The Green Bay Packers are hiring long-time New England Patriots assistant coach DeMarcus Covington as the team’s new defensive line coach, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.
Matt LaFleur and the Packers moved on from defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich following a disappointing 2024 season from the defensive front.
Covington, who is only 35 years old, was the defensive coordinator for the Patriots in 2024. He arrived in New England as a coaching assistant on Bill Belichick’s staff in 2017, rose to outside linebackers coach in 2019 and transitioned to defensive line coach in 2020. He spent four years (2020-23) in the position before being promoted to defensive coordinator under coach Jerod Mayo.
Overall, Covington spent eight years on the Patriots coaching staff and was a member of the team that won Super Bowl LIII.
Before joining the Patriots, Covington — a collegiate wide receiver at Samford — spent five seasons as a coaching assistant at the college level, including as the defensive line coach at UT-Martin in 2015 and the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Eastern Illinois in 2016.
In Green Bay, Covington will be tasked with getting more disruptive production out of a defensive front featuring Rashan Gary, Kenny Clark, Devonte Wyatt and Lukas Van Ness in 2025. It’s certainly possible general manager Brian Gutekunst will be adding more talent to the group via free agency or the draft.