Green Bay Packers fans are fighting back against the realities of the NFL coaching carousel. Find your social media gathering of Cheeseheads, and you’ll find copy-paste memes depicting defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley as the worst head coaching candidate around.
‘Hafley bullied me at the grocery store,’ ‘he didn’t return his shopping cart,’ or some variation of ‘He poisoned our water supply, burned our crops, and delivered a plague unto our houses!’ Of course, all just jokes to stress the importance of not allowing other teams to swoop in and snatch up the guy leading the NFL’s most impressive defense through two weeks.
The NFL moves fast, and even with Hafley in his second year as a defensive coordinator, it’s certainly likely that he will draw some level of interest to take a head coaching job. But the NFL also moves too fast for its own good, sometimes. In reality, NFL teams really should leave Hafley out of their coaching search this offseason.
NFL should show patience before trying to steal Jeff Hafley away from Packers
Hafley’s coaching career started back in 2001 at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a Division III collegiate program. He quickly rose through the ranks and landed a few position coach opportunities in the NFL. His lone season as a co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State in 2019 afforded him his first head coaching gig at Boston College.
In four seasons at Boston College, Hafley went 22-26, 12-22 in conference, and never finished higher than sixth in the ACC. Granted, Boston College isn’t the easiest school to find success at. His successor, former Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien, isn’t faring much better after going 7-6 last year and starting 1-2 this season.
Still, even with a 24-year coaching career that has been mostly spent at the highest levels of the sport, Hafley’s resume truly doesn’t paint him as a candidate ready to be a head coach. Clearly, he’s good at his job. But just as teams rush their first-round quarterbacks to play before they’re truly ready, NFL franchises rush too many coaches into head positions they aren’t quite ready for.
While that is especially the case with offensive-minded coaches, especially if they have the thinnest link back to Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan, defensive-minded coaches are already at a steep disadvantage at every turn.
It’s worth noting that the New York Jets did interview Hafley this past offseason. He’s almost surely going to get a few interviews after this season, too, especially if his Packers defense continues to dominate for the length of the campaign.
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But, based on the realities of the NFL, it’s in Hafley’s best interest to run the Green Bay defense for one more season before taking on a new job. The hotter he makes his own name, the more control he has at the bargaining table, the more control he has as a decision-maker, and the more control he has over his environment - i.e., taking a job worth having.
Consider Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson. He spent three years in Detroit as their offensive coordinator, one promising season in 2022, followed by two incredible seasons. He became the most highly sought-after coach and picked his spot. Hafley should ensure he has the same opportunities.
Conversely, there are the recent horror stories of defensive-minded head coaches. Brandon Staley, Robert Saleh, Matt Eberflus, and Dennis Allen all recently crashed and burned in their head-coaching gigs. Todd Bowles, Dan Quinn, and Raheem Morris are all in their second stints as head coaches, too, and they’re all doing rather well in their second chances.
Sure, Packers fans will take any excuse to allow Hafley to stick around for just one more season. But it’s not totally unfounded. With the recent surge of quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Geno Smith all showing that patience is a virtue the NFL ignores far too often, that same argument should be extended to head coaches and coordinators vying for those positions.
The NFL fires five head coaches per year, on average, and most are fired before their fifth season. Coaches wanting to climb the ladder contribute and hold their place in the blame, but it’s no less concerning that a coach like Hafley can build up a promising resume and have it washed away by corporate incompetence at the top.