Thanks Al! Great piece, as usual 😀

"But never say never- Jeff Hafley will now have the task of being "not Joe Barry", which honestly shouldn't be that hard. Just not lining up the DBs five yards past the 1st down marker on third downs would do the trick."

Hell, If Hafley does just this I'm sold! Well this and he's hiring some NEW coaches. It always seemed a little redundant keeping the same coaches when the Packers went from Barry to Pettine.

Didn't we already do that by keeping Mo Drayton? How did that work out for GB?

finally a lot of emphasis on the defense , switching to a 4 - 3 requires a smart inside linebacker to make it work, don't know if the Packers have that person right now.

Al said, " I want a DC that is going to stick around for a few years and help this team get back to the Super Bowl."

That's ok, as long as he's on a short leash. In my opinion (which is based on extensive inexperience), they stuck with the last two DCs a little longer than they should have. MLF not bringing in his own DC choice to start with in 19 was a red flag for me. At least we had "continuity".

I like the trend to coaches that have the mean and nasty mindset. This was originally called the "Black and Blue" division and needs to get back to that, especially with the knee biters thinking they're set up for a long window. Leave the "Flower Power" division in the rear-view mirror.

Hearing what Richard Sherman said about it him really eased my mind about this hire. Love Campanile. There was talk about him as a possible DC candidate, so getting him as an LB coach is a bonus. Time will tell if he's a good DC at the NFL level, but I am cautiously optimistic. I feel confident he's not going to be passive like Barry, so that's already a good start.

Hadley is wait and see for us. We need to give him a chance. First test will be how the players respond to him, especially the veterans. Next will be to observe his defensive philosophy based on the schemes he employs. Third will be to see if his defensive is an aggressive/attacking defense versus a passive /reactive defense that we have seen over the last several seasons with Pettine and Barry.

Any assistants the Harley hires will begn to give us some clues as to which direction he will take the Packers defense. Hopefully he will implement a defense that provides a balance on stopping the run and the pass versus a focus on preventing the big pass play.

It may take a season or two for Hafley's defense to be fully understood and confidently executed by the players. All of which continues to point to 2025 as the season whenmthe Packers returns to SB contention. One step at a time. First who he hires for position coaches. Next who is drafted for defense in 2024. Third first looks during OTAs and Training camp. It will take time before we begin to see the answers we're looking/hoping for. GPG! Thanks, Since '61

One part of Hafley's experience that I haven't seen addressed is what exactly his role was at Ohio State. He was co-defensive coordinator, but another guy (Greg Mattison) was defensive coordinator, without the "co" in front of it. Presumably Mattison had the more important role, just judging by their job titles. But maybe not. It's odd to me that I have yet to hear anyone examine Hafley's role in what was his only year coaching for a team that had a really good season. Did he call plays or did he just help with the game planning? Was Ohio State's great defense that year partly attributable to something Hafley did, or was it more Mattison, or did they just have some players who peaked that year?

This question has become less important as I read more about Hafley's defensive approach, which sounds really good. I'm not trying to be negative. I'm sure Matt LaFleur and the Packers know what Hafley did at Ohio State. But I don't know why it's such a mystery to the general public. Maybe there are some Ohio State fans out there who can answer this question.

It will be interesting to see how people feel when teams start hitting us deep with regularity. That hasn't happened under Barry, but it might happen now.
"The grass is always greener/be careful what you wish for."

I like watching aggressive defenses, but I'm patient/calm and willing to suffer the big gouges...we'll see how many of today's fans will be tolerant of them...

EDIT: Downvotes are as I expected. :-D I said I LIKE the idea of an aggressive defense, in fact, I absolutely believe it is the best way to play defense in today's NFL. My comments were about how I expect to hear all kinds of complaining from the fans who wanted to get rid of Barry, as soon as the man-to-man starts getting abused. I hope we get some new guys who can deal with today's 6'4" deep threats; Jaire is great against MOST WRs, but has been beaten often by the big guys (when they have a good QB).

I will not hold it against these men being from Jersey. Just joking Al. Jersey nice place to visit but I would not want to live there.

I consider this like Love starting this last season. I am excited to see what he can do.

The one move I like is taking the defense to a 4-3. Clark and Wyatt would be maximized in this basic platform. Typically you look for defensive ends that are 6'5 and 300 pounds, but Van Ness and Smith are big enough to handle those spots. Brooks and Wooden should fit in well.

Campbell is likely done with the Packers and the 4-3 will maximize Quay Walkers sideline-to-sideline ability . They will need to find at least one more linebacker this off season besides Duffy who has improved a lot.

The secondary right now is a mess. Jaire is flaky. Stokes might not ever play again for the Packers. They have three safeties, all very young, They need a corner and two safeties. Whether they sign any of the free agents is a question.

So this off season will challenge Gute and staff to come up with some linebackers, corners and safeties. No small task.

Campanile. F—-in A. Or A+. I don’t know how that plays in the locker room, but I think the fan base is hyped. Patience is not a virtue when it comes to fans, and I’ve been known to form an opinion quickly. That said, we will be able to see which direction the arrow is pointing before too long.

I also was not really on board with hiring Evero if given the chance. With the amount of HC interviews he was doing this year it feels like there is a very good chance he would be gone next year. To me I want to have a guy for a couple of years before they start getting poached.

What I like about Hafley is that he was a HC and from people that I have heard from, all said he had turned the program around. To get a guy that can do that, I have a ton of faith that he can turn our defense around. I have seen a lot of talk about 4-3 vs 3-4. Does it really matter? probably 75% of the time it will be a 4-2-5. What I'm more interested in is how he is going to use the players on the field. It sounds like the DB's are going to be pressing more. That would be great as we have gotten so damn used to seeing CB's 5-10 yards off the ball, down after down. It sounds like the LB's might get to roam around and blitz more. Essentially think of how the 49ers use their LB's.

So far it sounds like they have all the major position coaches filled. These are the positions filled as I have seen on twitter/X.
DL - Jason Rebrovich
Assistant DL - Vince Oghobaase
LB's/Run Game Coordinator - Anthony Campanile
Pass Game Coordinator - Derrick Ansley
DB's - Ryan Downard.

Also I saw that they are bringing in former Packers WR Myles White to be an assistant on offense.

After getting the coaches all figured out next it will be figuring out what players stay and go, and who they need to bring in. We already know they need more DB's, especially Safety's. But will they want a different type of DL? Are they going to want more at ILB. There will be a lot of changes made. I'm looking forward to seeing what those changes are.

I appreciate the fire coming from Coach Campanile. Saw a quote from him regarding his dad and three brothers also being football coaches; "my dad always said we all ended up in coaching because nobody would hire us for real jobs."

2 from New Jersey? What good ever came from there?

I have confidence in the new DC hire for one reason - Matt LaFleur. Coach LaFleur showed me last year that he is a head coach and a good one at that. Once we got rid of our player/GM, Matt took control of the team and made it work. He selected Hafley and opened the door to a rebuild of the defensive coaching staff because he knows what needs to be done. The last pieces will be put in place by Gutekunst. Our GM needs to finally draft a stud safety and add some talent at the linebacker position. Then all will be good in Packerland.

I am excited about getting this new defense. As someone above said, I too don't know how well Campanile's speech works in the locker room. My only concern right now is that I remember back when one of the early Packer coaches came in the guy (can't remember who the coach was) was showing college film to the veterans and lost them quickly. Now, I'm sure that is not going to happen these days, but there are a ton of college coaches on this new staff. I'm hoping that is a good thing as we have a young team, and they may relate better to college type coaches. Fingers crossed. GPG!

I just wanna see our DE's (Edge Rushers) with their hands in the grass before exploding into the O-Line with massive leverage and power pushing dudes right back into their own QB. I think those guys are already on this team. A true NT would be nice too. Gilbert Brown anyone?

I can't help but feel that MLF may be a bit happily surprised about the success of his 'rebuild' year. He has had to defer to Rodgers and likely Murphy for 3-4 years and now he can emerge his own man. This current success is his success, not Rodger's & is likely fueling his more decisive approach. He looks like a man who will fight to protect his new feeling of ownership; so for this reason, I feel confident he will keep everyone in line.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on new Packers DC, Al!

My experience by hiring people is something similar what Packers did this season with defense. I rather hire inexperience personel and teach them the way I want them to work than turn around experienced person habits and baggage he brings in with himself. That is because you rarely find out there experienced guy who looks similarly to what you want as performance and way of performance from your team.

I really do not know much about coaching staff in NFL, even less than in the college level. I heard about few (like Alabama former HC - who was not successful at NFL level, or Chip Kelly who proomised a lot, but lul in NFL). For me the main news about Jeff Hafley was that he was position coach at several NFL franchises. And that he was respected one. If his view of defense is what MLF wants for the team, I'm all in.

Listening and reading about reactions on his hire, it looks to me that he is the very good, if not excellent, choice.

So, Go Pack Go!

LOL, looks we traded Joe Barry for Campanile, as the former is expected to take a similar position with the Dolphins. Looks like a good deal to me. I think both coaches are in the position they are best suited to right now.

I think all the relevant comments about Hadley have been said above. Yes, anybody who is not Barry ie. Soft zones, passive, gets my vote automatically.

As well, it looks like GB finally gets that, with a new DC, must come a staff with the same mindset. No more half measures. Why hire a coach with a certain mindset but have a staff that doesn't/can't execute the same way? I always felt it was the penny-pinching board that determined that keeping the old staff will save a little money? Now, it seems to be going in the right direction.

Hopefully, this organization has figured out that a monster player signing is not the only way to generate fan excitement. The AR12 days are in our rearview mirror. Bring on the team concept once again! GPG

Another Gem Al. Ya I can see the problem you mentioned if we had gotten a top dc coordinator today, HC next season and we start over. Thats' never good.
I'm all in on this guy because he aint Barry. Could we get worse then Barry, I dont think so. For me things are looking up, especially if we can add some young fast talent to that defense. I still think Nixon and Savage are too slow for their postitions and one reason Barry had them playing off for a head start?

I think the "Savage doesn't tackle" narrative should be revisited and fact checked. The 49ers S, Hufanga, had 52 tackles in 10 games last year and missed 3, Savage had 51 in 10 games and missed 8. So that's pretty similar except for Savage missed more.

Let's try the other Safety playing this weekend, Mike Edwards of KC. In 16 games, he had 51 tackles and only missed 5.

On the basis on this very narrow sample of safeties on good defensive teams, it looks like Savage does as much tackling as any of them, but Savage misses a couple of more tackles than they do.

If you are one of the top 16 safeties, earnings-wise, you're making better than $10M/year. Savage is ranked 27th, because we still have him on the books for over $5M.

I think he's at least an average starting safety in this league. There are 64 starting safeties in the NFL , and I'd say he's no lower than 32. He generally doesn't miss games, and he's been a starter on a decent defense for several years. And that's despite an incompetent DC and not much talent around him.

IMO, we should give some serious consideration towards signing Savage, rolling the $5M we owe him into the deal, and we'd have a piece for the next couple of seasons. I can't see a scenario where he wouldn't be one of our Top 9 DBs.

In other news, Eliot Wolf is going to be named as New England’s head of personnel? Good for him!

My in-laws are from NJ (Morristown)—she taught at a prestigious Catholic HS —don’t recall its name—Elizabeth??
They moved here to SDak a couple years ago and are not impressed—with anything-lol.
They’re liberals and we’re conservative; they’re Jewish and we’re Evangelicals. They’re Giants/Yaankee fans—they know Devito.
Thanksgiving dinners are a hoot. We actually get along extremely well.
Go Packers!!!