GREEN BAY — When Jeff Hafley met with Quay Walker for their exit interview after the season-ending playoff loss to Philadelphia in January, the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator gave his Mike linebacker a one-item offseason to-do list.

It wasn’t to improve his knowledge of the defensive playbook. Hafley knew Walker was well on his way to knowing his system inside and out.

It wasn’t to tighten up his fundamentals and techniques. Hafley had seen firsthand how obsessive Walker was about doing things the right way.

And it wasn’t to get bigger, stronger or faster physically. Hafley was acutely aware of what a special athlete the 6-foot-4, 241-pound Walker already was.

What Hafley wanted Walker to do change — implored, really, for him to devote time to fixing — was the way he views himself.

For while the 2022 first-round draft pick has steadily improved his up-and-down play over his first three NFL seasons, what he hasn’t been able to overcome is his penchant for self-loathing, even when he’s played well.

And when he’s struggled, being his own worst critic to the nth degree has been confidence-crushing.

“It takes a toll on me, honestly,” Walker confessed Friday afternoon. “I talked with ‘Haf’ when the season was over and we have our going-away-type meetings, and that was something he told me he wanted me to work on because he knows how hard I am on myself.

“Anytime I get so hard on myself, my confidence kind of goes down and my play goes down — just because I’m so worried about everything and I want to be so right instead of just playing fast.”

After the Packers opted not to pick up the fifth-year option on Walker’s rookie contract — because, general manager Brian Gutekunst said, of the inflated number for linebackers since edge rushers from 3-4 systems are included in the calculation — 2025 became a contract year for Walker, who would become a free agent in March without a new deal.

But Gutekunst insisted at the time that the team wanted to keep Walker “for 2026 and beyond,” and Walker confirmed Friday that contract negotiations with the Packers have been ongoing. He went so far as to say he believes a deal will be done in the not-too-distant future.

“Honestly, I never really think about it. Honestly,” Walker said of the contract talks. “Of course we’re in discussions or whatever the case may be. But I just want to play ball. I just want to live up to my ceiling, be the player that I know I can be, which I know I’m going to become this year.

“I’ve got a ton of faith that I’m going to become the player I want to be because I’ve put the work in, the time in. So at this point, I’ve just got to go out and let my work show for itself.”

The 25-year-old Walker, who has played in 44 of a possible 51 games in his first three NFL seasons (43 starts) and was ejected from two games as a rookie in 2022, seemed to turn a corner last season in Hafley’s system, recording 102 tackles, including a career-best nine tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, three QB hits, two pass break-ups and 12 QB pressures.

He missed one game with a concussion and then suffered an ankle injury Dec. 15 at Seattle, missing the final three regular-season games thereafter — just as he was hitting his stride. He returned for the team’s first-round NFC playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, only to re-injure the ankle in that game.

He was taking part in organized team activity practices on a limited basis in the spring but when something still felt off in the ankle, he underwent surgery, which limited him during the first two weeks of training camp.

He finally was able to take part in 11-on-11 work on Aug. 5, and he took part in both of the team’s joint practices (with the Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks) and played in the preseason finale against the Seahawks Aug. 23.

In just five snaps against the Seahawks, Walker had two tackles and a sack.

“Quay’s been really impressive. Since he’s come back, you can see he’s playing faster,” linebackers coach Sean Duggan said Friday. “He’s really confident on the field right now, which is awesome.

“I was really impressed with the way he handled being a little delayed getting back on the field. If you watched practice, he was back there. Every rep he took mentally, he put himself in the position so when he came back, he was able to pick up where he should be.

“He’s a really good player. I think his best football’s ahead of him and just again the work he’s put in to get himself in position of where he is right now, I’m really excited for that guy.”

Said Walker: “This is my second year in this defense, so I know what we’re doing. I kind of know ‘Haf’ a little bit. I can kind of expect what he’s going to call. Me and him are clicking real, real good.”

But as good as all this sounds, Walker is self-aware, too: While he believes he’s in a much better headspace entering Sunday’s season-opening matchup with the two-time NFC North-champion Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field, he is quick to acknowledge that his improved mental approach has not yet been tested.

When it is, it’s up to him to respond with the next-play-mentality approach he has vowed to take, instead of letting one mistake on one play snowball into more.

“That’s something that me and [Hafley] talked about: I haven’t faced adversity yet during the season,” Walker said. “When that comes, then I [have to] be able to remind myself that that was a main goal that I had, to be able to pardon myself.”

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