Interview date: Thursday, Jan. 15

Current role: Hafley is the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers.

Hafley has been the defensive coordinator for the Packers since 2024. In his first season, Green Bay had the No. 5 total defense and No. 6 scoring defense. It was the first time since 2010, when the Packers won the Super Bowl, that the defense ranked top 10 in both regards.
Prior to taking the defensive coordinator position in Green Bay, Hafley was the head coach of Boston College from 2020-23. Before that, he was the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State University.
Though he has made a name for himself as a college coach, Hafley’s stops in the NFL include time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers — all three as a defensive backs coach.

Local connection: Alec Lindstrom — younger brother of Pro Bowl Falcons right guard Chris Lindstrom — was the starting center for Hafley when he was the Boston College head coach in Alec’s final years at the university.

“He may not be out there yelling and slamming clipboards, but he’s going to tell you if you do something wrong,” Alec Lindstrom told Boston Magazine in 2021. “He’s going to show you how to work on it, and you’re going to get better.”

Why he’s a candidate: As detailed above, Hafley has shown a knack for changing the trajectory of a unit he was charged with leading.

After underperforming prior to his arrival in Green Bay, the Packers’ defense of the last two seasons has been one of significant growth, particularly from a play-making lens. Interceptions jumped from just seven in 2023 to 17 in 2024. Overall takeaways nearly doubled, with the Packers going from 18 total in 2023 to 31 in 2024.

What’s more: Even though Hafley hasn’t been a head coach at the professional level, he still has experience as a CEO of an organization from his years with Boston College. If the Falcons are looking for an individual who has experience building staffs, running full-team meetings, setting vision and expectations beyond one side of the ball, along with managing all it takes to lead a team amidst an ever-evolving NIL landscape at the college level, Hafley could be their guy. Running and building an NFL franchise wouldn’t be a brand-new endeavor, just a slightly different one.