Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley's media availability on October 23, 2026.

Caleb Douglas, do you expect to have him on Sunday?

Jeff Hafley: I do, yeah. Caleb will play.

And Jaylen Wright?

Jeff Hafley: Jaylen will play.

What about Kyle Louis?

Jeff Hafley: Kyle, let me see today how he looks. I thought he did a nice job Wednesday and Thursday. Before I give you a final answer on that one, let me see how he does and how he looks today, and we'll figure that out afterward.

With Caleb, how have his practices gone? How much has he been able to do football- wise or has he just been getting back comfortable with that ankle?

Jeff Hafley: He's been in individual. He's been in team. He's done a nice job. It's good to have him back. He's made a bunch of plays in practice and I'm excited to see him play. He hadn't played in a while. I think he's excited, I think our whole team's excited. It brings us some extra juice. We'll see how the week finishes off, but that's the expectation.

How easy is it, especially for a rookie, to take those mental reps on the sideline and translate them onto the field?

Jeff Hafley: It's not easy. Let me say this. For some people, it might be easy. For some people, it's a challenge. There are some guys that can learn by watching, there are some people that actually have to learn by doing. So I think it's different with every player. Ultimately, the more you can actually do it, the timing, the rhythm, getting comfortable back with the quarterback, but mentally, he has stayed sharp because he's been pretty efficient in practice. But again, you're talking about a rookie who hasn't played much football, so let's just see how it goes.

And with Rob Beal, do you expect to get him back?

Jeff Hafley: I would say no.

Just how excited is the team for this new challenge? Obviously coming off the bye, this opportunity to play a divisional rival. What can you tell me about the mentality and the conversations you've had within the locker room?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, there's a ton of excitement. There's great energy. There was just great energy in the walkthrough that I was just coming from right now. They took a quick break, and they're in a good place. I kind of said that earlier in the week, they enjoy each other. They practice really hard. Yesterday was one of the most competitive Thursday practices that we had. It felt almost like a training camp practice as far as the competition goes. We did a bunch of good on good too. They're excited. I'm excited to watch them play. I'm excited for practice today and then we'll head out to Jersey and we'll give it our best shot. But these guys are in a good place right now.

Bobby talked about how you and him met with Malik over the bye. Can you walk me through some of what you shared to help Malik understand how defenses want to attack him?

Jeff Hafley: I mean, I meet with Malik every week. We pick a Friday, a Thursday, or Saturday, whenever he has anywhere from a half hour to an hour and we sit down and talk. We sit down and we talk about life. We talk about defensive football. We talk about offense. We talk about a lot of different things. I think it's important, especially since I'm not the offensive playcaller, I think that relationship is really important to have. We go over a ton of different things. I'm not going to go into anything specific on defense, but he picks my brain, I pick his brain, and it's a lot bigger than just football too. And I think that's really important for us to have that relationship.

What's the level of chess match you expect for Bobby with his brother on the other side and Brian Duker, who was with him here last year?

Jeff Hafley: Did you ask Bobby that question? What did he say?

He said, yeah, there's some of that, but there's other factors.

Jeff Hafley: I'm sure it's kind of fun to think about before and after, but my guess is once the headsets come on, you kind of forget about who you're calling the plays against and who you're working against; you just kind of get in the zone and you start working. You know, I was with Duker too, and I failed to mention that and should've earlier. Duker was a QC for me when I was in Cleveland. Really good young coach at the time, very smart, very hardworking. And it's been cool to see and stay in touch with him and watch him, go to Detroit and do a really good job with AG there and then come here and obviously, do a nice job here, and then now he's a coordinator. Really good coach, really smart coach, and he's done a really good job with that defense this year.

Willie Gay, is his illness over?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, he's feeling better today. He missed yesterday because of the illness. He's back in the building and he will be at practice today. We want to see how he feels, but I'd anticipate him practicing today and being out there. But let's see how he feels, because he was ill.

I wanted to ask about a couple of young tight ends. Obviously, Greg and Will are out there as they should the majority of the time. But the specific skill that you see with Joly and with Seydou. Both obviously can catch the ball. What does each do well if you wouldn't mind addressing each and where do you want to see growth?

Jeff Hafley: Seydou, you see him a lot on special teams right now and you see him start to make a bunch of plays, he's a guy I know that we have a lot of trust in there. I think anytime a young player starts to get on the field and play as many reps as he is, it's also preparing him to go in and play more on offense when he gets that opportunity. Very athletic, really good pass catcher, really good route runner. Has some receiver-like skills, foot speed, quickness, can catch the ball really well. It's just the development of him being a complete tight end. Has not played a ton of football over his life, so I just think with all the experience, he'll get better and better. And I'm really excited about him. I love his demeanor, I love his growth. I love his maturity. He's developed an edge to him and toughness that you can see on special teams. He's always in the building. I'm excited to see his development. So thank you for bringing him up. Joly, we just got. So a little bit later, haven't spent as much time around him, but he's a really good athlete. He's the type of guy that you could line him up at tight end, you can kind of move him around in almost like a fullback type role. He's good out of the backfield catching the ball. He's a good guy, kind of like Seydou, where he can play receiver, and he's got some size and thickness to him. Just a guy, again, a cool one for us to pick up. Sully did a good job picking him up and almost like having another draft pick. A young, talented guy that we see that we can develop, so we're excited about that.

I'm sure Aaron Glenn has also been drilled with availability questions by the New York media and we see that he said Breece Hall is questionable. What your thoughts on either facing him or Braelon Allen who has also filled in?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, we'll prepare that he's going to play. He practiced yesterday. He's been out but wasn't put on IR, so I'm sure he's chomping at the bit. Both backs are really good players. I mean, very talented. The combination of the two, the size, the speed, the athleticism, the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, the ability to break tackles. They got two really good backs, so we are anticipating him playing. We have practiced as if he's playing and I would be shocked if he wasn't.

I wanted to ask you about individual players' pass rush plans. I always hear how those guys take it like a heavyweight fight where it's like you set the move up in the beginning of the game, then you go to a different move later on in the game. How much do you involve yourself and coaches in terms of an individual's pass rush plan throughout the course of a game? Or is it more about the individual trying to feel it out as the game goes on?

Jeff Hafley: I think a lot of that, just like anything else, goes in your preparation for the week. When they're down there with the d-line coaches and they're watching their matchup, I think a lot of it is what are their strengths, what are their weaknesses? When we do get our one-on-one opportunities, how are we going to attack them? How do we see certain people attack them? What's our skill set? What's our counter? How do we want to rush each guy? And then rushing in unison, so that's preparation throughout the week. And as the game goes on and the players get a feel, it's both player and coach, but the players got to get a good feel for that on the field. But ultimately it comes down to trusting your training that you've done all week and just not making stuff up that you've never done before.

What do you see from this Jets pass rush, notably David Bailey, who's already got 5.0 sacks as a rookie, and what's it going to take to protect?

Jeff Hafley: It goes back to protection is not just going to be the offensive line, it's going to be everybody involved – the quarterback, the wideouts, the timing and rhythm, getting the ball out, running the right route, being at the right depth. Are we going to have an extra guy over there to help? How many hands can we get on him? Kind of like what we saw in college, he's an elite pass rusher. He's got quickness. He can win with speed. He's able to finish. I respect the way that he goes after the football. One thing that I think they've done a really good job, he's improved in the run game and his physicality, and he's got a chance to be, I think, one of the better players in the league.

Is there anyone on the practice squad who has caught your eye in particular the last week or so?

Jeff Hafley: Most of the guys I would say have already kind of been elevated up and down and you hate even considering them practice squad players, so there's no one on the tip of my tongue that I could give you today. I was trying to search to help you out there. I even paused to think about it, but I can't give you one today. I'll try to think of that and get you a better one next time you ask me that question.

As far as guys on the active roster, obviously we saw the big play from Jaylin Simpson on third down late in the Bengals game. Is he at the point where you think he's going to challenge for more time? Are there things he does that you like?

Jeff Hafley: I hope he does. I hope everybody does in those backup roles. I mean, I think that's what we're all about this year, competition. I hope he's not happy with his role. I hope he accepts his role right now, but I hope he's not happy with it. I hope he continues to compete and show us in practice every day that he belongs, that he deserves to get more playing time. And then when we do give him opportunities, if he continues to do that, then it's our job to find ways to get him on the field. But I hope that's the mentality of all the guys that are the backups right now. That's how we're going to grow and develop, and we need that mentality in our whole team. I just think in general, when you have certain guys that are pushing, you're getting everybody better, and I think he's one of them right now.

Chris, J-Marsh and JuJu have had a solid season so far. I'm curious, I know you're a defensive backs guy. What do you think is the next step in that evolution?

Jeff Hafley: Consistency. I do think they've done a nice job, so I appreciate and respect the question. I still think there's levels of consistency. I think we can get our hand on the ball more. I think we can take the ball away more. And I think that's both coaching and playing.

We've talked about the identity of this team, how it starts with physicality, that strength, and how everything starts with the running game. The past four games, over 100 yards in each game and 9.0 sacks allowed. That obviously starts with the o-line, so what can you tell me about the work of those five guys up front?

Jeff Hafley: I think that what you've seen, you've seen growth. I think anytime you have a new system with some new players at new positions, I think it takes time, especially those guys have to all work together and they have to work as one because there's so much going on that's communicated pre-snap, communicating as the ball's about to be snapped, and then they have to kind of feel each other out and work together probably more so than any other position on offense. I think you're seeing the confidence grow across the board. I do believe that is a physical group and they have a nastiness to them that I love. It's a very close group. That's a group that when you walk into their room, it's a very tight group. That's a group that on Thursday nights, they go out to dinner together and it's just they got a good feel about them. The confidence is growing not only from them, but from me and them. We're going to keep pushing them to do that, to run the ball and open things up, which hopefully then will open up the pass game and will allow us to score more points.

Is this a game where we should expect players to look and feel as comfortable as we've seen them, given the extra time to prepare?

Jeff Hafley: I mean, how much extra time do you really have to prepare in a bye week? They're required to have so much time off, right, so you're talking an extra bonus Tuesday practice where certain guys can't even practice because they just played in a game and then you're talking about a Monday bonus practice where they're just coming back off a bye week. So people get this conception that these guys have been practicing for two weeks against an opponent; it's just that's not the case in a bye week. It's their one week to get their bodies right and their minds right. But getting back to your question, every week we should look more comfortable. It shouldn't revolve around a bye week. Every week we should be looking more comfortable and we should be improving. I mean, that's our goal and that's kind of – I talk about our process. That's what our process is. I need to be better today than I was yesterday. I need to be better tomorrow than I was today. That needs to be the mindset of all of our players. So we need to be more comfortable, right? And we need to play better on Sunday than we did against the Bengals, and that needs to continue to climb until the end of the season and we better be much better at that point than we are right now. That is very, very important to me.

A high school question. Did you guys really go 0-9 your junior year to 7-2 your senior year?

Jeff Hafley: We did, so I'm used to resiliency. Is that what you're asking me?

I was going to say, it's really early on, but what does that experience instill in you in terms of like, being discouraged by –

Jeff Hafley: Well, one, I'm not discouraged at all. Like I've been pretty clear, am I disappointed in losing? Yeah, probably more than anybody, but I'm not discouraged. That's never going to happen. I know what's in front of us. I know who we are. I already told you, I know where we're going to end up eventually, right? Getting back to the 0-9 question, yeah, I mean, that's my junior in high school, we were 0-9, so that sucked. And as a junior, I remember every one of those losses, and then I remember all the hard work it took and everything we did to flip it and win the division and go 7-2. I've been in situations like that my whole life. That's why, regardless of circumstances, I don't flinch I don't change who I am. I grow stronger from them, and I want those around me to do the same thing. I just don't want to have too many of those.