Micah Parsons' passionate message about player accountability and effort must directly inform the Green Bay Packers' crucial decision as they look to replace Jeff Hafley.
Jeff Hafley had two good seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers, and he's parlayed that into another head coaching gig. This time, though, he'll be an NFL head coach.
It's been a nice rise for Hafley, who started his coaching career at Worcester Polytechnic Institute as a running backs coach in 2001.
He first made it into the NFL as an assistant defensive assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2012, and the team dropped the "assistant" title in 2013. He coached defensive backs for the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers from 2014 to 2018 before Ryan Day convinced him to go back to college to be Ohio State's co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach in 2019.
After that season, Hafley got his first head coaching gig, at Boston College. After three seasons with the Golden Eagles, he then went back to the NFL after Matt LaFleur convinced him to take a "step down" from head coach to be the Packers' defensive coordinator.
And now, Hafley is back in the top seat again as the new head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
His best player in Green Bay, and arguably the best defensive player in the NFL right now, not named Myles Garrett, had this to say about his coach's departure:
Now, the onus is on LaFleur and the Packers to find an adequate replacement for Hafley, who oversaw a Green Bay defense that ranked ninth in yards allowed per game, sixth in yards per play, and eighth in points allowed per game over the past two seasons.
There are several intriguing options, but finding someone who can build around Parsons as the cornerstone is going to be key.
Parsons may not be back for the first few games of the 2026 season as he's recovering from a torn ACL, but he's without a doubt the key piece for this defense, and perhaps for this team, moving forward.
He's also a leader, and the Packers should strongly consider what Parsons had to say about his teammates after their terrible playoff collapse against the Chicago Bears.
“The change is the players. Us players are the ones playing the game,” Parsons said during locker room cleanout “I challenged the guys to do more than what your job requires. If you’re in shape, run more. Do more. We’ve got to be out there. Like, we need to be playing. If we’ve got to play 80 snaps, we play 80 snaps. But we shouldn’t be tired doing that. Look how many plays we got outstrained. Like, there’s things that can’t happen. People can’t outwork (us). Like your effort matches what you’re trying to say in the locker room.”
Grit and toughness are key to playing football on the defensive side of football, but as Parsons said, you can't teach effort.
The next guy in Green Bay won't be able to teach effort either, but he can carry on the message that his best player just gave to the rest of the locker room. In fact, it's vital that he does, and finding someone who can get on that same page with Parsons is going to be important as the Packers look for a replacement.
If the Packers can find a defensive coordinator with that same type of energy and commitment to accountability, they'll be just fine in the post-Hafley era.