had just started coaching, and former great player. Great corner, and I'd pick his brain all the time about corner play and how he saw it and how he played it. Great conversations, and I tried to help him as he got into the coaching world. I could see right away the way he interacted with players, being a former player but also being very demanding. So it was fun to kind of follow his career and we've stayed in touch. It'll be good to see him. We're not really going head-to-head when you go against like Minnesota, one of your friends and you're both calling plays against each other, it's kind of different when you're defensive coaches. But what I can tell you is they're a physical team and that's any team that I thought about that Aaron Glenn would coach, they'd be a physical tough team. He's got them playing really good defense. I think it's a talented roster. When you look at their roster, I think this team right now is better than their record shows. I mean starting on defense, they got a ton of guys inside that can stop the run. They got really good edge rushers. Obviously, they got some talented safeties, Minkah being one of them. Linebackers are fast and physical and have a ton of experience. The offensive line, they're real strong up the middle. They're very athletic at tackle. They've got two really, really good backs. They've got a phenomenal, one of the premium receivers in the league with Garrett. They drafted a high pick at tight end who can run, he's kind of like a wideout. And then they got a veteran quarterback. So when you look at this team, he's got them close. I mean, they're close to having a really good record. Every game, they've been in as you watch them play, so I think their record doesn't show it right now, but he's done a really good job and this is a really good football team. I am excited to see him and say hello to him because I really love the guy and have a ton of respect for him. It will be a very competitive game for sure, that we're looking forward to getting there and playing.

Douglas and Bell have only 34 plays together so far and most of them, I guess, were in the first game. How does having two receivers with different skill sets potentially positively impact what the offense can be?

Jeff Hafley: I mean, two talented players, right? I think it helps us a lot. It helps our quarterback, it helps our o-line, it helps our run game. When you get a receiver who's talented, it opens up a lot of different things, and you also have two bigger guys. You can see the size of Chris out there, and you see Caleb's a taller guy. He's got good feet. He can get in and out of breaks. They kind of have different strengths and weaknesses, so they balance each other a little bit. I think it helps a lot, which is why I kind of want to wait and see where he's at before I get too excited about it. I think those are two guys with really bright futures and together, I mean it could be a really fun group. And then you combine them with, obviously, Malik Washington's done a really nice job, probably hasn't been talked about enough for the stuff that he's been able to do. And then Kevin Coleman. Kevin, when you watch the film, he's done some nice things and maybe the production is not there and the results aren't there that everybody wants to see, but he's getting better, and we got to find ways to get him the ball too. But that's a young group. I mean, you got three rookies in there and really a young Malik Washington still in his career, so it'll be fun to watch these guys develop together.

The decision to give Rodney McGraw a spot on the roster, I'm sure a testament to what you liked what you saw out of him those two times elevated?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah. I didn't know much about him when he got here, been to a bunch of different schools. We watched a little of his tape and you see this big strong guy hitting the bag. And when you see him hit the bag a few times, we had some conversations like this guy's got a lot in his body, just hadn't played a lot. I think that's a testament, one, to him. He's worked really hard and he's been locked in, and I think it's you also give a lot of credit to Austin and the d-line guys, Chuka and Siriki, those guys have done a nice job developing. It's kind of been talked about I think, and it's underrated the development that they've been able to do with him. I give those d-line coaches a lot of credit, a lot of extra work, a lot of hard work to catch him up, to give himself the opportunity to go out and play as an undrafted free agent rookie. Credit to all of them, and I'm appreciative of that. And we need to keep doing that as coaches and develop these players and give them a chance.

We've heard guys talk about how important or how motivated they are to get that first win. What have you seen that gives you confidence that there's like a healthy balance between that urgency and motivation versus not pressing?

Jeff Hafley: Kind of what I talked about, the excitement that they came back with, the enthusiasm, how they practiced on Monday, the energy. I think they're growing tighter as a team, and we just focus on the process, which is focusing on our preparation, being better today than it was yesterday and doing everything that we can because with preparation comes confidence. That's what we talk about all the time, and then if they're confident, they can go out and kind of let it fly. To do that requires a lot of hard work, but the focus has to remain on that. It has to remain on building this team the right way, the way we want to play, building our identity of not only how we play but what we do well. And then give them a chance this week to practice, go let it fly on Sunday and give us a chance to win game. But again it's just go 1-0 this week. We understand we have 12 games left. We took a break. We're just excited to get back out there and play, and I think our players would tell you that.

What did Sully tell you he liked about Jared Wayne in claiming him?

Jeff Hafley: One, he's got some experience. He's got good size to him. Bobby has experience with him, so I know sometimes when you get a little insight from somebody who's coached him, it helps a little bit. I think Sully's done a good job of continuing to churn through the roster and try to find some guys, bring them in, see if we can develop and coach them and find some more guys to help us. I think him and his staff have done a really good job this year of constantly looking to find players like that. So credit to him and hopefully we'll get him going a little bit.

This week, is it more important, talking about pass rush, more important to be disruptive and move Geno off his spot or to get him on the ground as far as sacks?

Jeff Hafley: I don't want to not answer your question, but I think both, right? We need to create more pressure, and we talked about it in the bye week. We looked hard at it at the bye week, and we'll work on that in practice. There's different ways to do that. Whether you try to move a guy off the spot to force some errant throws or whether you try to scheme some things up to get some one-on-ones or overload some protections to try to get hits on the quarterback, we need to do that. So we're going to work really hard at that this week and hopefully put it on tape Sunday.

Can you tell us what you saw from Storm Duck to opt not to activate him this week and waive him?

Jeff Hafley: Again, it wasn't really about Storm. It's kind of like I answered before, it was more about the guys that we have here and what we've seen them do and you have to make hard decisions like that. But I would say it's more about the guys that we have and who we're working with than anything else.