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Now that Pettine is gone, who should be the new DC?


BluePacker

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37 minutes ago, Chili said:

Dang! I guess that means we won't be interviewing Tampa or Kansas coaching staff.

IMO there's four clear cut candidates.

Jim Leonhard (Rex Ryan/Pettine 3-4)

Jerry Gray (Zimmer 4-3 and Ryan/Fisher 4-3 and to a small extent Pettine 3-4)

Ryan Nielsen (Zimmer 4-3, Ryan/Phillips 4-3, Ryan/Fisher 4-3, unclear if he knows Phillips 3-4)

Ejiro Evero (Kiffin 4-3, Fangio 3-4, Capers 3-4, Phillips 3-4, Staley 3-4)

 

As you can see you have two candidates who strongly lean towards the 3-4 (Leonard and Evero) and two candidates who strongly lean towards the 4-3 (Gray and Nielsen). It's literally 50/50 at this point for LaFleur.

I appreciate the work you've put into this.  I find myself far more informed than I ever expected to be on the potential candidates.

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The next step now is to look at what coaches a coordinator candidate might bring with him to Green Bay. The quality of his coaching staff will certainly determine if he will be hired as coordinator. I will start with Jim Leonhard.

Hiring Jim Leonhard will probably retain the majority of our coaching staff as they are well versed in Pettine's system. At Wisconsin one name stands out, Bobby April III linebackers coach. He's from the Rex Ryan tree. He was the LB coach at Jets and Buffalo coaching the likes of Calvin Pace, Demario Davis, David Harris, Zach Brown and Jerry Hughes. He also coached Zach Baun who was drafted in the 3rd round last year.

Fun fact 1: Jerry Gray was his defensive coordinator when he signed as an UDFA and he also knows Mike Smith from the Jets and Ryan Downard from Cleveland.

Fun Fact 2: He played alongside Ed Reed, Champ Bailey and Darrelle Revis. Impressive company.

Other staff: Roy Anderson (Vikings), Ed Reed (Miami U), Brian Fleury (49ers), Bobby Babich (Bills), Jason Rebrovich (Jags)

He can look at staff associated with Vic Fangio,  Chuck Pagano, Dennis Thurman, Mike Pettine, Rex Ryan and Bob Sutton. I think he has some good options. There could be some ex-teammates who are now coaches who he might consider.

Its clear if LaFleur wants stability then Leonhard is the man to get.

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1 hour ago, CWood21 said:

Because we've heard it for the last decade and a half since this websites' inception.  With the exception of TJ Watt (who got universal hate for some reason), anytime a halfway decent Wisconsin player is draft-eligible there's a fawning over them.  People were convinced that Vince Biegel was on a similar level as TJ Watt, if not better.  Jonathan Taylor would be a top 10 RB entering the league.  Remember the Jared Abberderis fan club?

Taylor is very good, the Watt's are excellent, they develop great OL and TEs, had some useful EDGE and ILB prospects. I don't see any reason why the Badgers wouldn't be a well you can be confident to tap from? Seems like there is some bias against coming from you.

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1 hour ago, Rainmaker90 said:

Leonard has been considered for other jobs I'm pretty sure.

 

My question is, what is the difference between him and Pettine (legitimate question, I am not a Badgers fan) ? Does he call his D more like Rex or Pettine? 

I don't think he calls it like either to be honest. It gets lost in the translation sometimes, but Leonard sort of merged the Ryan/Pettine style defense with that implemented by Aranda/Wilcox. Much more cerebral and attacking, emphasis on the defense dictating pace vs being reactionary to the offense. 

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2 hours ago, CWood21 said:

Because we've heard it for the last decade and a half since this websites' inception.  With the exception of TJ Watt (who got universal hate for some reason), anytime a halfway decent Wisconsin player is draft-eligible there's a fawning over them.  People were convinced that Vince Biegel was on a similar level as TJ Watt, if not better.  Jonathan Taylor would be a top 10 RB entering the league.  Remember the Jared Abberderis fan club?

If by people, you mean Justo?

TJ Watt was loved by many around here.

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Next is Ejiro Evero.

He went undrafted and briefly landed at Oakland but never played. Rob Ryan was coordinator and Charles Woodson was there before he joined the Packers a few years later.

He was on the star studded Kiffins 2007 Tampa defensive staff where nearly everyone later went on to become head coach or coordinator (Gus Bradley, Raheem Morris, Jimmy Lake and Todd Wash). He can't hire any of them but he can hire people associated with those coaches.

His next stop was at San Francisco. The coordinator at the time was Greg Manusky who is currently a quality control assistant at Kentucky. His background is linebackers so he's a viable option for Evero to bring in. Jim Tomsula too at DL. He meets also meets Vance Josephs the current Arizona coordinator there.

The following season Vic Fangio arrives. For the next 4 seasons he has Jim Leavitt the SMU coordinator and Ed Donatell the Broncos coordinator on his staff.  Other than Peter Hansen the UNLV coordinator there's few options for Evero to consider.

2015 Eric Mangini comes along as 49ers next coordinator. Since that disaster he has been out of the NFL ever since. I wonder what he's doing now. That staff is a dumpster fire, can't see Evero dipping to that pool of coaches.

Joins the Packers in 2016 under Dom Capers. Woodson was gone by then. He knows our DL coach Montgomery. I would be very surprised if the Packers let him rehire any of the staff that were let go.

I think it is the Rams staff where he finally has some options. Bill Johnson the DL coach at the time is currently an analyst for LSU. Chris Shula is possibly an option for him to bring along. Thad Bogardus the assistant DL coach and Jonathan Cooley the quality control coach are also options.

Whilst Ejiro Evero may be well versed in different defences and is well travelled but it doesn't look like there's a great pool of coaches for him to choose from. He will also have to compete with Morris, Bradley and Staley for new position coaches. However he can seek recommendations from the likes of Harbaugh, Phillips, Kiffin and Fangio.

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3 hours ago, Packerraymond said:

If he was a DC at a major program like OSU, Michigan, LSU, Bama, etc... People would still be quite excited. I think you're completely wrong if you feel otherwise.

We really arguing the fact that people will be a bit more excited because he's from UW? Seems pointless.

Then why aren't we discussing Pete Golding (Alabama) or Kerry Coombs (Ohio State) as potential DC candidates?  I believe Leonhard is the only DC candidate they've interviewed from the college ranks.  Look, he might actually be a good DC, but there's nothing that suggests he's above the other candidates.

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7 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Then why aren't we discussing Pete Golding (Alabama) or Kerry Coombs (Ohio State) as potential DC candidates?  I believe Leonhard is the only DC candidate they've interviewed from the college ranks.  Look, he might actually be a good DC, but there's nothing that suggests he's above the other candidates.

Maybe because their defenses haven't been ranked in the top 5 for all four of the past four years? Consistent top defense might be an important stat for MLF.

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8 minutes ago, BluePacker said:

Maybe because their defenses haven't been ranked in the top 5 for all four of the past four years? Consistent top defense might be an important stat for MLF.

Also, tOSU and Alabama are coaching many 5 star players.

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20 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

Then why aren't we discussing Pete Golding (Alabama) or Kerry Coombs (Ohio State) as potential DC candidates?  I believe Leonhard is the only DC candidate they've interviewed from the college ranks.  Look, he might actually be a good DC, but there's nothing that suggests he's above the other candidates.

Because they haven interviewed for our DC position?

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