How Jeff Hafley stacks up to the other DC candidates the Packers considered

Besides Jeff Hafley, the Packers interviewed five coaches for their DC job who either landed or retained the same job with another NFL team. How do their defenses compare to Hafley's so far?

When the Green Bay Packers fired defensive coordinator Joe Barry and began the search for his replacement this past January, head coach Matt LaFleur didn't have a specific name nor even a particular scheme in mind. Rather, he wanted a DC who could change the attitude of the defense and install a scheme that fit the players already in the locker room.

In the end, LaFleur chose Jeff Hafley, a sitting college head coach with some NFL experience but none calling a defense in the pros. The move seemed to come out of left field. Hafley's name did not surface in any report about the Packers' DC vacancy, including The Leap's story on the search. However, after LaFleur explained his thought process, the decision made more sense.

"We interviewed a lot of candidates, and a lot of those guys actually went on and got coordinator jobs," LaFleur said after finalizing the hire. "I just felt really good about what Jeff Hafley is going to bring to us in terms of his ability to lead, his ability to connect. Certainly, I've always had respect for him from afar as a football coach. He's worked with my brother at two different stops. He's worked with Kyle Shanahan at two different stops in Cleveland and San Francisco. I know how much respect they have for him as a person first and a coach second.

"It will be a different scheme, but I think it's one that will be easy to adjust to with the personnel that we have. That was something at the forefront of my mind when we were going through this. You better make sure that the pieces that we have in house are capable of doing what he's going to expect of them, and I think we have that in house."

While the story of Hafley's tenure has many chapters left to go, the early returns look increasingly encouraging. The Packers defense no longer gets pushed around on third down, a routine problem during much of the Barry era. Likewise, opposing ground attacks haven't run roughshod over Green Bay, an issue that reached its nadir two years ago against the Philadelphia Eagles. Hafley's unit has shown some warts -- the pass rush started the year slowly -- but the new DC has done a more-than-commendable job despite some adverse circumstances.

The most impressive performance to date occurred this past Sunday. In a matchup with one of the league's most celebrated young quarterbacks, the Houston Texans' C.J. Stroud, Hafley's defense delivered a masterclass of simulated pressures, disguised coverages, and well-timed blitzes.

Hafley drew up some truly sinister pass-rush schemes, especially on third down. In one such instance, he had seven defenders lined up on the line of scrimmage only to drop three while running stunts with Rashan Gary and Kenny Clark. As a result, the Texans dedicated their blockers to the wrong players, leaving safety Xavier McKinney with a free run at the quarterback.

That proved to be merely a taster of what would later come. In the second quarter with the Texans pinned back on third-and-9, Hafley went full mad scientist, lining up Gary as nearly a wide-nine technique on the right side then looping him around the left tackle for the drive-ending pressure.

Because of those play designs and others, Green Bay's defense bewildered the Texans, holding them to just four third-down conversions on 13 tries. Stroud looked completely out of sorts, going 2-of-7 for 13 yards on his 12 third-down dropbacks as well as taking three of his four sacks. If not for that standout defensive performance, the Packers -- who committed three turnovers during the game -- would not have emerged victorious. For his efforts, Hafley received a game ball from LaFleur after the contest.

"I thought he's done a hell of a job, I really do," LaFleur said of Hafley. "I think it's not just him. It's everybody. Our whole defensive staff. But ultimately, somebody's got to put the plan together and call it."

Riding high after a win over one of the NFL's top teams and coming off such an impressive performance, the Packers surely feel great right now about Hafley as their DC. Despite the initial shock of the hire, he has made measurable improvements to the unit in a short time. Green Bay won't get that type of defensive play every week, but the overall progress speaks for itself.

Of course, it didn't have to turn out this way. The Packers could have conceivably and reasonably gone with one of many other qualified candidates considered for the job back in the offseason. Like all coaching hires, the decision to go with Hafley represents a sliding-doors moment for the franchise, one that deserves further examination as more information about him and Green Bay's other options becomes available.

And as the NFL season nears its halfway point, we now have more data for Hafley and the other coaches than ever before, enough to draw initial comparisons of their job performances. Of the nine known candidates that the Packers met with or requested for interviews during their search for Barry's replacement, five landed or retained DC positions with other NFL teams. All but one had no previous experience coordinating a defense in the league, putting them on similar terrain to Hafley.

So, how does Hafley stack up to the coaches who, in a different timeline, the Packers might have hired instead?