If the Green Bay Packers switch from a 3-4 to a 4-3 style defense under new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, the change will have an obvious impact on the defensive front, along with how general manager Brian Gutekunst goes about addressing the interior defensive line and edge rusher positions this offseason.
We still can’t say with certainty that this switch is going to take place. However, there very much seems to be a willingness with Hafley to mold his defensive system to the personnel he has to work with, not to mention that in his four year as head coach at Boston College, the Golden Eagles utilized a 4-3 scheme. Although, with that said, Hafley does have experience working a in 3-4 system.
“I think this league’s a 4-2-5 league,” said Brian Gutekunst, “and I think, I’m certain, as Jeff comes in, and we’re very excited about that, the conversations about kind of how we’re going to want to play.
“Obviously through the interview process we had some of those, so, and that will be a work in progress. But as far as how we go about our process and scouting and what we’re looking for, probably won’t change a ton. But those conversations will probably be had over the next few weeks.”
One of the most notable changes that could take place in converting to a 4-3 is with the edge rushers, who will likely be asked to play with their hands in the dirt when the Packers are in their base defense—lining up as defensive ends.
For Lukas Van Ness, he spent the majority of his snaps at Iowa with this hands in the dirt. Rashan Gary has previous experience as well from his time at Michigan. For Preston Smith, this could be more of an adjustment as he enters his 10th NFL season in 2024 and has predominantly been a standup pass rusher, which there can still be the opportunity to rush from when the defense is facing an obvious passing situation.
Given that GM Brian Gutekunst already prefers bigger bodied edge rushers, the transition for this position group to a 4-3 style should be relatively smooth in that regard. However, especially with Kingsley Enagbare working his way back from an ACL injury, the need for added edge rusher depth should be on Gutekunst’s radar and the ability to play a defensive end-like role will matter more than what it has in the past.
Karl Brooks and Colby Wooden are candidates to take some of those defensive end snaps as well. Both have experience there from their time in college. We also saw the Packers utilize four down linemen in the playoffs, which included Van Ness at defensive end with either Brooks or Wooden opposite of him, with Kenny Clark and TJ Slaton in the middle.
Clark would take a career high number in snaps lined up in the five technique this past season. Not coincidentally, he set career highs in sacks and quarterback hits, when away from the interior and facing more one-on-one matchups.
To continue giving Clark that opportunity for snaps away from the A-gap, finding another space-eating presence to put in the middle of this 4-3 alignment would make sense. Along with TJ Slaton, the Packers have Jonathan Ford who can fill that role, but Ford is short on experience and added competition is never a bad thing.
Utilizing stunts, during the 2023 season, Hafley relied on his four man front to get home on early downs. He did, however, crank up the five and six man pressures on third downs, ranking second in the ACC in blitz rate.
With Hafley’s heavy usage of cover-1 at the college level, leading the NCAA in single-high safety looks in 2021 and 2022, along with finishing fifth in 2023, that often gave the Boston College defense an extra defender in the box to help against the run.
With all that said, Hafley has been the first to admit that the college and NFL games are quite different. That aspect, coupled with his willingness to adjust tells us that just because he did something at Boston College, doesn’t mean we will see it in Green Bay, or at least not to the same extent.
“You’ve got to change,” said Hafley in a recent interview with Next Up. “I joke sometimes, “unbalanced,” you can’t do that in the NFL. We’re defending unbalanced formations. There’s a field and a boundary in college football, where in the NFL, the balls in the middle of the field the entire game. It’s a different game and it’s been fun to follow it.”
While comparing the 4-3 to 3-4 does, to a degree, matter in terms of how Gutekunst constructs the roster, and it does change what the responsibilities are for the defenders when in base, especially for the front seven, it’s important to note – as Gutekunst did – that the majority of snaps nowadays are played from nickel. This includes four down linemen, two off-ball linebackers, and five defensive backs.
So, without question, change is going to happen and how the Packers’ defense operates in certain situations or how aggressive they are at times will be different than under Joe Barry—that’s just the nature of bringing in a new coordinator. I’ve already mentioned several ways that the defensive front could differ in 2024.
But, even if all of that does end up happening, Gutekunst mentioned that the addition of Hafley also doesn’t mean there will be a massive defensive overhaul either.
“It’ll have some,” said Gutekunst when asked how Hafley’s addition will impact how he builds the roster, “but I don’t think, it’s not gonna be like a wholesale change — hey, we gotta ship off and bring a bunch of new guys in — it’s not gonna be like that.
“I think as we get into the nuances of what Jeff wants to do, certainly it may with our current players, maybe conversations about where they play and how they fit, but one thing I think we prided ourselves here, both sides of the ball, is versatility and bringing in guys that can be versatile. And I think with our front, particularly on defense, we’ve got a lot of versatile guys that can do a lot of things. We got a lot of edge guys that can probably move inside and do some things, pass rushing inside.”
