Packer Central

Here’s Why Packers Are Promoting Sean Duggan to Linebackers Coach

Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and assistant Sean Duggan have been together so long that “we’re starting to think alike.”
Bill Huber|
Sean Duggan is shown while a linebacker at Boston College in 2012.
Sean Duggan is shown while a linebacker at Boston College in 2012. | Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – According to NFL Network, the Green Bay Packers are “expected” to promote Sean Duggan to linebackers coach, filling the void created when Anthony Campanile was named defensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The decision is anything but a surprise.

When Hafley was defensive coordinator at Ohio State in 2019, Duggan was a graduate assistant. When Hafley became head coach at Boston College in 2020, he brought Duggan to be his linebackers coach. When Hafley became the Packers’ defensive coordinator in 2024, Duggan followed him as a defensive assistant.

“Coach Haf and I, we always sat next to each other on gameday in the press box,” Duggan said during his introductory news conference at Boston College in 2020. “Developed a relationship off the field, just talking ball.

“He’s one of the smartest coaches and one of the best people I’ve ever been around. Just getting to know him and picking his brain on certain things was an unbelievable opportunity for me at Ohio State. When he asked me to come back, it was like, ‘Pinch me.’ I jumped at the opportunity.”

At Boston College in 2023, Hafley promoted Duggan to co-defensive coordinator.

“After working with Sean at Ohio State,” Hafley said in 2020, “he was a guy who jumped out that, if I ever landed a head job, I have to hire this guy. He is smart, reliable, sees things on gameday and really understands the big picture. He is well advanced beyond his years and has a chance to be a superstar in our profession.”

Hafley and Duggan have been together for six seasons. That relationship paid dividends when Xavier McKinney had a sack against Houston.

“Sean Duggan sits next to me in the booth,” Hafley said. “It’s me, him and we’re constantly going through the iPad. He sat next to me when I was the defensive coordinator at Ohio State. He was with me at B.C. We’re starting to think alike.

“He’s looking through the pictures and he looked at one set. He’s like, ‘Coach, you see how far this guy’s doing this. I think if we do this and this, we’ll get him.’ So, we quickly figured out how to get that done. We got it and we sacked him on that play. That was Sean Duggan coming up with that idea. It wasn’t like, ‘No, I’m not running that.’ It’s like ‘No, that’s a damn good idea,’ and it fits what we do. We were able to figure out how to communicate it to the players and we got a sack for it.”

Duggan played linebacker at Boston College. As a senior in 2014, he was a team captain. He finished his career with 115 tackles and two interceptions.

After his playing career was complete, he was a graduate assistant at Boston College in 2015, linebackers coach at Hawaii in 2016 and 2017 and linebackers coach at UMass in 2018. That set him up to join Hafley at Ohio State in 2019.

In 2020 and 2021, Duggan earned a spot on 247Sports’ 30Under30 list of the top college coaches younger than 30.

“Being a coach now, everything matters way more than you think it does when you’re a player,” Duggan said. “I’ve been very fortunate, when I was a player and a coach, to be around a lot of really smart people who have helped teach me, so I’m very fortunate in that regard.”

Duggan will have big shoes to fill. With Campanile serving as linebackers coach and defensive-run game coordinator, the Packers went from one of the worst run defenses in the NFL to one of the best. In fact, during the first five seasons under LaFleur, the Packers were 32nd in rushing yards allowed per carry. In 2024, the Packers finished third.

Duggan will take over a potentially in-flux position. Quay Walker, the first of the team’s first-round draft picks in 2022, will be back, as will explosive second-round rookie Edgerrin Cooper. Veterans Eric Wilson and Isaiah McDuffie, however, will be free agents; McDuffie played for Hafley and Duggan at Boston College.

Third year’s third-round pick, Ty’Ron Hopper, will be expected to make a big jump forward in Year 2 after barely playing as a rookie.

Duggan is the second big addition to the defensive staff. DeMarcus Covington, who was the Patriots’ defensive coordinator in 2024, is the new defensive line coach. He could take the run-game coordinator mantle, as well.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.