First days of training camp confirm suspicion about the Packers' defense

When the Green Bay Packers hired defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, we wrote a piece classifying him as "the anti-Joe Barry." That was not necessarily praise, it was not necessarily about quality of play or results. It was style. And in the first two days of practice on training camp, the idea has been confirmed.

You can certainly take this with a grain of salt because defenses usually are superior from the get go in practices, but how the defensive front operates is notable. On Tuesday, Rashan Gary had a sequence of three sacks in four plays. It doesn't sound great for Andre Dillard , who started at right tackle while Zach Tom still recovers from a pec injury, but the aggressive nature of the front under Hafley is a bright spot.

"Just being able to pin our ears back, not think and fly around. It's been fun so far the first two days," Gary said after shining against the offensive line. "Hand in the dirt and not dropping back. It's that simple."

Entering his second year in the NFL, former first-round pick Lukas Van Ness knows it's early to make definitive proclamations . After all, the pads aren't even on. But he sees the potential for the system to take the most out of the defensive personnel.

"I think this 4-3 style fits the guys we have in our room a lot better up front," Van Ness mentioned. "You've been able to see it the past couple of days. We've been aggressive getting after the quarterback."

Secondary work

Imagine the San Francisco 49ers' and New York Jets' defenses and how they operate. It's all about getting to the quarterback with the front. The secondary has a, guess what, secondary role. But it's imperative for the final results to take advantage of what the front creates.

The defense has rotated safeties alongside Xavier McKinney — Javon Bullard, Evan Williams, Anthony Johnson Jr. have had snaps. And they have done exactly what's expected from them, picking off quarterback Sean Clifford multiple times.

Pressure from the defensive front, ability to generate turnovers from the defensive backs. It's early to know schematically and specifically how the defense will operate, but the attitude and the approach are clear from the jump.

The road, however, is still long.

"This is only Day 2," Gary pointed out. "It doesn't matter what you've done in practice. We've got to bring it to the season."

Related: The anti-Joe Barry: what Jeff Hafley's defense will look like with the Packers