Jeff Hafley's 3rd-Down Fronts, Stunts and Pressure Packages

In this fifth and final article analyzing Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley's defense, we'll take a quick look at some of the fronts and pressure packages we're likely to see from Hafley this season.

With Hafley no longer part of the Robert Saleh/Kyle Shanahan coaching family tree, the influence of that scheme is clearly visible when using certain fronts and stunts that the 49ers and Jets are known to run under Saleh. Hafley puts his own spin on those subpackage fronts by adding a fifth and sixth rusher into the equation, something Saleh is less inclined to do.

This, combined with the aggressiveness of the young defense, should unleash the talent and catapult the Packers defense into a new realm among the best in the league, if not this season, then very soon.

Fronts and printing

On third down, Hafley also appears to have taken a strong cue from recent scheme adjustments from the Saleh and DeMeco Ryans era with the 49ers, where he used a “3×1” overload front.

The overload front utilizes three defensive players on one side and a single pass rusher on the opposite side and is the perfect complement to the scheme with a single high 4-down linemen.

This 49ers overload front shows what that could look like. But while the 49ers didn't blitz much from that front, Hafley added his own touch to the overload front with a “cross dog” blitz.

Cross dog

Match Quarters Cody Alexander has a more detailed analysis on this on his Substack, but Hafley will call a cross-dog blitz behind the overload front. Offenses will push the offensive line protection to the side of the overload and away from the running back, leaving the back vulnerable to this pressure.

The ultimate goal is to neutralize the running back on defense and try to create a 2-on-1 situation, and failing that, then create a favorable 1-on-1 situation with a center back who cannot slide or react in time to force the defender past the pocket when a center back is working back against the slide.

Flush Stunt

In a flush stunt, the defensive front tries to flush the quarterback in a specific manner with their initial running trajectory while a looper circles around and pursues the quarterback in an attempt to escape the pocket.

In this example against Georgia Tech, the wrapper is the defensive end on the slant. The defensive line is slanting to the right, the offensive line is chasing, and the effect of the rush on the quarterback drives him to the right. The wrapper interrupts the rush and spins around the quarterback as he rolls to the right.

Safety flash

Occasionally we may also see a safety blitz on the weak side, which applies a lot of pressure compared to the run and pass.

Safety blitzes from the weak side are great against running and passing attacks and work similarly to the read/heavy stunt technique described above.

outlook

We'll see how the season goes with the new scheme, as we'll likely see a little more creativity from Hafley on 3rd down and different subpackages. It's a more traditional static pre-snap defense, meaning “what you see is what you get,” but as the season progresses we'll see trends in the structure and what they like to do in certain situations and why.

Right now, I don't see much difference between what Hafley wants to do with the Packers defense and what he did with Boston College. He's been pretty open about what he wants to accomplish with them on the field in terms of aggressiveness and roughly what the primary structure will look like. Week one against the Eagles should give us even more insight.