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

I hate to open with the same player two straight press conferences, but because of the interest level in Caleb Douglas, will he practice this week?

Jeff Hafley: He will not practice today.

And do you think this could be something that keeps him out of Sunday and beyond?

Jeff Hafley: He won't practice today. We'll see how he is for tomorrow. You can ask about him anytime you want.

When you listen to Michael Taaffe, you almost hear a coach; the way he dissects the game, the way he explains nuances, the way he's mentioned that he has to study opposing offensive coordinators. What's uncommon about him for a rookie that struck you that has earned his trust?

Jeff Hafley: Everything that you just said. I mean, you nailed it. You could write your own story on that because you're on it. It's the truth. It's the way he's able to communicate. It's what he sees, how fast he sees it, how he's able to process, how he's able to pick something up and recognize it. Now there's still growth and there's still, he's a young player who's seeing stuff for the first time from really good veteran players and teams and coordinators that it's not always going to be perfect. But what is really impressive is his preparation, right? So I think you're going to see continued growth and improvement. And I think that's going to allow him to play faster as the year goes. But everything you just said is the truth about him. And that's, in this whole process, getting to know him, it's been a lot of fun. He's a football guy.

Will Chop Robinson advance to practicing today?

Jeff Hafley: Chop will practice today.

And for him, it is three concussions in the past calendar year. I know a lot of that happened before you arrived, but what would be the level of concern at this time over that?

Jeff Hafley: That's more for the medical team. He is going to be able to practice today. That's where he's at right now. So we'll keep those medical questions for the medical people.

I want to take you to the possession where you guys have 1st-and-goal from the six-yard line. You run De'Von left behind Proctor and Paul, Kacmarek, Malik Washington, DJ Herman comes across. that's pretty physical. It goes for no gain. Are you the type who likes to say, "we're doing this again," either for our confidence or to make a point or for whatever reason? Would you like to continue to run left behind the big guys?

Jeff Hafley: It depends. I mean, if I felt like it was working throughout the game and you're getting something there and just one time that it didn't work and I felt confident in it, yeah, for sure. I think sometimes play callers, just from my standpoint on defense, if you want to know how I think, sometimes offenses get away from some stuff because it doesn't work one time and they probably should come back to it because it might work. Then you got to look at why didn't it work, right? Were we not right on the assignment? Was it a technique issue? So I think there's a lot of things that go into that, but I have no problem calling the same blitz twice, calling the same coverage twice in a row, running the same offensive play twice in a row. Yeah, I don't have any problem with that. Now, if it's like glaringly awful and we need to figure it out on the sideline, then let's not do it again until we fix it.

As a follow-up, I know you said you like the way Malik has been able to extend plays with his legs. The next two plays, he uses his legs, he goes out of bounds. They went as sacks officially. Should he have gotten rid of the ball? I know he's running across his body.

Jeff Hafley: For sure. Any time you're in that position, and I think that's a good learning experience for Malik. Once you're out of the pocket, you can just throw the ball out of bounds and then, like you're saying, we'll go back to the line of scrimmage and we won't take a sack and we won't take the yards. So certainly it's a play that he'll learn from. But yeah, that's a very good observation.

With the understanding that it's always about the team, how do you process individual frustrations on topics that need to be solved, such as lack of sacks?

Jeff Hafley: How do we solve lack of sacks?

No, the part I'm interested in is how do you process individual frustrations?

Jeff Hafley: Like whose frustrations?

Does it not get you frustrated?

Jeff Hafley: Oh, you're talking about me. Yeah, I've been through it, you know? I look back to my first year in Green Bay and early on we weren't generating any pressure. So we had to change and we had to evolve and we had to put guys in different positions. And it took a lot of work and we developed a lot of new stuff and a lot of new calls and we figured out – I think for any of us, we have to look at, OK, this is what we thought, this is who we have, and we're not generating pressures. So just because that's worked for me elsewhere, if it's not working, what do I need to do? I need to do the same thing that I did. I need to figure out something different to do, maybe with different players in certain spots, maybe adding a tweak or two to scheme, maybe totally changing the scheme in order to generate pressure. That's the job of a coach and that's my job to do and that's my job to figure out. I don't have time to get frustrated. I understand what's ahead of me. I understand the process that we're in right now. So I need to make sure that I'm not getting frustrated. That I have a mindset where I'm going to do everything in my power to get better every single day and help these guys generate pressure and help us generate pressure.

I've seen a lack of execution from young players and losing in general can compound and weigh on accomplished veterans who have proven themselves in this league. How do you plan to handle conversations with guys about – I don't want to use the word patience – but sticking with the plan and seeing the vision?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, very fair question. I mean, because that's the truth, right? Communication, constant communication, open communication, like complete honesty. Where we're at, where they're at, what I need from them, what they need to do for me. And to have a relationship with those guys that we're going to do this together regardless of the circumstance and we're going to get better. Those have happened. Those will continue to happen. And that's why leadership is very important.

Do you lean towards those veterans, because you have such a young team, to instill in them, in your words, "this is going to be a process and we're going to get better"?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, absolutely. I have meetings with them as groups. I have meetings with them as individuals and there's constant communication. I'm not going to hide from anything and I'm not going to shy away from honest conversations. We need those veterans, we need our best players to play at their best and we need them to lead. And then, take it a step further, I need to cultivate leadership and I need to find the young players, because like you said, we're very young, I need to find the young players that I see leadership in and I need to cultivate them to become leaders now. I knew this and this is very important to me so those are also conversations that we're having that are going to be really important as we continue to go. Let me say this, we've got really good – if you just look at our six captains, they're really good players and they're really good leaders and they've done a really good job. What you're saying is true, when you're in the huddle and I'm in the huddle with those guys and the game's out of reach and I'm looking them in the eye and they are so intent and they're playing as hard as they did the first snap of the game, that's important to me. And it shows that those are the right guys and isn't like that everywhere. There are certain vets of exactly what you're saying, it's you know how that goes, right? It's all of a sudden, instead of sticking my face in there on play 67 when all they have to do is take a knee on the next play, but still sticking your face in there. That's why I appreciate the leaders that we have on this team and the vets that we have on this team, because they're doing that. And it's important for them to do that so the younger guys see what it's supposed to be like so as we do build this thing, that's the mentality that we have. Because I do think there's some rareness to that in the NFL.

I know it's early in the season, but Kenneth Walker is leading the league right now in rushing. What do you see in him and what's unique about his game?

Jeff Hafley: Just in general, I think he adds such a dynamic dimension to their offense, right? Obviously, the quarterback is one of the best quarterbacks in this league, has been for a very long time. They have receivers, multiple receivers who can fly. They have one of the best tight ends in the league who's done it time and time again. And they're o-line's solid. So now you add one of the premier backs in this league who's currently leading the league in rushing, it's all right, you want to load the box and you want to stop the runner. Well, then they got guys who can run by people and they have a quarterback who can keep it alive and throw the ball down the field. He's added the dimension of: Guess what, now you got to stop the wrong game, right? Very physical, very hard to tackle. He's got a great stiff arm. He runs angry, which I have a ton of respect for. I just think he takes their offense to a different level. Combine that with Andy Reid and Bienemy, two great offensive coaches. They have a very, very good offense, very explosive.

And just to follow through, so last week, a different type of running back, but same deal with a really good running back and then really good receivers on the outside. Is that something you can really pull from for this week?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, it has to be, but it's different. I think quarterback, running back, like you're saying, receivers just like we're saying. The difference is the speed. The speed that they have on the outside, it's faster than we just saw last week. And different schematically, it's a different offense, but you're still going to have to stop the run because it's what he's done the last two weeks very well. And even in that last game when he popped the one down the sideline – a week ago – it was one of the biggest plays of the game.

What have been your biggest takeaways from those two tough results and also how different is it to prepare against a Patrick Mahomes offense from what you've seen in the first two games?

Jeff Hafley: Very difficult to prepare for, but I think we're all excited for the challenge. I think everybody has a lot of respect for what he's done in this league. I have a ton of respect for how he's come back from his injury and seems to have not missed a step. He's still running around, he's still keeping plays alive, he's still running the ball. He hasn't missed a beat. He's in total command at the line of scrimmage. He's changing protections. He's doing the stuff that he's always done. So it is a challenge, and I think our guys are really looking forward to that. As far as what have we learned, I mean, there's so much that you learn throughout the first two games. I mean, you have to, win or lose. You got to learn and you have to grow and you have to evolve and you have to get better. And right now we have a lot of guys who are doing everything in their power to do so, so we play better this week. So I'm excited to get out and practice today. I think they're really excited to get out to practice today and they're going to have a ton of energy getting ready for our first home game. It'll be nice to get back into our stadium for the first time. It feels like we've been on the road forever.

Is Jaylen Wright good to go?

Jeff Hafley: Jaylen Wright will be limited today, and we'll see how he is.

Between Chris Johnson in Game 1 and Taaffe in Game 2, the run fits for those two rookies have really stood out. As a former DB coach, how do you instruct those guys to play the run?

Jeff Hafley: It just depends what the coverage is, what the call is, whether we're putting them on the edge, whether we're inserting them in the middle. All of those guys at one point are going to have to show up to stop the run. What we ask our safeties to do is probably more than most when it comes down to the different places that we put them. But I think Ryan Downard has done a really good job coaching those guys within the run game. There's some teams that don't really use the safeties in the run game as much. They kind of keep them deep and let them be secondary players. But the way we play, we need those guys to be. And Ryan's done a good job coaching them and they've all taken to that. They both have the right mindset. They were good tacklers in college and hopefully they'll continue to improve.

You mentioned the home opener. Can there almost be like a fresh start going in when you're going to go out there in front of your crowd for the first time? And what are you looking forward to the most?

Jeff Hafley: I'm looking forward to our players getting a chance to play in front of our fans, to have some energy brought into the stadium. I think that's always fun when they run out into the field, playing in front of our crowd for the first time. I'm really excited for that. I think it's important for our players and I'm excited for them, a lot of these young guys to experience that for the first time because it's not only our first opener for a lot of guys we're going to be playing in the game. It's the first time they've ever had a home game here. So it'll be a cool experience for them. I'm excited for it. I'm excited for our fans. So just looking forward to it.

In terms of the league, what traits did you see from him during your years together in Green Bay that I guess that he's grown over the past six or seven months.

Jeff Hafley: Probably just his leadership. In Green Bay he wasn't necessarily the guy. Jordan was and he had a role and he embraced his role and he has a way bigger role right now. I mean, he's one of the leaders on our team. I mean, he's our quarterback. So I think his leadership role, I mean, if you think about it, I mean, just imagine yourself in the huddle with three rookie receivers, a rookie tight end and a rookie fullback. And you're starting for the first time, and you got three, four, five, six and Proctor. He's got a lot on his plate. I think he's handled that really well. Really well. And I don't think that's easy.

I was going to say, how difficult of a challenge is that because he's still very much developing in his own right, but he's also being asked to lead the youngest offense in the NFL?

Jeff Hafley: I mean, it's a challenge for all of us right now, right? I think just like any of us, he's embraced it. And the constant communication with him, he just wants them to improve and continue to grow with them. I mean, that's part of the deal. So hopefully he continues to meet with them, has his one-on-one meetings with them, and all of a sudden we look back towards the latter half of the season and all the hard work, all the extra reps, all the meeting time, there's growth there together with all of them as we're going through the season.

There seems to be a growing trend of offenses using under center more – the Chiefs have done it a lot. I'm curious how that changes how you play on Mahomes or any team that wants to play more under center?

Jeff Hafley: It's just what do they do under center? I mean, that's the biggest thing I think everybody constantly looks for. There's certain elements when they're in the gun, on run plays, he's more of a threat to run the ball, right? Versus under center when they can still boot and drop back and scramble, but the threat of him pulling the ball and running it is gone. But then when he is under center, there's some advantages to that too, especially if people are going to drop back pass under center. I think the play action game and the boot game is harder to defend when the quarterback is under center than he is in the shotgun because this versus the back is turned to you and everybody sees that and they're still hold, hold, hold, right? I think that makes it more difficult. There's something that he does in the shotgun that a lot of people can't do that makes that difficult as well. But they've done a good job mixing it up and kind of being balanced with what they do on it. So it's a challenge for sure on both parts for him.

How do you combat Travis Kelce who seemingly always just finds those openings in the defense? What do you tell your players about how to combat him sort of just seeing it?

Jeff Hafley: One, it depends what the coverage is, what their job responsibility is. Are we playing man to man? I think the biggest thing – those guys have been together for so long. It's kind of like if you want to go back to your question – picture a quarterback and receiver together, growing together, being on the same page where all of a sudden the play breaks down and it's like he goes across the field and it's like he knows exactly where he is. I think they're on the same page constantly. So there's certain coverages where you're going to have to strain for longer than you think because he's going to keep the play alive and you got to fight that guy who knows where he's going and he's big and he's strong and he's got a huge catch radius. So it's going to be a strain. And I just think in this game there's like two parts to every play: The first part, which is the call, and then the second part is when Mahomes starts being Mahomes in the second part of the play and you got to strain for the second part of the play. So not an easy thing to do, and we're going to work and do everything we can to get it done.