GREEN BAY — Matt LaFleur’s coaching staff for the Green Bay Packers’ 2026 season is officially complete.

And one job title in particular cleared up the lingering questions about what new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon intends to use as his base defense.

It’ll be a 3-4.

That means the Packers, who used a 4-3 base system under now-Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley the past two seasons, are moving back to the system they ran under coordinators Mike Pettine and Joe Barry during LaFleur’s first five seasons as the Packers head coach.

How do we know? DeMarcus Covington, who was the team’s defensive line coach and defensive run-game coordinator under Hafley last season, is now the team’s outside linebackers coach along with his run-game coordinator title.

In addition, LaFleur named Covington the title of assistant head coach/defense, sharing right-hand man status with quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy, who was given the assistant head coach/offense title.

Rich Bisaccia, who unexpectedly stepped down from his job as the team’s special-teams coordinator 38 days after the season ended, had been LaFleur’s assistant head coach the past three years. Cam Achord is replacing Bisaccia as special-teams coordinator.

But the defensive switch was by far the one aspect of the team’s formal staff announcement that jumped off the page — or the PDF, if you’d rather — on Thursday.

While general manager Brian Gutekunst rightfully downplayed the significance of base systems in today’s game because virtually every team in the league spends 80% or more of their defensive snaps in a sub package — ”Everything is a 4-2-5,” said Gutekunst, meaning four down linemen, two linebackers and five defensive backs — it still represents a change from what worked for the Packers under Hafley.

Hafley’s two Packers defenses ranked in the top 10 in the 32-team NFL over the 2024 and 2025 seasons combined — finishing eighth in scoring defense (20.5 points per game) and ninth total defense (313.2 yards per game).

“I think Jonathan’s got some 3-4 principles in base that you’re going to see that maybe we hadn’t in the last couple of years,” Gutekunst said at last month’s NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. “All these defenses are so multiple now. It’s really more about the back end and how we’re going to approach it from that angle. But it’s a nickel defense league right now, so more likely you’re going to see four down, two linebackers, five DBs.”

Asked about Gannon’s preference for playing three safeties among his five defensive backs in those nickel defenses — a mentality that fits with the Packers’ personnel, as safeties Xavier McKinney, Evan Williams and Javon Bullard are among the team’s best players — Gutekunst said Gannon’s approach could fit well in that way.

“I think they did a lot of creative things there,” Gutekunst said. “It’s really going to be adjusted to what we have with Evan, McKinney and ‘Bull.’ ‘Bull’ plays the nickel [position] but he’s a safety by trade coming out of Georgia. We’ve had a lot of three-safety looks for the majority of the season last year. So I think you’ll definitely see some of that moving forward.”

LaFleur, who did not attend the combine, has not spoken with reporters since his day-after-the-season news conference, although he did speak with reporters in Arizona after his younger brother, Mike, was hired as the Arizona Cardinals head coach.

Most of the hires that became official on Thursday have been known for six weeks or more. LaFleur decided on Gannon, for example, on Jan. 28.

Here’s a look at each of the Packers’ assistant coaches:

• COORDINATORS:

Adam Stenavich — Offensive coordinator

Jonathan Gannon — Defensive coordinator

Cam Achord — Special teams coordinator

Aaron Hill — Strength & conditioning coordinator

• OFFENSIVE ASSISTANTS:

Luke Getsy — Quarterbacks/assistant head coach, offense

Ben Sirmans — Running backs

Noah Pauley — Wide receivers

John Dunn – Tight ends

Luke Butkus – Offensive line

Eddie Gordon — Assistant offensive line

Rob Grosso — Assistant wide receivers

Connor Lewis — Pass game specialist/game management

Jason Vrable — Passing-game coordinator

Jeremiah Kolone — Offensive Assistant (Minority Fellowship)

T.C. McCartney — Offensive Quality Control

• DEFENSIVE ASSISTANTS:

Bobby Babich – Secondary/defensive pass-game coordinator

Daniel Bullocks – Cornerbacks

DeMarcus Covington — Outside linebackers/defensive run-game coordinator/Assistant head coach, defense

Vince Oghobaase — Defensive line

Sam Siefkes — Linebackers

Will Smart — Defensive quality control

Jamael Lett — Defensive quality control

Scott Fuchs — Defensive analyst

• SPECIAL TEAM ASSISTANTS:

Cory Harkey

Jeff Koonz

• STRENGTH & CONDITIONING ASSISTANTS:

Marcus Jones

Ben Schumacher

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