Jeff Hafley Packers new DC

[BSA]

The source was not national...

Indeed- the source was most likely Orr's agent as he was busy to negotiate a better deal for his client. IF his client had another DC offer, that gives them some additional leverage. Agents know the Packers won't respond, so they can tweet out whatever they like. It happens a bunch during FA too
" the packers are interested in player X" Its just agents working the media system.

[BF004]

The source was not national...

Indeed- the source was most likely Orr's agent as he was busy to negotiate a better deal for his client. IF his client had another DC offer, that gives them some additional leverage. Agents know the Packers won't respond, so they can tweet out whatever they like. It happens a bunch during FA too
" the packers are interested in player X" Its just agents working the media system.

And for like 30 years now.

[APB]

We have discussed the process with which the Packers go about their hiring/firing of coaching staff and where "the buck" actually stops. Mark Murphy recently provided some insight on that very topic, at least within the context of the Jeff Hafley hire. I wish the question/response would have also included the dismissal of Barry (and Murphy provide a straight answer).

Anyway, you can choose to believe the CEO of the organization or not, but this is a glimpse of what allegedly went into the DC search and hire process. It was apparently MLFs call. I do find it kind of interesting Murphy brings up Pete Cronan.

From the Mark Murphy interview/Q&A that [mention]BF004[/mention] linked in another thread:

Rob P. from Allouez:

I'm learning more about Jeff Hafley and excited to see how he does as DC. I'm wondering who made the final decision in the hiring of him?

Mark Murphy:

Good question, Rob. While Matt LaFleur received input from Brian Gutekunst, myself and others, he has full control over his coaching staff and made the final decision. I was very impressed with the way Matt conducted the search. We interviewed many candidates, both by Zoom and in person, and Jeff rose to the top. His work both in the NFL and at Boston College was impressive. Although Matt and Jeff have never coached together, they have many mutual acquaintances who spoke highly of Jeff. Also, my roommate on the Redskins, Pete Cronan, a Boston College alumnus and the longtime radio voice of Boston College football, was very impressed with Jeff and the work he did at Boston College.

I suppose my greatest issue with the process would be how much faith MLF has in trusting the potentially conflicted opinion of colleagues in their assessment of Hafley. If MLF is relying on the opinion of Shanahan, Salah, McVay (and others who have worked with Hafley) who also are in direct competition with the Packers for the ultimate championship goal, that could lead to, for lack of a better term, sabotage.

Yeah, I know, the search criteria goes deeper than mere buddy recommendations but if you listen to certain Chicago stations and Bears fan websites, you see them alleging the Getsy hire was the Packers way of hindering the Bears development of Fields. It's funny (and unlikely) but does make you wonder.

Now if the Packers could only convince the 49ers that Maurice Drayton is a brilliant ST coordinator...

[dsr]

Yeah, I know, the search criteria goes deeper than mere buddy recommendations but if you listen to certain Chicago stations and Bears fan websites, you see them alleging the Getsy hire was the Packers way of hindering the Bears development of Fields. It's funny (and unlikely) but does make you wonder.

If the Packers have been using coach hiring policy as a way of hindering the development of Chicago quarterbacks, I'd have to say they're doing a darn fine job ...

[Acrobat]

We have discussed the process with which the Packers go about their hiring/firing of coaching staff and where "the buck" actually stops. Mark Murphy recently provided some insight on that very topic, at least within the context of the Jeff Hafley hire. I wish the question/response would have also included the dismissal of Barry (and Murphy provide a straight answer).

Anyway, you can choose to believe the CEO of the organization or not, but this is a glimpse of what allegedly went into the DC search and hire process. It was apparently MLFs call. I do find it kind of interesting Murphy brings up Pete Cronan.

From the Mark Murphy interview/Q&A that @BF004 linked in another thread:

Rob P. from Allouez:

I'm learning more about Jeff Hafley and excited to see how he does as DC. I'm wondering who made the final decision in the hiring of him?

Mark Murphy:

Good question, Rob. While Matt LaFleur received input from Brian Gutekunst, myself and others, he has full control over his coaching staff and made the final decision. I was very impressed with the way Matt conducted the search. We interviewed many candidates, both by Zoom and in person, and Jeff rose to the top. His work both in the NFL and at Boston College was impressive. Although Matt and Jeff have never coached together, they have many mutual acquaintances who spoke highly of Jeff. Also, my roommate on the Redskins, Pete Cronan, a Boston College alumnus and the longtime radio voice of Boston College football, was very impressed with Jeff and the work he did at Boston College.

I suppose my greatest issue with the process would be how much faith MLF has in trusting the potentially conflicted opinion of colleagues in their assessment of Hafley. If MLF is relying on the opinion of Shanahan, Salah, McVay (and others who have worked with Hafley) who also are in direct competition with the Packers for the ultimate championship goal, that could lead to, for lack of a better term, sabotage.

Yeah, I know, the search criteria goes deeper than mere buddy recommendations but if you listen to certain Chicago stations and Bears fan websites, you see them alleging the Getsy hire was the Packers way of hindering the Bears development of Fields. It's funny (and unlikely) but does make you wonder.

Now if the Packers could only convince the 49ers that Maurice Drayton is a brilliant ST coordinator...

I definitely get the competition factor, but I think the moment they're not playing against each other, it's a bit like a fraternity and they genuinely want to see their buddies succeed. Also, they probably wanted to stick their neck out for Hafley too.

[YoHoChecko]

I really don't think that people who are in each others' wedding parties and vacationing together and such probably aren't BS-ing each other about coaching candidates.

[Labrev]

I suppose my greatest issue with the process would be how much faith MLF has in trusting the potentially conflicted opinion of colleagues in their assessment of Hafley. If MLF is relying on the opinion of Shanahan, Salah, McVay (and others who have worked with Hafley) who also are in direct competition with the Packers for the ultimate championship goal, that could lead to, for lack of a better term, sabotage.

That crossed my mind, too, but other mutual connections who do not have that motive seemed to back up the effusive praise.

[Drj820]

Didnt shanahan block MLF from hiring his little bro Mikey?

Shanahan has also prevented Lafleur from achieving ALL of his major goals every year. Its Shanahan and Brady, thats it.

Lafleur really should hate shanny. If they are still best buddies I think that is an abusive relationship.

Lafleur needs to pause that friendship until after he retires.

[YoHoChecko]

Didnt shanahan block MLF from hiring his little bro Mikey?

Shanahan has also prevented Lafleur from achieving ALL of his major goals every year. Its Shanahan and Brady, thats it.

Lafleur really should hate shanny. If they are still best buddies I think that is an abusive relationship.

Lafleur needs to pause that friendship until after he retires.

This is my read on it based on sorta reading between the lines of interviews and such over the years..

I think MLF and Kyle are friends. And yes, there were a couple blocked coaching interviews/hires, but to be fair, the 49ers staff had been getting raided and Shanahan needed to keep some continuity and staff, so he put his foot down where he could.

Saleh is the one who is MLF's bestie; who knew him before either of them were NFL coaches; who were in each other's weddings, if I recall correctly.

And McVay and MLF have kind of like a sibling rivalry friendship; sounds like they really like and respect each other but get into a lot of arguments and such. They often joke about how "competitive" it was in the planning rooms together.

I do think generally MLF has/had a bit of little brother syndrome about Kyle, where the first couple times they met, MLF was cleanly outcoached and was trying too hard. But the past couple matchups--a regular season win and the postseason loss--I think the coaching was pretty steady/even, but the execution made the difference. I think MLF is coming into his own in that personal/professional relationship.

But my main point was that I don't think Saleh is going to be feeding MLF anything untrue about defensive coaches he's worked with. Maybe Kyle would play strategically with that kind of info, maybe. But Saleh wouldn't. And I'd trust Saleh's insights into a DB coach the most, anyway.

[APB]

But my main point was that I don't think Saleh is going to be feeding MLF anything untrue about defensive coaches he's worked with. Maybe Kyle would play strategically with that kind of info, maybe. But Saleh wouldn't. And I'd trust Saleh's insights into a DB coach the most, anyway.

I wasn't necessarily suggesting one of MLFs friends would outward lie about a potential candidate...but I do wonder how much effort they'd put into steering him away from a candidate they knew to have significant flaws that may not be known outside of working on staff together.

Take Nathaniel Hackett as a hypothetical example. MLF may have (hypothetically) known Hackett had some coaching shortcomings that were largely covered up by Aaron Rodgers and the talented offensive skills group. Something along the lines of Hackett was successful in spite of himself. Do you believe MLF should/would have shared those reservations with Salah prior to Salah bringing Hackett onboard for his own OC hire? Does friendship trump doing what's best for your own team and organization from a competitive standpoint, in this case allowing another team to hire a known sub-optimal coach without giving them fair warning?

There's a level of professional ethics that come into play here, as well. My annual ethics training presents scenarios very similar to what we're discussing here. The only difference being allowing a relationship to influence a positive decision for the outsider. Do the same rules apply for undermining a negative decision of a competitor?

I'm not saying this is what happened in the case of Hafley but it's interesting to think about, in any case.

Kinda makes you wonder if a scenario similar to this may have played out in the hiring of Bisaccia...? Lord knows the reputation that preceded him has not come close to being realized with the Packers.

[Yoop]

best way to lose a friend or respect from a colleague is to give them poor advice, and I would bet as small as the Head coaching fraternity is you'd be black balled in a NY minute, I'd think truth prevails in that small club, and no coach should expect anything less, what goes around comes around

Bisaccia hasn't had a top 10 ST's in years, came close with a #11 ranking with the Raiders, and coaches know talent matters a lot on ST's, and since often most players on it are backups, it's prone to high turnover every season, also this advice stuff becomes a consensus of opinion thing, does anyone rely on just one informed opinion about anything any more, like everything ya throw out the worst and best opinion, typically the truth floats to the top.

[Pugger]

Any word since Hafley's hiring regarding the rest of the defensive staff? Is he bringing in any of his own guys?

I’ll answer my own question:

Heard you, went looking for this and couldn't find it at Packers.com

Sounds like Montgomery has interviews from several teams, thing is Hafley knows a lot of coaches, and probably wants to also do some coaching interviews, doubt he'll have trouble finding good replacements

I do not have a problem with our new DC wanting his own guys to run his defense. Changing the defensive culture at 1265 might be just what the doctor ordered.

[Pugger]

We have discussed the process with which the Packers go about their hiring/firing of coaching staff and where "the buck" actually stops. Mark Murphy recently provided some insight on that very topic, at least within the context of the Jeff Hafley hire. I wish the question/response would have also included the dismissal of Barry (and Murphy provide a straight answer).

Anyway, you can choose to believe the CEO of the organization or not, but this is a glimpse of what allegedly went into the DC search and hire process. It was apparently MLFs call. I do find it kind of interesting Murphy brings up Pete Cronan.

From the Mark Murphy interview/Q&A that @BF004 linked in another thread:

Rob P. from Allouez:

I'm learning more about Jeff Hafley and excited to see how he does as DC. I'm wondering who made the final decision in the hiring of him?

Mark Murphy:

Good question, Rob. While Matt LaFleur received input from Brian Gutekunst, myself and others, he has full control over his coaching staff and made the final decision. I was very impressed with the way Matt conducted the search. We interviewed many candidates, both by Zoom and in person, and Jeff rose to the top. His work both in the NFL and at Boston College was impressive. Although Matt and Jeff have never coached together, they have many mutual acquaintances who spoke highly of Jeff. Also, my roommate on the Redskins, Pete Cronan, a Boston College alumnus and the longtime radio voice of Boston College football, was very impressed with Jeff and the work he did at Boston College.

I suppose my greatest issue with the process would be how much faith MLF has in trusting the potentially conflicted opinion of colleagues in their assessment of Hafley. If MLF is relying on the opinion of Shanahan, Salah, McVay (and others who have worked with Hafley) who also are in direct competition with the Packers for the ultimate championship goal, that could lead to, for lack of a better term, sabotage.

Yeah, I know, the search criteria goes deeper than mere buddy recommendations but if you listen to certain Chicago stations and Bears fan websites, you see them alleging the Getsy hire was the Packers way of hindering the Bears development of Fields. It's funny (and unlikely) but does make you wonder.

Now if the Packers could only convince the 49ers that Maurice Drayton is a brilliant ST coordinator...

[Labrev]

DL showed enough signs of life and improvement from some of the young guys that I am willing to accept that maybe Montgomery is not totally useless but I have not been real impressed with the performance from our DL while he has been there, and not for lack of talent. Kenny Clark was before he got here. No other real successes. And of course our run defense is wretched and he was Run D-Coord.

I would welcome a change there.

[Papa John]

But my main point was that I don't think Saleh is going to be feeding MLF anything untrue about defensive coaches he's worked with. Maybe Kyle would play strategically with that kind of info, maybe. But Saleh wouldn't. And I'd trust Saleh's insights into a DB coach the most, anyway.

I wasn't necessarily suggesting one of MLFs friends would outward lie about a potential candidate...but I do wonder how much effort they'd put into steering him away from a candidate they knew to have significant flaws that may not be known outside of working on staff together.

Take Nathaniel Hackett as a hypothetical example. MLF may have (hypothetically) known Hackett had some coaching shortcomings that were largely covered up by Aaron Rodgers and the talented offensive skills group. Something along the lines of Hackett was successful in spite of himself. Do you believe MLF should/would have shared those reservations with Salah prior to Salah bringing Hackett onboard for his own OC hire? Does friendship trump doing what's best for your own team and organization from a competitive standpoint, in this case allowing another team to hire a known sub-optimal coach without giving them fair warning?

There's a level of professional ethics that come into play here, as well. My annual ethics training presents scenarios very similar to what we're discussing here. The only difference being allowing a relationship to influence a positive decision for the outsider. Do the same rules apply for undermining a negative decision of a competitor?

I'm not saying this is what happened in the case of Hafley but it's interesting to think about, in any case.

Kinda makes you wonder if a scenario similar to this may have played out in the hiring of Bisaccia...? Lord knows the reputation that preceded him has not come close to being realized with the Packers.

I would say it's not only possible, but probable. Most colleagues/friends will want you to do well, as long as you're not doing better than they are. This is especially true of someone who perceives you as being on the same level as them within a dominance hierarchy. Envy is a very common occurrence among supposed friends. A person truly is lucky if they can honestly say they have had 5 real friends over the course of a lifetime IMO.

[Chilli]

He was one of several DL coach options for Hafley as he worked with him previously at Pittsburgh. Apparently he comes with a good reputation.

Not to worry though are still several options available to him. He shouldn't have too much difficulty finding one. I would be disappointed if we settle for Rebrovich if Bukowski's tweets are anything to go by. Obviously Montgomery and Partridge are now unavailable but i'm unable to create a strikethrough text on this forum.

Defensive Line: Jerry Montgomery, Vince Oghobaase (Boston College), Jeff Zgonina (If released from Washington), Charlie Partridge (Pitts), Tony Tuioti (Oregon), Darryl Tapp (49ers), Nate Ollie (Colts), Greg Scruggs (Wisconsin), Nathaniel Willingham (Jets).

Hafley directly knows
via Shanahan
via Saleh

[Chilli]

Not surprised with Downard however I'm disappointed with us retaining Rebrovich.

[YoHoChecko]

What's the skinny on the negative vibes around Rebrovich? What's Bukowski or others saying?

[Pckfn23]

Montgomery to the Patriots.

[Pckfn23]

What's the skinny on the negative vibes around Rebrovich? What's Bukowski or others saying?

This is all I can find: