Read the full transcript from HC Jeff Hafley 's media availability on September 30, 2026.

So is the plan this week to have Jarquez Hunter and Carlos Washington compete for a spot on the active game day roster Sunday?

Jeff Hafley: We'll take a look at both and then obviously we'll have to make a decision and call one up and see who gives us the third back.

Outlook for Jaylen Wright and Caleb Douglas early this week?

Jeff Hafley: Jaylen Wright will practice today. He'll be limited as we work him back. Caleb will not practice today. We'll take it one day at a time with him and see how he feels.

As a matter of housekeeping, which knee is it for Achane?

Jeff Hafley: I don't want to be wrong, let me get back to you on that one. I have a pretty good feeling I know, but I don't want to give you the wrong information on that.

How is De'Von doing this day, mentally and physically, dealing with the injury? And second, watching the play, it wasn't obvious that there was a serious injury during that action. You may not have said after the play, "hey, this guy's knee might have a problem." What can you tell us about just shedding light on how the injury occurred really?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, I'm not going to go into details about how the injury occurred and how it happened. I think that's more something for medical people to really dive into. As far as how he's doing, he's had a great attitude. I'm sure he's going to have some tough moments, it's challenging. I'm sure there's going to be some really hard days and then there'll be some days where he's his positive, energetic self, but we're going to have to be there for him. Whenever you go through a serious injury, it's not just a physical recovery, it's mentally. We got to make sure that he's doing okay and that's very important to me.

I think that y'all are the first team in NFL history whose first four games are all against teams that are 3-0. What does a start to the season like that, considering the developmental nature of the season for you, what does a start like that do for you guys?

Jeff Hafley: I don't know, we're playing really good teams; it makes it challenging. It makes it I think exciting for some of our young guys who are getting to play and gain experience against some really good teams. I mean, this is another one coming up that's 3-0 and to get a chance to go there and I think one of the better atmospheres in the NFL with a really good team and a really good staff, I think it's a huge challenge. But I think they've embraced it, I know they have. I think we've all embraced it. Each week we just try to go 1-0 and not look ahead or behind. But we know we've played really good teams, and I think individually we went up against a lot of really good players. I think we're gaining experience and we're getting better because of that, and that's important.

Malik ranks, I believe, fifth in rushing for quarterbacks. I'm curious in light of De'Von's injury, do you plan on using him on the rushing game?

Jeff Hafley: I think it's going to go game by game, and I think it will go situationally when we need him to.

On the Chris Bell 44-yard catch and run, Aaron Brewer hawks the play down from the back. How do you utilize a clip like that as an example for the rest of the team?

Jeff Hafley: I'm glad you noticed that. It's one of the first things I pointed out in the team meeting; it's one of the coolest clips that I've seen. We talk about it all the time. When you hit the pause button, how close you are, in my opinion, to your teammate shows how much you love and respect your teammate. Defensively, I've used that for a long time now, that when I click that, if I can see all 11, it shows how much you care about your teammates and we're starting to see all 11. When you see a center and Proctor's kind of right behind him on that play too, when you see those big men running down the field, that says a lot about the type of people we have on this team, what we're building culturally with this team because that clip symbolizes something that is very special to me and I think it's very rare. So I appreciate you noticing that as well. That's a really, really cool clip and when I saw it, I texted him right away. I didn't see it live. I think I actually was close when he got tackled. I looked up and Brewer was right there for a moment. I was like, 'what the hell is Brewer doing here? He's the center, he should be down the field.' That was really cool.

Sticking to the o-line, rookie Kadyn Proctor, obviously what he did with the push for Ollie Gordon's first touchdown at Hard Rock Stadium. What do you have to say about that?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, I think it goes back to him and Brewer kind of feeding off each other and the rest of that group, and I think Zach (Yenser) and Matt (Applebaum) and those guys are doing a really good job. They're getting better. They're starting to play on the same page. They're starting to communicate better. There's still growth and room for improvement that we need, but when you get guys like that, nastiness of the o-line, the physicality, the toughness, the effort, it goes back to what we were just talking about with Brewer. He played the game like that. Was it perfect? No, but I can deal with mistakes if guys are going to be that physical and play that hard because they're going to get better as they go and gain the experience. But when you find that with players, I think it's special. And the way he pulled him in there, I thought that was really cool. He's another guy, he's 21 years old going up against, as you mentioned, really good teams. And he's going to go up against another really good team, so if we can just keep developing him and getting better, like a lot of these guys on this team, it's going to eventually get going. He's going to be a huge part of it.

How would you describe the challenge for your young offensive line against that blitz-crazy defense coming at you?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, I think though what helps is we just went against a blitz-crazy defense with Spags and the Chiefs. I mean, Spags will zero you, he's going to show all up. He's going to bluff out, and they're going to do the same thing. So back-to-back weeks of playing really good defenses, really good coordinators, really good schemes, it's going to be a challenge for them. Again, I think they're excited for it, they'll embrace it, and we'll be better because of it.

What's the biggest key for the guys up the front? Just make sure, keep talking, make sure you pick up the…

Jeff Hafley: It's not just going to be the front, and that's just like the case last week. It's going to be everybody. It's going to be the receivers responding the right way, the tight ends responding the right way, Malik's ability to communicate, where's our back, is he where he's supposed to be, is he seeing everything the right way. I mean, it's going to take all 11. I think a lot of times you just want to put it on your offensive line, but a lot of times you'll see a quarterback getting ready to make a throw and the receiver's supposed to break out and he doesn't break out, or he's supposed to break in and he doesn't break in, or the running back was supposed to step up in this gap and he didn't. It's going to take all 11. We're going to have to be on the same page. It's going to be loud, so communication is going to be a key to this game.

When it comes to Brian Flores, I'm wondering if you've gotten to know him either from your NFC North ties or Boston College ties? He was an alum when you were the coach there.

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, got to know him when I was at Boston College. I mean, he'd come by and we'd spend time together, just being two defensive guys in the NFL. I think he's a great play caller and he's done a tremendous job there.

From a defensive standpoint, when you do that disguising full-court pressing, I don't know what you call it, crowding the line of scrimmage, how difficult is that to create from a defensive coach standpoint?

Jeff Hafley: You'll see us do it. You'll see other teams around the league do it. I think what he's done a really good job and what they've done a really good job is they have a lot of veteran players that have played in the system that are really good at communicating and checking and talk to one another. I think the older you get and the more experience you get with guys, you can start to build it and do more and more because there's so much communication that goes into that. I think what he's done is he's gotten a group of guys at each position who he's got smart guys, he's got good communicators, he's got really good coaches and they can kind of piece it all together. I think that's really important when you look at scheme."

How have you seen Jordyn Brooks embrace the mentor role for Jacob Rodriguez?

Jeff Hafley: Yeah, it's been great. Those two come up every morning at 6:30 and talk to Sean and I and kind of go over the game plan with them one-on-one. They spend time together off the field. They spend time together outside the building. It's a great mentor for a young player and for a young defense. And I give Jordyn a lot of credit because he is in the huddle with a lot of young guys and he continues to grow himself, stay positive, and he's been a tremendous leader and communicator.

I know you guys are worried about your own team, but Justin Jefferson, how much are you watching his health and how much will his presence affect your game plan?

Jeff Hafley: I mean, he's one of the premier players in the league. Premier players require attention, so we're going to go about the game as if he's playing. We'd be foolish not to. It'd be negligent not to. So we'll game plan as if he's going to play until we are told or we get to the game and he's not. The thing with their team is I got a lot of respect for the other receivers. I was in that division for two years. I think Addison is one of the most underrated and undertalked about wide receivers in the league, and sometimes that happens when you have one of the top players in the league. I think Addison's really good. And then Jennings, I remember him from San Francisco. I think that was a great pickup. I love the way he plays. He's a physical wideout. He blocks, he's strong. He's good catch and run. He probably doesn't get as much attention as he should be. And then the tight end, we've battled him the last two years. He's a good pass catcher. And then Aaron Jones is Aaron Jones, he's still doing it at a high level. I was not with him in Green Bay, but I know the way people talked about him in Green Bay, and then we actually got to play him the last two years when I was playing against Minnesota. They've got good team. They've got a really good team. I know the quarterback was hurt and then he came back, so he's trying to get in the groove. I've known Kevin now – I was with Kevin in Cleveland. I lived across the street from him in San Francisco. I consider him one of my better friends in the league. He's one of the real good people in this league, and he's one of the best play callers. They're 3-0, they're talented, and they have one of the better offensive coaches.

We saw Greg Dulcich's targets take a big jump this week. Do you envision tight ends being a little bit more involved in the pass game going forward? And then just to back on that, the throw downfield to him from Malik where it's kind of a jump ball, is that just a trust that maybe those two are developing?

Jeff Hafley: I hope so. I mean, when he threw it up and he caught it, I was pretty fired up. Greg needs to be more involved in the offense as we go, and it could be maybe he was open and we didn't see it. Maybe he wasn't open when we were supposed to throw it to him, so it's not intentional that we're not throwing him the football. But hopefully he continues to get more involved because I think he's a really talented player and he's really good at catch and run.

With the cornerbacks, we've talked a lot about the safeties. How have the cornerbacks performed, especially on the boundary?

Jeff Hafley: Well, start with – we talk about Ju (JuJu Brents). I thought last week was the most physical I've seen him play. I thought it was one of his better games, and I need him to build off that now and I need him to gain confidence. He's got size, he's got length and I felt like he used it the first time. It's kind of been quiet for Marsh (Jason Marshall Jr.). He hasn't seemed to see as much action, but again, I think we need to get those guys into some situations where they can get their hands on the football more. And I thought last week Chris played a really good game, I felt like he looked like himself again. For whatever reason that was, he looked confident inside. He was physical inside. His man coverage was really good. He was around the football. So I was proud of how Chris played. We just got to keep growing with that group, with the communication with all of them playing together. The effort that they gave last week and the improvement, I thought they got better last week.

Rob Beal, do you expect him back today and this week?

Jeff Hafley: He will not practice today. He will be another guy we will take day-to-day.

Going back to the Vikings defense, what stands on about Josh Metellus when you watch him on tape?

Jeff Hafley: Just another one, kind of like those guys that I mentioned, they've been doing it at a high level. They know the scheme. They're smart. They communicate. He gets around the football. He's a physical guy. I have a lot of respect for him. I got a lot of respect for a lot of those guys on defense on so many different levels. I mean, they can rush up front, the backers. Cashman is a guy I've always admired. Eric Wilson, I coached in Green Bay. I loved coaching Eric. He is a smart, smart football player. He's very instinctive. He made a ton of plays when we were there. And then the back end, they're really talented. I mean, shoot, Harrison is still playing; that's literally like having your defensive coordinator on the field with you when he's on the field. Again, the experience, I think he's going on, I don't know what it is, he's got to be over 10 years now. I mean, a bunch of our guys were like, Proctor was probably 10 years old. We got a bunch of guys who were 10, 11, 12 years old when he – think about that for a moment, right? I mean, they've probably been using them in video games since they were little kids, and he's still going out there and doing an awesome job.