After the Green Bay Packers hired Jonathan Gannon as their new defensive coordinator earlier this week, there were mixed opinions regarding the choice. In a piece I wrote last week on the likely candidates, I described the potential hiring of Gannon like hitting a double in the gap with a runner on first and two outs, only for the runner not to get home. 

Hitting a double and moving the runner is nice and all, but there definitely could’ve been a better outcome. Now, you need more things to go right without a mistake to get a run out of the inning, but you’re also set up for a huge two-out rally if things do go right. 

Gannon sets a really good floor. He has extensive experience across multiple systems and roles, but he’s also just 43 years old, with room to continue growing. On top of that, the Packers are doing their best to make the latter outcome come to fruition. They’ve started to build an extremely well-versed and experienced staff around him. Therefore, with two runners in scoring position and two outs, you feel confident in the guys around him to finish what was started. 

As Jeff Hafley fills out his staff with the Miami Dolphins, Green Bay will have a lot of turnover on the defensive coaching staff. Going with Hafley to Miami are defensive quality control coach Wendel Davis, defensive backs coach Ryan Downard, and linebackers coach Sean Duggan. Defensive pass-game coordinator Derrick Ansley also will not return. However, it’s unclear whether that is to go with Hafley.

The first replacement is former Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Bobby Babich, whom the Packers hired as their defensive pass-game coordinator, replacing Ansley.

Green Bay interviewed Babich for the defensive coordinator job two seasons ago, before the Bills hired him. The Packers then hired Hafley as their defensive coordinator. Babich brings 14 years of NFL coaching experience, including defensive backs, linebackers, and safeties. He spent the last two seasons as Sean McDermott’s defensive coordinator.

Babich’s two seasons didn’t go as well as he would’ve hoped. The defense wasn’t as consistent under him as it was under Leslie Frazier. Many Bills fans were happy to see him go, and now he’s taking a step back from a DC role. 

However, before he was Buffalo’s defensive coordinator, he coached and developed extremely talented position groups, developing All-Pros like Tre’Davious White, Jordan Poyer, and Micah Hyde. Then he moved to linebackers coach and coached up First-Team All-Pro Matt Milano, while helping Tremaine Edmunds secure a large payday from the Chicago Bears. 

While he wasn’t ready for the DC position, he’s an excellent hire for Gannon.

Hafley also hired Sean Duggan as his linebackers coach, so Green Bay moved quickly to fill that role. Many weren’t fond of Duggan’s job last season. The Packers promoted him internally after former linebackers coach Anthony Campanile took the Jacksonville Jaguars’ defensive coordinator position. 

Under Duggan, Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper did not continue the ascent they were on at the end of 2024 under Campanile. Meanwhile, in Jacksonville, Campanile quickly rose as a potential head coaching candidate. Therefore, Duggan was quickly targeted as a coach many wanted to replace this offseason, and they got their wish.

Former Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Sam Siefkes replaces Duggan as linebackers coach. Before taking the Virginia Tech job, he was the linebackers coach under Jonathan Gannon in Arizona. 

Siefkes is a Wisconsin guy through and through. He was born in Oconomowoc, played defensive back at UW-Lacrosse, and was a graduate assistant at UW-Madison. Later, he became the defensive coordinator at UW-Platteville. After making some stops around college and the NFL, he ends up back home in Green Bay.

By filling out their defensive staff around Gannon and DeMarcus Covington, with Babich and Siefkes, the Packers now have four former defensive coordinators on staff. That doesn’t include anyone they may hire to replace Downard as defensive backs coach or Wendel Davis as defensive quality-control coach. 

While we’re still waiting on news about any potential offensive or dreaded special teams changes, the start of the restructuring of the defensive staff is going well. Although many people were split on the Gannon hire, it would be hard to deny that Green Bay hasn’t upgraded the rest of the assistant staff around him. The most exciting part of the Gannon hire to this point is the guys he’ll be working with.
As a draft-and-develop team, having a strong assistant staff to handle development is crucial. While we’re still waiting for that to be the case on the offensive side under LaFleur, Green Bay is building an Infinity Stones staff of former defensive coordinators that should make Packers fans extremely excited about what this defense can do, despite losing a head-coach-caliber defensive coordinator.