I want to say up front that I was not a fan of the Joe Barry hire - just go back and look at my posts (er, from my original account). From the start it looked like the Matt LaFleur messed up both the process and outcome when hiring Joe Barry.
With that said, this looks like a fantastic hire! Hafley seems to 1) bring everything to the table that we thought we'd be getting from Pettine on D (aggressiveness, disguising, back-end communication, good chaos), 2) be well-versed in multiple schemes (he traced his roots back to Dave Wannstedt in the Adam Breneman podcast on Youtube), 3) have an understanding of tendencies / what is in vogue with NFL offenses, as well as a modern approach to seeking out analytics to have the most information at his fingertips, and 4) have a solid pedigree of working with HOF players (Rondae Barber, Darrell Revis, Richard Sherman) meshed with a down-to-earth approach that shows he cares about his players as human beings and them having success.
There were a lot of things and traits I liked across specific DC candidates who we were reported to have interviewed (young in age and newer approach to the game, exposure to multiple defensive schemes, having strong exposure to DB coaching / being a DB coach, blending life lessons into the game of football, and having a good head on their shoulders with a willingness to work hard to move up the coaching ranks really young). Jeff Hafley seems to have all those traits in one person, while also having gone completely under the radar on having interviewed (shows me he knows how to keep his head down and mind his business). For all the faults that seemed to be lingering with the Joe Barry hire, my initial take is that everything revolving around this hire is the complete opposite and "feels" like the outcome of a Head Coach that knew what he wanted and implemented a solid process to get a right-minded approach and defensive coach for his team.
I think I cried tears of joy when Hafley mentioned it was important to get into the head of a player after a bad play to understand what he saw / what he was thinking rather than just yelling. Hafley distilling playing press man into a power-point slide with 3 bullet points? Hard to argue with an approach that keeps things simple and straightforward - especially when you will likely have a very young DB room. When Hafley says on the Youtube podcast that Richard Sherman knew more about zone coverage than what Hafley could teach him, I get an eerie feeling of similarity to Joe Whitt Jr. saying he wasn't going to teach Charles Woodson about man coverage... there is a zen-like weirdness in having the confidence to be up front and candid about what you
can't do for a HOF player as a coach.
Jeff Hafley definitely isn't the sexiest name, but this time around I'm inclined to give Matt LaFleur the benefit of the doubt given the high caliber of candidates who interviewed and the glimpses I'm seeing of Hafley straight from his own words. The only issue I have is that Hafley readily admits in the podcast on Youtube that it takes a few years to get everyone comfortable with a system/scheme and to see the results. I'm not sure Hafley will have a few years grace period (maybe two years at most), so I'm hoping he can at least show our defense is making some strides in the right direction over the next couple of years. We've tried the "popular" approach with Dom Capers and Mike Pettine, and the results were mostly 'meh'. I don't mind taking a swing with the 'off the beat' choice of someone without the name recognition that has a pretty impressive head on his shoulders exudes a humble confidence about being good enough to make it.
The NFL: where Greg Jennings happens.