{"id":728638,"date":"2026-02-04T11:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/728638\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T11:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T11:26:14","slug":"packers-are-suddenly-at-the-center-of-the-nfls-strangest-coaching-carousel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/728638\/","title":{"rendered":"Packers are suddenly at the center of the NFL&#8217;s strangest coaching carousel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5f\">And so the three-team game of musical chairs continues.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5i\">It started when the Miami Dolphins hired Jeff Hafley as their new head coach, followed by Hafley <a href=\"https:\/\/lombardiave.com\/matt-lafleur-may-turn-rising-star-after-jeff-hafley-steals-another-packers-coach\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">stealing multiple members of Matt LaFleur&#8217;s staff<\/a>. It&#8217;s almost surprising he didn&#8217;t try to take the Don Hutson Center and Ray Nitschke Field with him to Miami.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5l\">The Green Bay Packers responded by hiring seemingly as many members of the Arizona Cardinals&#8217; coaching staff as possible, beginning with Jonathan Gannon as their new defensive coordinator. Gannon <a href=\"https:\/\/lombardiave.com\/jonathan-gannon-didnt-need-long-put-stamp-packers-defense\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">brought Sam Siefkes with him<\/a> to be his linebackers coach, while the Packers have also reportedly interviewed Cardinals passing game coordinator Connor Senger for their vacant QB coach position.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">Now, though, the game of musical chairs has reached another level. One of the coaches Hafley poached from Green Bay was Nathaniel Hackett, but his tenure in Miami may last a matter of days. He could, poetically, now head to Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>Cardinals reportedly interested in hiring former Nathaniel Hackett, who only just left Packers for Dolphins<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">The Cardinals have hired Matt LaFleur&#8217;s brother, Mike, as their new head coach. He is reportedly keen on making a move his brother once did in Green Bay: Hiring Nathaniel Hackett as his offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/mzenitz\/status\/2018845596980056095\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports<\/a>, Hackett is &#8220;among the early possibilities&#8221; for the Cardinals&#8217; OC job.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"60\">Just six days ago, Hackett was a defensive analyst for Matt LaFleur in Green Bay. Hafley hired him to be his quarterbacks coach in Miami, but that tenure could be short-lived with a potential promotion on the horizon from LaFleur&#8217;s brother.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">From LaFleur to Hafley to LaFleur? Green Bay to Miami to Arizona?<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"66\">It&#8217;s fitting for a bizarre coaching carousel. Hafley is determined to create the Miami Packers, while Mike McCarthy is <a href=\"https:\/\/lombardiave.com\/mike-mccarthy-cant-hide-how-badly-wants-aaron-rodgers-reunion\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rebuilding his 2018 Packers staff over in Pittsburgh<\/a>, potentially in hopes of a reunion with Aaron Rodgers. Meanwhile, the NFC North can&#8217;t stop hiring staff from the 3-14 Cardinals.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"69\">Hackett could quietly be a smart hire for Mike LaFleur in Arizona. While his reputation took a seismic hit after a brutal head-coach stint with the Denver Broncos and a rough tenure with the New York Jets, Hackett has enjoyed plenty of success in his NFL career. That included a run as Matt LaFleur&#8217;s OC in Green Bay. The players loved his energy and the famous &#8220;Gold Zone.&#8221; It&#8217;s why Hackett landed a head coach job in the first place.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">He is an experienced coordinator and could help the younger LaFleur get comfortable in his new role.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">Imagine a month ago saying that we&#8217;d get a LaFleur-Hackett head coach-offensive coordinator combination in Arizona, Gannon in Green Bay, McCarthy in Pittsburgh, and Hafley in Miami (alongside Joe Barry, might I add).<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">What a wonderfully bizarre start to the offseason, and it&#8217;s only February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And so the three-team game of musical chairs continues. It started when the Miami Dolphins hired Jeff Hafley&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[217,7,216,251,2087,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-728638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-dolphins","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-dolphins","12":"tag-miamidolphins","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116012121135048403","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}