Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley 's media availability on September 25, 2026.

Is Caleb Douglas out Sunday?

Jeff Hafley: Caleb Douglas will be out on Sunday.

And Ryan Miller with the foot and back?

Jeff Hafley: Ryan will practice today.

So still some hope for Sunday?

Jeff Hafley: Yes.

Chris Bell told us yesterday about the fluid and the soreness of the knee. He said doctors said it was natural. He said I think I'm fine now I can play through it Sunday, I plan on playing. Do you all just want to respect his desire to play or do you think you need to be cautious where his status Sunday is a question to you

Jeff Hafley: Listening to our medical people. We feel good about him playing on Sunday.

Did Ryan Miller suffer the injury in practice or was that something that was lingering from the game?

Jeff Hafley: It's been something that's just been lingering and we just wanted to give it some rest to let it, kind of, calm down. It wasn't like one specific hit on a game. It's just been getting sore and he just needed some time to let it cool down. So like I said, he should be okay for Sunday.

With the receiving unit, obviously with all the injuries in play, does that impact or alter the game plan or your approach with how the guys are going to be used and the various roles that people can play?

Jeff Hafley: I mean yeah, there's some things that – I mean, I'd be lying to you if everything is going to stay exactly the same. We have different players playing. I think for the most part it will be very, very similar, but there'll be some tweaks in there with different guys having different roles and some guys now having a chance to step up and play.

I know the communication issues last week were a bit frustrating. How have you seen the team take ownership of those issues this week?

Jeff Hafley: I mean, communication issues for a young group of guys playing out there it's not – is it frustrating? Sure. But is that uncommon? No. I mean it's a position of guys playing back there for the first time that they're going to have to constantly grow together. That's what practice is for, that's what walkthroughs are for, that's what meetings together are for. And I've seen those guys work really hard at it this week to try to get it better.

What can you tell us about the status of Beal and Brents?

Jeff Hafley: Beal will be out and JuJu will practice today.

I wanted to ask you about the twists and stunts from defensive linemen, front seven guys. Yesterday I was asking Sean and he was talking about it's much like the secondary in terms of communication and chemistry. How do you develop that when you're pretty much a new crew cast together?

Jeff Hafley: I think it's like with anything else, we just need time and we need repetition. And then all of a sudden, you're right, when you bring a new guy in, you need more time and you need repetition. I've said this before, and you've asked this quite a bit, I mean, we need to develop, right? So we need to find extra time to work on all of these things. I'll give you an example yesterday. Yesterday we did a developmental 7-on-7 for guys who were not getting enough reps because we need to do that. So when practice was done, there were certain guys who didn't get a whole lot of reps running our scheme, maybe the opponent's team, so we kept them after and we played football together, quarterback, wide receivers, DBs communicating. We're going to do the same thing with the guys on Sunday who are not active for the game and we're going to take those guys and we're basically going to have a practice in the morning. We're going to do individual, we're going to do special teams. We're going to do a group period for exactly what you're just saying. We need to develop because we're going to need these new guys entering different positions as we go. The big theme I keep saying is we need to develop, we need time, we need extra work, we have to think outside the box on how to get that work done. And that's what we're working really hard on, whether it's communication when a guy motions and we have to make a coverage check, whether it's, we want to run this stunt, but if this guy does this, it's going to change. We've got to feel each other, it's a timing that everybody kind of needs to work together. And we're working really hard on that and we need to find ways to get more reps.

Jaylen Wright's OK?

Jeff Hafley: I would say Jaylen's doubtful.

How prepared do you feel Ollie Gordon is to fill that role?

Jeff Hafley: Prepared. I feel confident.

I'm reading Bill Walsh's "Bring Your Own Pencil" right now, and in it he talks about empowering his coaches and scouts to state their claims in meetings without fear of being proven wrong and reserving the right to change their mind down the road. So the question is, how do you foster an environment that encourages that innovation where guys can speak up without fear of being proven wrong down the road?

Jeff Hafley: Like coaches wanting to bring up their ideas and thoughts? I mean, that's what I want. That's what I've always done as an assistant. I don't want a bunch of guys with egos where if you're supposed to be the guy in charge, you're not gonna take any ideas from anybody else. Ultimately, all I want to do is win and get better, and I know our coordinators feel the same way. If it's a position coach and his assistant to his position has a good idea, whatever the best idea is, if we think it can work and help our players, let's do it. I mean, for as long as I can remember for calling plays or being a head coach, if a quality control coach comes to me with a pressure idea and I think it works and I can figure out how to implement it, I'm going to run it. And then I'm going to give them credit for it if it works and I'm going to take the blame if it doesn't. But at the end of the day, I don't care whose idea it is. I think that's how you grow and we're all going to need to do that together.

As somebody who used to coach at Lambeau, how big a deal is home field advantage? What can it do for a team and do other factors such as cold or humidity or altitude, are they big factors in the home field advantage?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, I think all of them are. A lot of guys get used to playing in the environment. When we were in Lambeau, a lot of teams weren't used to coming and playing in the cold. Now that we're at home, the heat, people aren't going to be acclimated to the heat. As far as being at home goes, certain times you guys have heard it, you got to go on a silent count because you can't hear the quarterback's cadence. Well, think about when does it usually get the loudest on a home game? It usually gets the loudest on 3rd down, right? When if we're home, our defense is on the field. And then what happens is the quarterback's got to get up to the line of scrimmage and he's trying to change a play or he's trying to change the protection or he's trying to call out a different linebacker and they can't hear him. And you've seen sometimes where it's so loud in the huddle where you can't hear and it makes it harder for an offense to operate when we can't communicate. And in some environments, it makes it really challenging, especially in key situations in a game.

What stands out to you about Steve Spagnuolo defenses?

Jeff Hafley: One, I've admired him for a long time. I've gotten to know him pretty well. Really when he was back in the Giants, him and I would talk quite a bit. Phenomenal person, like one of the real good guys in this profession and I mean that, the amount of texts I've gotten from him over the years after a random game, a good one, a hard time, getting this job, he's always one of the first calls. So he's one of the guys that I probably have the most respect for in this profession. Just how he's evolved his defense over the years. It's kind of like you guys were asking me questions about, what is our defense going to look like four weeks from now, nine weeks from now, two years from now? What did it look like my first year in Green Bay versus the second year? He's always evolved and he's always kind of looked at trends and he stayed ahead and now you see the pressures all over the place and you see different things that he's been able to do. He just hasn't been the same throughout his whole career. And I think that's really cool for a guy to continue to grow. The way he treats his players, I just can't say enough good things about him and what he's done with that group.

Is that something ultimately you want to do as well, just constantly change your defense?

Jeff Hafley: You have to evolve. I think you have your core staples and beliefs and I think that always starts with fundamentals and technique, how hard you play, how you run to the ball, how you tackle, how you attack the football. And then you have your core beliefs in certain areas of the game. And then I think you need to develop and evolve, and especially once you find out what type of players you have and what they can do. There's certain things that I think are really important we're going to stick to until our players do it better, right? But then there's other things that you can pull out from other places that you've been or other things that you've done and continue to grow. Because if you don't, offenses are going to figure you out.

With your pass rush, has your philosophy always been that you need it to come primarily from your edge players? And with regard to that, do you need more pass rush, do you think, from your defensive tackles, Sieler, Phillips, Biggers – who obviously does both?

Jeff Hafley: No, I mean, it hasn't always been it has to come from our edge players. It's always been we need to get it from whoever our best pass rushers are. I've been in places with really, really good inside guys where your three technique is one of your leading sack guys because when you have a three technique who can rush and you can't really chip that guy and it's harder to get two on them. And then obviously I've been in places where your defensive end is the guy. And then I've been places where you have to blitz to generate and run a whole bunch of games and I'm just, whatever it takes.

As kind of a follow-up, when you come up with a game plan, do you game plan against a coach or a specific situation knowing that his tendencies can be disrupted by what you do or his available personnel?

Jeff Hafley: I mean, I think everything. When you game plan against somebody, it's the coordinator. Usually, you study the coordinator. What are his top plays? What does he like to do? What does he do situationally? What's he doing third down? What's he doing red zone? What's he like on early downs? And then you take it a step further. It's who are their players, right? Because ultimately, a lot of times, guys, early downs, the calls aren't changing as much as you think. It's really who do we have to take away or who do we have to stop? Do they have one really good player that we have to attack and really pay attention to? Is there a weakness that we really want to go after? Is there a player we have to double over here? Do we have to sell out to stop this running back over here? How are we going to contain the quarterback? It's also matchup issues, right? And then we need to figure out us. Who are they going to attack and who do we need to protect? So there's really a lot that goes into every game plan and then it's you only get three days to really practice. So how much can you really do and get done where they can go do it fast? Am I making sense?

Obviously when players sit out they get to see the game a little bit differently. What do you hope Chop Robinson took from being on the sidelines last week?

Jeff Hafley: No, it's only one week, so it's not like he sat out a whole lot of time. What I'm hoping is he, just like most players, he's just learned from Week 1 to get better in Week 3, really, because he missed Week 2. But he's practiced really hard this week, and I'm excited for him to get a chance to go back out and play.

Philosophically, I know Jordyn Brooks came out last game, I don't know exactly why – maybe get Woodard some snaps. But philosophically with your quarterback in a league where quarterbacks usually don't get lifted, obviously Willis stayed in and threw a touchdown on the last play. Do you keep the quarterback in like Mac Jones came in last week? What are your thoughts on that?

Jeff Hafley: It's who is it? Do they need work? Do they need more experience? And Jordyn Brooks has played a lot of football. I made the decision to take him out of the game at that point to protect him and get another guy work and experience. We felt it was best for Malik to continue to get the experience, to continue to grow and get the reps. Could that change down the road? Certainly. But I think it's all based on the individual player. Make sense?

How does Creed Humphrey make that entire operation work there for the Kansas City o-line?

Jeff Hafley: Smart. I think when you look at their run game, I think he does a really good job. And same in the pass game, I think they're sound in protection. Probably a lot of the communication comes from him, keeping everybody on the same page. Probably a guy that's not talked (about) as much as he should be because they got so many other names that everybody else is talking about. But he certainly is one of the big reasons that makes it go.

How is calling it from the sideline? And I'm also curious, how hard or easy is it to focus on what the offense is doing and not think ahead to what you need to adjust on defense?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, good question. No problem calling it on the defense, on the sideline. Again, I think Sean, I think he does an awesome job to kind of seeing stuff that I might not see because I'm at ground level, on a certain angle. Sometimes you might see me like if the play's over there, I'm like 30 yards down there trying to like get behind and see more big picture. I think sometimes when you stand and you're just like even with the ball, I mean, I'm not very tall either, so I can't see very much. So I try to get creative with my angles, but Sean does a great job seeing it up there. As far as when we're on offense, and you're right, I got to listen to what's going on in the offense and communicate with them. So I kind of have my iPad with me the whole entire time and I constantly click back and forth and I'm listening and talking and I hear Sean, he's awesome. He's going over all the plays with everybody. He's doing exactly what I did last year. He's fixing any issues. Then I'll click back over and ask him what he thinks and we'll start checking off some calls that we want to get to. I mean, just really relying on him. The staff has done an awesome job helping out. I think we'll get better as we go. But yeah, I need to pay attention to the offense, but it hasn't been an issue at all. But certainly one where I'll continue to, we'll continue to come together and get better at it.