On Sunday, the Packers announced the hire of Jonathan Gannon for Defensive Coordinator. With Jeff Hafley leaving for the Dolphins head coaching job, the major question looming for the staff was who would replace him.
Gannon is not the most exciting hire for many. In a cycle with names like Raheem Morris and Jim Leonhard, Packers fans seemed pretty underwhelmed with the news. Gannon is coming off a disastrous head coaching tenure with the Arizona Cardinals.
So, now the question is, what will Gannon bring to this Packers defense? How will he pick up where Hafley left off? How will the players adjust to the changes and how will they receive him as their coach? There aren’t many answers. However, expect them all to be answered on the field.
Jonathan Gannon Brings Experience to the Packers Defense
In Arizona, it was not very easy to evaluate what Gannon did for the Cardinals defense. Gannon did not call the plays, and had maybe one of the worst defensive rosters in the league.
Counter this to his time in Philadelphia, where he had a stacked roster, called the plays, and had a second overall defense at one point. Many are not giving Gannon overwhelming credit for this; fans of the Eagles seem to not speak highly of him.
However, coaches around the league and analysts have said that Green Bay made a good hire. Nick Sirianni has also said that Gannon is an unbelievable coordinator and that players love playing for him.
Gannon has plenty of experience for the role and maybe taking a step back from being in a head coaching role is exactly what he needs. He has taken a defense to the Super Bowl and that might be exactly why the Packers have confidence in him.
What remains to be seen is how well this hire will play out. However, what cannot be understated is how important it is to get this hire right.
How the defense performs this next season will be the piece needed for Super Bowl aspirations. This is the most important hire of Matt LaFleur’s tenure, and there is not time to hope he gets it right. For the Packers sake, he has to get it right.
As quick as a Super Bowl window can open, it can also shut just as quickly. With Ed Policy putting all of his chips in the Matt LaFleur basket, there must be a positive result.
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