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


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PackersWire -

The Xs and Os of a scheme are always important when finding a new coordinator, but Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers are also looking for the right type of mentality in the team’s next defensive coordinator.

LaFleur, who decided to move on from Mike Pettine after his contract expired, said he wanted “new leadership” on defense in 2021. And although he didn’t get into specifics, he said he has a “clear vision” of what type of candidate he’s looking for.

“I think if you look at the great defenses around the league, there’s a certain mentality that comes with that,” LaFleur said. “And it’s not necessarily what you’re calling, but how you’re playing every call. I do think that there’s some areas where we can continue to educate our players and be great in those situations so that if it’s a third down and short, that you’re not playing way off. You don’t want to give up any freebies. You want to make people earn every inch out there on the grass.”

LaFleur said he wants his defense to “swarm” and “give great energy and effort.”

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Chris Harris is the odd one out of all the candidates as he hails from a different coaching tree.

He obviously got a good reputation otherwise LaFleur would not be looking at him.

In his playing career he knows Lovie Smith, Ron Rivera, Jim Schwartz, John Pagano and Rod Marinelli so can lean on them for advice.

He can bring Perry Fewell with him if he wants to return to coaching. There's also Gill Byrd who is the defensive backs coach for Illinois.

He could bring back Trgovac, he was actually his coordinator at Carolina.

In his 2nd stint at the Bears, Mike Phair was the DL coach. He is currently a free agent.

I see he knows Bob Babich on a number of teams so there's a good chance he also knows his son Bobby Babich the Bills safeties coach. He also knows Chris Shula the outside linebackers coach from LA Rams.

From 2016 he spent 3 years with the Chargers as an assistant DB coach and will have strong relationships with Anthony Lynn and Gus Bradley. He helped coach the likes of Darwin James and Casey Hayward. Sadly for Harris most of Gus Bradley staff has been rehired elsewhere.

Now I've just figured out the reason for his coordinator interview. He knows the Seattle defence because of Gus Bradley, the same system Saleh runs. He's not the odd one out after all!! 😄

He landed his first position coaching gig last year with Washington returning back to the defence he played in Chicago under Ron Rivera. LaFleur isn't particularly interested in that, it is his time with the Chargers that is of interest to him.

Too lazy to check but Tom Grossi on his youtube channel said Washington had the 2nd best passing defence in the NFL. Not bad for his 1st year as a position coach, the elite DL certainly helped though. He has some coaching options such as Bug Rivera (still very young though) and Jeff Zgonina who I previously said was fired by Shanahan.

For the most part the coaches he has learned from is mediocre with few candidates he could hire if he was coordinator but he has done some interesting things and is clearly developing a reputation within coaching circles.

Edited by Chili
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32 minutes ago, Leader said:

LaFleur said he wants his defense to “swarm” and “give great energy and effort.”

Based on that statement it's either Jim Leonard, Chris Harris or Ryan Nielsen.

It would push Evero out of the running as he is softly spoken, cerebral type.

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1 hour ago, Chili said:

I'm not a Wisconsinite. Have absolutely nothing to do with the state. I don't watch or support college football.

Yet I was yelling at my TV for the Packers to draft TJ Watt. He was such an obvious pick especially with our declining pass rush of Matthews and Perry. I wasn't demanding him because of his brother but because of his college highlight tape which looked really really good.

I knew corner was a need but after spending high picks on corners year after year I felt it was time for us to pay attention to the pass rush. 9 years after drafting Matthews we only used a first round pick just once on a pass rusher which was Nick Perry.

Then TT went ahead and drafted King. Why didn't anyone in the war room fight him on this?

People forget Kevin King was rated somewhere 25-35 on big boards, a 6'3 CB with one of the best 3 cones in the entire draft, 32" arms, a 4.4 40 and a 40" vert. Far from a slouch. I was jacked with the pick.

I still think King can be an All-Pro with a scheme that plays to players strengths and not scheme specifics. Belicheck could replace Gilmore with him in a heartbeat I bet.

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2 hours ago, Chili said:

I'm not a Wisconsinite. Have absolutely nothing to do with the state. I don't watch or support college football.

Yet I was yelling at my TV for the Packers to draft TJ Watt. He was such an obvious pick especially with our declining pass rush of Matthews and Perry. I wasn't demanding him because of his brother but because of his college highlight tape which looked really really good.

I knew corner was a need but after spending high picks on corners year after year I felt it was time for us to pay attention to the pass rush. 9 years after drafting Matthews we only used a first round pick just once on a pass rusher which was Nick Perry.

Then TT went ahead and drafted King. Why didn't anyone in the war room fight him on this?

Everyone's college highlight tapes are going to look good, they're highlight reels. lol.

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56 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

People forget Kevin King was rated somewhere 25-35 on big boards, a 6'3 CB with one of the best 3 cones in the entire draft, 32" arms, a 4.4 40 and a 40" vert. Far from a slouch. I was jacked with the pick.

I still think King can be an All-Pro with a scheme that plays to players strengths and not scheme specifics. Belicheck could replace Gilmore with him in a heartbeat I bet.

You have more faith in him than me.  All Pro?  What the heck kind of scheme would he have to be in then?  The scheme Pettine had must have been the worst possible one for him ... and staying healthy wouldn't hurt.  

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16 minutes ago, coachbuns said:

You have more faith in him than me.  All Pro?  What the heck kind of scheme would he have to be in then?  The scheme Pettine had must have been the worst possible one for him ... and staying healthy wouldn't hurt.  

Jim Bates ran a scheme here in ‘05 that would’ve been perfect for King.

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1 hour ago, coachbuns said:

You have more faith in him than me.  All Pro?  What the heck kind of scheme would he have to be in then?  The scheme Pettine had must have been the worst possible one for him ... and staying healthy wouldn't hurt.  

He's not an off coverage guy. He needs to play press man, or press and bail in a cover 2/3 look. 

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6 hours ago, Packerraymond said:

I was jacked with the pick.

As was I.  And I was a TJ Watt fan.  He was what you dreamed up your CB prospects.  The only thing he really lacked was the tape.  He really only had 1 year of strong tape at CB.

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