Statistical Comparisons Between Jeff Hafley, New Packers DC Jonathan Gannon

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have a new defensive coordinator with the hiring of Jonathan Gannon, the former Arizona Cardinals head coach.

Here’s a look at the defenses led by Jeff Hafley when he was defensive coordinator of the Packers in 2024 and 2025, Gannon when he was head coach of the Cardinals from 2023 through 2025 and Gannon when he was defensive coordinator of the Eagles in 2021 and 2022.

Not all things are created equally, obviously. Gannon, for instance, was the play-calling defensive coordinator for the Eagles, including their Super Bowl season of 2022. With the Cardinals, he delegated the play-calling to his defensive coordinator, Nick Rallis.

Points Allowed

Hafley: 8th (20.8). Gannon (Cardinals): 30th (25.9). Gannon (Eagles): 11th (21.4).

Passer Rating

Hafley: 14th (90.6). Gannon (Cardinals): 30th (98.4). Gannon (Eagles): 12th (88.7).

Sacks

Hafley: 18th (81). Gannon (Cardinals): 30th (104). Gannon (Eagles): 1st (99).

Takeaways

Hafley: 10th (45). Gannon (Cardinals): 25th (53). Gannon (Eagles): 16th (43).

Interceptions

Hafley: 16th (24). Gannon (Cardinals): 28th (30). Gannon (Eagles): 10th (29).

Yards Per Rushing Attempt

Hafley: 6th (4.1). Gannon (Cardinals): 26th (4.6). Gannon (Eagles): 15th (4.3).

Yards Per Play

Hafley: 6th (5.08). Gannon (Cardinals): 27th (5.62). Gannon (Eagles): 2nd (4.99).

Third Down

Hafley: 13th (38.5 percent). Gannon (Cardinals): 31st (44.7 percent). Gannon (Eagles): 22nd (40.7).

Blitzes

According to Stathead.

Hafley: 29th (6.97 per game). Gannon (Cardinals): 22nd (8.12 per game). Gannon (Eagles): 24th (7.59 per game).

Green Bay’s defensive identity might not change much.

According to Sharp Football, the Cardinals last season played man coverage 15.1 percent of the time, the fifth-highest rate. The Packers with Hafley played man 17.0 percent of the time, the ninth-highest rate.

Also according to Sharp Football, the Cardinals blitzed 23.9 percent of the time, which was the 19th-highest rate. The Packers blitzed 21.0 percent of the time, the sixth-highest rate.

Tough Day for Packers

On Oct. 19, the Packers won at the Cardinals 27-23. Green Bay gained 262 yards, its fourth-lowest output of the season. Its 3-of-10 (30.0 percent) was its second-lowest efficiency on third down.

“From an offensive standpoint, it was a very frustrating day overall in regards to they did a hell of a job of keeping an umbrella on the defense,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said after the game. “There weren’t many looks where we could throw the ball down the field.

“It was one of those dink-and-duck-type games. Not that we didn’t get a couple shots downfield, but they were playing pretty soft, and took a lot of things that we wanted to do or that we saw on tape away and just try to make us play perfect, which we were far from perfect. So, give credit to them. I got a lot of respect for those guys.”

The Eagles in 2022 reached the Super Bowl with a pair of blowout wins before losing to the Chiefs. That team finished seventh in points allowed, second in total defense, and first in yards allowed per play and yards per passing play. The Eagles led the NFL with 70 sacks – 15 more than any team.

“J.G., man, that’s my guy,” then-Eagles linebacker T.J. Edwards said after the 2021 season. “His football IQ and how he views the game is so interesting, to just have conversations about how he sees certain things fitting. I think the one thing he did all year that was awesome for us and helped us a lot was letting each position group, and specifically each position, know how they fit in the scheme.

“I don’t think that there’s ever been a question, in terms of why we were doing something. We’d go in and we’d show exactly the film why we were playing second coverages to this team and why we were playing certain front structures to this team. I think as a player you always kind of want to know the bigger why on why everything’s happening. For him to be able to do that in a personable way I think is rare.

“He’s got a lot of respect around here. He coaches hard, he wants practices executed and really good, and fast, and high intensity, all those things. So, I think he was awesome for us this year.”

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