Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley 's postgame media availability on September 3, 2026.

So DJ Herman's a nice story. What do you think allowed him to make the transition from college linebacker, I know he did a little goal line at San Diego State, to being a fullback at this level that impressed you and Sully for him to make the team?

Jeff Hafley: One, I think he's a smart football player and he was able to pick up the offense fairly quickly, especially for a guy, that could be a hard transition from going from defense to offense. I give him a lot of credit how hard he studied,, and I think he's a smart player. He's a physical player. I think he embraced his role, all the blocking and the dirty work and kind of goes with a linebacker. But his body control, the way he's able to move and adjust laterally to make those blocks. Everybody thinks of a fullback is you just need a guy who's going to run through the A gap and try to light up a Mike linebacker, but that guy's got to have the body control and lateral movement and the ability to adjust, which is similar to a linebacker, if you could picture a linebacker moving and tracking a back. I give him a lot of credit. He worked really hard to study the new position, the physicality, the toughness, how hard he's worked, and he earned a spot on the team. And that is a cool story, so I appreciate you asking that one.

Position changes, obviously, he won't pick up everything right away. Where does he still have room for improvement?

Jeff Hafley: I just think the game experience. I mean, even – he had a chance to make that catch in the last preseason game and you could kind of see his head turn right away. He thought he had and he was turning and running to try to score before he ever caught the ball. And if you watch him out here, he's got good hands, he's caught the ball. It's just a matter of taking it from practice to the game with limited experience in those situations, because I know he has good hands and I know he can catch. I've seen it. It's just when it shows up in the game, just doing the little things and being detailed with play. And I'm sure there's other things that will come up that he's never seen before. I mean, that's just a matter of playing football.

In training camp, video is out there a lot. Fans shoot what you do, people analyze it online. Does that bother you, is that giving away secrets or anything like that?

Jeff Hafley: You know, I didn't really think about it as much until we hired Kevin Patullo and he told me that before we played them in Brazil, he had half my pressures on tape from training camp from people that videoed it and put it online and Twitter, et cetera. And then he even – I remember we had a pressure that I had never run, so there's no way he could have known about it, and they knew it was coming and he said that they saw that pressure on video. So I mean, yeah, it's kind of disappointing, but at the same time, I'm really not sure what you can do about it.

And then in regular season, does your paranoia level ramp up as far as revealing who's going to start, injuries, things like that? Do you have anybody on your staff who monitors that for the opponent? And have you ever learned anything midweek along those lines that's helped you win on Sunday?

Jeff Hafley: As far as injuries go, I think the best way is to be honest and report it as it is with our trainers, with Sully, and just be really forthright and honest about it.

Just revealing it publicly to us I mean. Like if we asked, "Is KG going to be ready this week," do you think that gives the opponent an advantage?

Jeff Hafley: At certain positions and at certain times when maybe it's we're really not sure, then yeah, there's no reason to reveal that unless we have to. Yeah, if I don't have to reveal anything, I will wait till the deadline to reveal it, because certainly in some positions that is gonna create an advantage, right? How you game plan for somebody. If we have a player going into a game that we feel like we need to double in the red zone, or double on third down, or run a certain coverage for the guy and we're practicing it all week and we're not sure if he's going to play and they tell us on Wednesday he's not going to play, then I don't have to put anything in. But if we don't know, I still have to work it and then I have to have a backup plan, so for sure. When we have to report things, we'll report things.

How closely do you guys monitor that? Have you ever won a game on Sunday because of midweek information?

Jeff Hafley: I'm not sure if we've ever won a game on a Sunday because of midweek information. We clearly monitor it because I always want to know who's playing. So I look forward to those emails when the injury report comes out. I'm always looking at them right away if there are some key guys that we're going to have to game plan around. But there's been adjustments where it's like, all right, this guy's playing. We didn't think he was playing. We better get to plan B or eliminate this and do something different.

I got one more on Herman, what was it that you saw in him in the tryout and the minicamp that made you guys go "we got to sign this guy?"

Jeff Hafley: Just watching his tape, playing linebacker and then the movement. Just looking at his body and how well he moved and was able to adjust. We just kind of had some outside the box thinking of this kid with the movement and the toughness could do it. And credit Sully and everybody on the offensive guys who watched and evaluated him, but more credit to the player, because that's not easy to do and he earned it.

Coach, Malik Willis did a podcast recently where I felt that his calming presence and kind of even keel demeanor was rather apparent. How do you think that's going to benefit not just him this season and beyond leading this team, but the team and how you build the program with the quarterback that has that?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, it's kind of what I've said to you guys since we first got here. It's one of the things that drew me to him. He's just got this cool demeanor about him where guys kind of gravitate to him, where chaos could be going on around him and he still has that same look on his face whether we're winning or losing or what's going on in the moment; he needs that as a quarterback whether he has a really good game or whether he you know throws some bad balls and has an interception and has to bounce back. I think it's kind of like how they look at the leader. Is he calm or is he panicked? And I think if you have somebody people are looking at in a role like that and he's panicked, you're going to create more panic. But if he's calm, guys are going to probably remain calm, and I think that's very important in a leadership role.

When Malik called the team together, the offensive group together, I don't know if you were there for that, but he called the whole group together and addressed the group. Did you like that? Did you like that?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, for sure. I mean, any time a player sees something or feels something and wants to grab the team and talk to them, I think that's great.

I have a Raiders question for you. They just announced that they're going to be starting Cousins instead of Mendoza, the rookie. What's your reaction to that?

Jeff Hafley: You know, it's kind of what the noise has been, so it doesn't surprise me at all. That's kind of what we figured would happen, and now that it's confirmed, we'll game plan for him.

Two tight end health questions. Could Traore play now? I know he's been limited. And with Will, did you consider IR in the last couple of days? I know that would mean allocating another one of your eight designated short terms or do you think he'll be back within the four weeks?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, part one, Seydou for sure could play. He'll be out today and Will will be out today, but it's hopeful that he'll be practicing next week. So that wasn't part of the discussion.

I heard that the defense is kind of taking your emphasis on takeaways a step further in the sense that if they don't create three a game, they're going to run after practice. I'm curious what's your reaction to that and how excited does that make you as a defensive coach? Right now I can already see you're smiling.

Jeff Hafley: Makes me smile. Yeah, I think that's awesome. I think if they're taking ownership in that, which I think is going to be very important with everything that we do, the buy-in makes me smile and appreciate that they're listening and they see the importance of takeaways. I like the number that they picked, three, because if we get three takeaways a game, we're going to play really good defense and really good football. I think that's awesome. Any time guys can take ownership and hold each other accountable and push each other and have a consequence for a standard, then I think the standard is real.

Jordyn Brooks said that physicality is a mindset, it takes no talent. Can you tell me about that, what you think about that? Are some guys born tough or does everybody just kind of acquire toughness through their mindset and their makeup?

Jeff Hafley: That's a good question. I don't know if they're born tough, I think sometimes you get guys and you know right away how tough they are. And then there's some guys who might not have that same level of toughness, but I think you can train them that way and push them that way and try to get the most out of them. I'm glad that Jordyn talked about that physicality and toughness. That is definitely who he is as a football player on the field and that shows up, and it's how we want to play football. We want guys who are going to be physical. We want guys who are going to play tough. And I think it's also a sign of respect for how much they care about their teammates by how hard they play. I'm not sure about the whole psychology behind making somebody tough, but I think you certainly can make them tougher.

What has Michael Taaffe shown you during training camp and maybe the exhibition season that has him competing for the starting spot?

Jeff Hafley: He's picked up the scheme really quick. He's one of our best communicators back there, and I think that's really important when you play defense because those guys, as things move and there's motions and there might be something that's double called or he has to get to a certain check, he's very confident for a young guy and he's very loud. And usually when a guy is loud, it projects confidence. I think there's a comfort level for the other guys when he's back there because they can get lined up really fast. The other thing is he's got really good body control and balance and he's very rarely out of position, which I think helps him a lot. Within the scheme he's usually in the right place at the right time. And then the other thing that he does, he can fix things really quick. If he makes a mistake, he's quick to correct it, or if he sees something, he can communicate it. I think he's done a really nice job, and I'm glad that he's with us.

Quick two-part question. Has the vote for team captains been taken and ideally, what's your ideal number?

Jeff Hafley: The vote has been taken. I don't have an ideal number. I'll look at the votes and if they're spread out and kind of even, we'll go there. Some years I've had to do this there's been three, some years there's been six. It's just, where's your team at, who are your leaders, who do the guys on the team think the captain should be, how many votes did each guy get, and you make your judgment. But we have not tallied them up yet. We just voted in the meetings right now. So I will announce that on – I talk to you guys Monday, so you'll know on Monday. The players will know Monday too. So that's not going to be something that gets out. I'll know today.

When you think about Jordan Phillips, how good could this guy be knowing his strength and his other qualities?

Jeff Hafley: I think Jordan is a guy, I'm not one to talk about overdoing expectations on a player, especially if they haven't played any football, but if they haven't played for very long. I will say about Jordan, I think Jordan is a guy that is not going to get enough credit because he kind of plays a position where the limelight is not going to be on him. He's going to be taking on double teams. He's going to be doing the grunt work and keeping the linebackers clean, pushing the pocket and the stats might not be there but the cool thing about him is he just embraces that role. I mean he is one of the toughest, most physical, most driven guys that I've been around and usually that's one of the hard positions to play. I mean you're getting 600 plus pounds double teaming you and driving you and hitting you, and what do you do? I mean you just take those on and try to anchor, and I mean you don't get a lot of credit but I love the guy. I love his attitude. I love his mentality. Obviously the players have this weekend off. So we're asking a lot of guys where they're going, what you're doing, you're going back watching your college team play, you're going to visit family? Jordan will be in the sauna at 5 a.m. tomorrow and probably lifting weights and then taking himself through – I mean, he just doesn't stop. I got a lot of respect for him.

Have you coached him and around a defensive lineman that's got the same kind of lower body as he's got, like really big and strong?

Jeff Hafley: I've coached some good guys just in the last couple years. Guys like Kenny Clark and those, I'm not comparing him to Kenny Clark but you asked me, those guys have the strong lower body and can anchor and I mean I've been around some good noses. I'm excited for him and what he can do this year. Again I don't want to see any articles written comparing him to Kenny Clark right now because I've learned very quickly how words can go. But you asked me who I'd coached, and he was one of them. But without trying to hype him up too much, I'm just excited to see what he can do in Year 2 and how much he embraces his position.

I'm curious what you saw out of the trio of DBs that were added Monday. I might be getting the dates wrong, but you said you wanted to see them out of the field first. So what did you see?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, still not a whole lot yet. Most of the reps we've been limited in because we just kind of got everybody back yesterday. So most of the reps have been with the ones. I mean, we've been doing six play racks right now, so they've maybe each gotten a handful of plays. What I will say about the group that we brought in is it's been cool to see them try to connect with the other guys on the team right now and how welcoming that our team is. You spend all OTAs and then you spend the training camp trying to build connection because connection is so important to me. I think it's probably the most important thing. So the cool part that I'm seeing right now is the guys who we have trying to connect, it's been cool for me to see that part. And now what they do on the field, we'll see a little bit more today, not much, but then we'll have practice Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and see it because there's going to be a bunch of those guys who are active and ready to go. They have worked really hard. I mean our coaches have been with them after meetings to try to catch them up to speed and some guys will be here through the weekend doing the same thing.

Do any of them have nickel experience?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, defensively Reese Taylor, he played nickel at Denver. And then on practice squad, Jaylin Simpson, who was in Green Bay, he played nickel and safety. I think at Auburn he played both because I remember him coming out and then obviously I coached him in Green Bay, so he played nickel as well.