Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley's media availability on October 28, 2026.

Jeff Hafley: I'm going to start today without you asking about injuries to give you some updates, all right? JuJu and Proctor are both in the concussion protocol. They were symptomatic earlier this week so they will not be out there today. Everybody else will practice today.

Not IR guys, like Trey Moore.

Jeff Hafley: No, everybody else who is on the 53 will practice today.

I have a multiple choice question to give you. People are probably thinking a little bit about the trade deadline after the Colts moves yesterday, and GMs typically don't talk in season. So I wanted to present this question to you this way, sort of as an A or B. From talking to Sully, do you think the thinking with the trade deadline is A. We listen on everything, especially in a position where we are in as a young team. If anyone wants to come to us, we listen. If we're tempted, maybe we make a deal. Or is it B. Has Sully expressed, I think we've made enough changes so far with the roster as far as veterans, we're sticking with what we have the rest of the way. Which is more reflective do you think of how he feels? A or B?

Jeff Hafley: You've spent a lot of time with those two choices. If that was the SATs, I'd have to read them over like four times. (laughter) I'd go C, parts of all of the above. C.

Can you expand at all?

Jeff Hafley: Sully and I have conversations about everything. So I mean, those happen and a lot of those are confidential. I think the whole thing with the trade deadline from my standpoint is, again, I'll go back to, I love this team, I love the guys that we have. I'm so appreciative of the work that they've put in. It's been a start of a journey that we have all put in a lot of work. So we'll have those conversations as we go. But there is no A or B. We talk about everything, so it's a little of all the above. C.

Coming off the win, do you sense more energy from players? But also, to prepare for the next opponent, is it important to stay even keeled? Not too high or too low.

Jeff Hafley: I think it's really important, win or lose. I do. I sensed a lot of energy coming back from the bye week. I told you that before we even played the game, right? So that was the truth. I sense a lot of energy right now. I've never really felt a dip of energy. There's been a lot of focus. Guys want to get better, which is the most important thing. But the walkthrough that we just came from was outstanding. The guys are locked in, they're focused, just like they were last week. I think that's part of this whole thing. Can we continue to do that regardless of the result? And I think often that can be hard, right? But that's really important that we come to work every day with the focus and with the one thing in mind is, can I be better today than I was yesterday? And it was great energy, so probably some more confidence with some guys maybe. But it was a good walkthrough.

When Jonah got hurt, Kingston went in there.

Jeff Hafley: He did.

So is he the No. 3 guard at this time? Can he play both sides?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, Kingston will be in today. He'll be the guard today. Yes.

Last week Chris Bell said that he needs to get his confidence back, that he hasn't been out there very often recently and that there were times early that he thought he was playing with a limp, but he would look on film and he would see that he wasn't. My question is, is his recovery at this point 11 months out more mental or more physical?

Jeff Hafley: That's probably a better question for him. I mean, he's the guy if he feels like he's limping, but he turns on the film and he's not. I mean, that's only he can answer. Chris should be confident right now. And I've had that conversation with him. I mean, the way he's playing, his effort, his physicality, the way he's catching the ball and running and making plays, he should be a confident player right now. I do think sometimes that's hard for a rookie. You kind of ride this wave of every game, how you did affects my confidence. And I think that's our job to help him so it doesn't. He should be confident. And I'll have a conversation to make sure that he is.

I feel like sometimes with elite players, it takes them one game to find their form and then it's just off to the races. Obviously, A.J. Brown hasn't had the best start to the season. So how do you not allow that one game to happen here?

Jeff Hafley: Well, I think one, it's the respect that I have for him playing against him three times in the last two years. I don't look at the stats of this year. I look at the player that he has been in this league. I look how big he is, how strong he is, how dangerous he is as a pass catcher, as a vertical threat. And I have a ton of respect for him, just like I would with any of the top premium receivers in the league. And it's probably just that my history, having to game plan against him. So he will be a focus and this will not be a forgotten guy because at the start of five or six games that he's played.

How much emphasis on starting fast is this week going to be about? Because obviously, last game, first time the team led, resulted in a win. So how much emphasis on that are you going to make?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, it's been a pretty big emphasis along the way. You always want to start fast, right? But it's not just about starting fast. It's continuing through the whole entire game. And that's probably the hardest part. Whether you start fast like we did on offense, and then we started slower on defense, and then we picked it back up as we went. It's got to be constant and that's you can never take your foot off the gas when you have a chance to finish somebody out. You have to learn to do that. And when you're behind, you just got to keep fighting, especially in this league where so many games come down to the fourth quarter. But emphasizing starting fast is something that we have talked about.

I have a general question about how the run and pass game works together. From defensive play caller's perspective, how does a successful run game increase the challenge of defending the pass?

Jeff Hafley: Think about it from a linebacker's point of view. A team starts to have success running the football and naturally what do the linebackers want to do? They want to start being more aggressive and they want to start attacking the line of scrimmage more. So picture three levels of a defense. The first level is the defensive line. The second level is the linebackers and sometimes the corners and the third level is the safeties. When that second level gets really aggressive because they're trying to stop the run game, what happens is there's separation between the second and third level and it creates space on the field. It creates space on defense and then that's where people want to attack, right? The other thing that happens is if you're struggling to stop the run, you have to get more guys in the box. When there's more guys in the box, there's less guys deep. There's more holes in deep zones. Then there's some coverages where you want safeties to be super aggressive and if they're saying, 'oh man, we can't stop the run,' then those guys start coming down really hard on the run. Then you only have corners and then that's where people attack the middle of the field. So I do believe that having a good run game opens up the pass game and from a defensive play caller standpoint, sometimes you have to take a deep breath and not be over-aggressive because when you get over-aggressive to try to stop the run, the ball usually goes over your head. And most points are scored on drives because of explosive plays.

I want to ask you about Jordyn Brooks. From my vantage point, he looks like he's really popped the last two games. No. 1, would you agree with that assessment? No. 2, if so, would it be mostly because of more familiarity with this team or maybe he's back to physically, like back where he was before after dealing with some issues?

Jeff Hafley: I know Jordyn's played well and I think he pops every week when he's out there. You'd have to ask him how he feels based on his body, it's tough for me to see that. I thought he looked fast last week. I thought he was flying to the ball. He was physical. He was knocking guys back. And that's our expectation. The way he prepares, the way he takes care of his body. I mean, what a pro he is. It's a great example for all the young guys that we have on this team. And it's why he's had so much success in this league.

In terms of Caleb Douglas, last week, you said it's not an easy thing for a guy with that few reps in his career to just go from being on the sidelines to translating it on the field. Besides the touchdowns, what are some things that you saw Caleb do on film and let you know 'wow, that was time well spent' for him?

Jeff Hafley: Here was the nice part. I think we had 25 yards worth of penalties, and we talked about playing clean and that goes back to guys lining up, the shifts, the formations. Those are the things that you worry about, right? As you get out of the huddle and maybe there's 12 seconds left on the shot clock and now we got three motions on a play and he's one of them. Is he on the ball? If he's off the ball, I mean, we didn't have any of those errors from him. And those are, a lot of times the rookies, as you saw early in the year, that's not exactly easy for them. But if you just stand there and line up, it makes it really easy for the defense. So I was proud of him from that part. And then his physicality in the run game. I thought he took a big step from where he was to when I turned on that tape and the way he was fighting with DBs. I thought that was pretty cool to see. And then obviously you had the one really good route in the red zone and then the catch and run down the sideline. Hopefully we'll get a chance to get him the ball more.

The Michael Taaffe interception. How do you view those types of plays? I know in hindsight it's a great play, it ended up being an interception. But he said he saw that on film and that gave him the confidence to go and make a play. Do you view it as a risk that you like your guys going and taking or how do you view that?

Jeff Hafley: Here's how I've always viewed it as a coach and I try to get it across to the players. You get a lot of information in all these meetings that we have. And it's just how much can each player take in? And I always say to the DBs, try to take a couple things where you feel like when you see them in the game and it's like crystal clear and it's happening in slow motion, at that point you got to take your shot. And that might happen once, it might happen twice a game, it might not happen in a game. In those instances, I want them to take a shot. That's why you study, that's why you put in all the work and when you get that opportunity in the game, you need to have the confidence and take the shot. And he did. I think that's really hard for young players. So if he's telling you he saw that in the moment, which we've talked about and he came out and made the play, then I fully support him because I want our players to be aggressive. I don't want to play timid. If they've done the work, they need to have no regrets when they take shots like that. And I want our whole team to play like that.

Malik this week faces a former coach in Mike Vrabel. Going into a week like that, do you ever want to check the temperature of a player before that week occurs? Or if you don't make it a thing it doesn't become a thing?

Jeff Hafley: Malik and I talk for – I mean, we meet every week, so we talk about everything. I'm sure that will come up. I'm not going to shy away from anything. We'll have conversations and if it comes up, it comes up and I'm not going to make it a big deal. So I'm not really sure how deep we'll get into that. I have a lot of respect for Coach Vrabel. I coached his son at Boston College for three years. His son was a really good football player, an awesome guy. So I got to know him pretty well then. He was really good to me. We talked on the phone a lot if I ever had any questions, football questions, being a head coach questions. And he'd come and sit in the stands just like a normal fan. I appreciate how he has stayed in touch with me and how he's helped me along the way. And I just respect the way they play. This is a team that they play the game the right way. They're physical. They play really hard. They play with really good fundamentals and techniques. All the things that we talk about, I see them doing on tape. He does a really good job.

You spoke highly last week of Seydou Traore. What specifically led you to give him the 11 offensive snaps, you and Bobby, last week?

Jeff Hafley: I dropped you the hint, right? Yeah. You're starting to pick up on them now. So I can see you typing away and listening. Again, a rookie who, and I say this – and Ron Middleton has done a really good job. I mean, I've challenged all of these coaches for the development of these young players. I think we're up to 15 on the 53 right now. I want to see these guys be developed. It takes time for some of them, right? Some of them we see playing right now. I mean, we might turn the page down the road and other guys might be playing even more. That's our job when we get these guys to develop them. And we felt comfortable with him mentally and physically that he would give us a chance to help us, and he did. The other thing you see with him is when you see a guy on special teams play physical like he's doing and have success, it gives you confidence to continue to play the player on offense or defense. So credit to Tabes and credit to Ron. They've done a really nice job and credit to Seydou, he did a nice job.

Jacob Rodriguez had four tackles last week, season low. We know he's not going to have 15 tackles every week. But what can you tell me about why that happened? And not asking you to throw anybody under the bus, but were linemen not keeping offensive linemen off of him or was it just a good game plan? And I think San Francisco, he had a slow start and figured it out in the fourth quarter. Tell me about this game and what you saw from that.

Jeff Hafley: I just think it depends. He's not positioned all over the field. So where's the ball going, right? I mean, how many opportunities did he have actually to make plays? I'd have to go out and look. Sometimes people are attacking us in certain areas where it's his job to make the play. Sometimes if we're getting a lot of perimeter runs or we're getting a lot of balls thrown on the outside to the numbers, he's not going to have a lot of tackles to make. So I think a lot of that goes to how we're being attacked, what plays offenses are running and did he really have that many opportunities to make those plays? The way I always judge a defensive player is – like here, I'll give you an example. Sometimes coaches used to give me grades like, 'yeah, he graded a 95% out of 100.' I said, 'all right, here's what I care. How many opportunities did he have to make a play and how many did he make? Just give me that number and then I'll have a very good clue on how he played in the game.' So I don't know how many opportunities Jacob actually had to make tackles in the game, but it'd be something I could go back and look at. I just thought he played a solid game and he's not going to have 18 tackles in a game, every game.

Malik kind of shies away when I ask him about running. I remember the first time I met him, I was like, 'how do you think your running ability can help the team?' And he was like, 'I don't know, we'll find out.' In San Francisco, I asked him about, 'hey, it looks like you're similar to Lamar Jackson in total rushing yards. Do you think you can beat him?' He's like, 'I don't know. I don't care about rushing stats.' But I guess what I'm driving at is it appears that his ability to run can be critical to the success of the team and the offense. What are your thoughts on that?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, one, whether or not he likes to talk about his running, you two can figure that out. (laughter) Yeah, I mean, so you guys can have that conversation. Let him answer that question. I don't like putting words in their mouths. Can it be critical? Yeah, it was critical. I mean, on a huge fourth down play, there was nothing there and he ran for a first down. I mean, it's not saying like we're having all these designed quarterback runs, which we do have some. I mean, he hit the draw on a huge play and he almost hit another one on a third down. So it's a weapon that's hard to defend, but it's critical. And that's one thing I was proud of him is he was very decisive in the game. He went through his progression and if it wasn't there, he kept the play alive. He protected the football and in crucial situations of the game, he kept us moving forward. And I think deep down he knows he can do that. He probably wants you to talk more about his passing, if I had to guess. So that's a little hint for you to start the conversation with him.

You'll have plenty of familiarity with the Patriots moving forward, but this is your first one. Your first division game you won last week against the Jets. Is the adage of division rivals, throw the records out the window, highlighted when you have a new team, a new staff, and you're more or less playing them as a new group for the first time?

Jeff Hafley: Division games are important, and I think it's important for a young team to understand that. And I think it's important for a young team to understand, one, our division, two, the importance of division games as we grow. So I have spoken about that. The thing will always be about us. I think that's really important for us to understand. The main thing has got to be for us this year, our team, our development, trying to go 1-0 and try to be better today than we were yesterday. But I'd be lying to you if I didn't feel like I had to teach them about division play and the division. And I don't think any – I mean, all these guys watched them play in the Super Bowl last year. I mean, we have 15 rookies. I hope they all watch the Super Bowl, who knows nowadays, but I'd imagine they all understand that team just went to the Super Bowl and they're the reigning champs in our conference. So I don't think I'll have to tell them very much.

How did special teams do last week? Zane, Kaytron Allen, Wayne, the wide receiver was out there. How did special teams do, especially considering you had some new faces still?

Jeff Hafley: I thought they did a nice job. I thought it was improved. We had the one penalty on the one hold, but besides that, we were penalty free. We had some good returns. We set up a good field position. I felt like the field position for the most part was pretty good. I know we kicked a bunch of touchbacks in the game, but when we had to cover, we did cover, which I think is very important. But I thought they took a step forward. They were very physical. They were very sound. I thought Tabes did a really nice job. And that's going to be the key. I mean, that's an area where we have to continue to improve and develop those new players that we have playing. I mean, that's a big role that we don't take lightly. So I was pleased with the way they did play.

And you had Bradley Pinion do a couple of kickoffs, right?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, he did. He hit some of the kickoffs and he hit them well.