When the Green Bay Packers saw defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley leave the organization to become the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, the immediate thought that came to mind was who would join him in South Beach.
The Dolphins are slowly but surely becoming “Packers South,” as they also poached Jon-Eric Sullivan, who was named their general manager earlier this month. That said, Green Bay is probably hoping that Hafley doesn’t steal a ton of guys from Matt LaFleur’s coaching staff.
The process of filling those positions will be arduous enough unless the Packers backfill them with internal promotions, which is an option.
Nonetheless, Hafley is reportedly taking Packers defensive backs coach Ryan Downard with him to Miami, per Aaron Wilson of KPRC-2. Wilson reports that Downard will be a secondary coach on Hafley’s staff.
Jeff Hafley Quickly Poaches DBs Coach Ryan Downard from the Packers
Hafley has only been on the job for a week and is already giving Green Bay headaches, which is not ideal as we haven’t even hit free agency yet. Just imagine if Hafley gets his hands on Malik Willis, Kingsley Enagbare, or Romeo Doubs, who are all scheduled to become free agents.
At the same time, the Packers understood that poaching staff could happen with Hafley taking the job.
According to Zach Kruse of The Packers Wire, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky said Monday that LaFleur and Hafley met on Sunday about staff and who the new Dolphins head coach would take.
Based on that reporting, we shouldn’t be surprised if multiple Packers coaches will fly south to Miami to help Hafley in his first year as an NFL head coach.
Downard is a good start for Hafley as he’s been part of the Packers’ organization since 2018. He joined Green Bay as a defensive quality control coach, but was quickly elevated to assistant DBs coach in 2019, which was a role he stayed at until 2022, when he took on the title of safeties coach. For the last three years, he’s been the DBs coach in Green Bay.
Nevertheless, the Packers now must figure out how they’ll replace Downard, which shouldn’t be hard, given the talent they have in-house. However, they have to worry about who could be next to go.
Will it be someone else on defense? Or will it be someone on offense like Adam Stenavich, who has clearly worn out his welcome in Green Bay? These questions will definitely be answered over the next few weeks.