Here’s Why Packers Coach Matt LaFleur Can’t Get This Hire Wrong

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur made the most important hire of his tenure when he selected Jonathan Gannon to be his new defensive coordinator.

Former Arizona Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon addresses the media before the start of training camp in 2024. | Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

With the departure of Jeff Hafley, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur once again had to search for a defensive coordinator in the midst of a championship window.

Despite a monumental collapse to end the 2025 season, the reality is the Packers are talented enough to compete for a Super Bowl as soon as 2026.

That made LaFleur’s search for a defensive coordinator, which ended on Sunday with the selection of former Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon, the most important hire of his tenure. LaFleur’s job is secure going into 2026 after receiving a contract extension, but patience on the outside is wearing thin. The Packers have not won a championship since the 2010 season, with LaFleur having won just one playoff game since losing in the 2020 NFC Championship Game.

Winning is not just an expectation in Green Bay. It is demanded. The trophy that the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots will play for next week has the name of Green Bay’s greatest coach engraved on it.

General manager Brian Gutekunst could not have made his expectations any clearer when he stated bluntly at this time a year ago that it was time for his team to start competing for championships. Just before the regular season, Gutekunst put his money where his mouth was by trading for defensive end Micah Parsons at the cost of two first-round picks.

It was a seismic move, and one that Green Bay has rarely made. It marked the first time the Packers moved a first-round pick for a player since Ron Wolf traded for Brett Favre.

The Packers looked like they were on their way to meeting their championship aspirations when they took a 9-3-1 record into a mid-December game at Denver.

Of course, disaster struck from there, and the Packers did not win another game after Parsons tore his ACL. A five-game losing streak was followed by turnover in the coaching staff with Hafley taking over the Miami Dolphins and bringing defensive assistants Sean Duggan and Ryan Downard along for the ride.

Before picking Gannon, LaFleur had hired just one defensive coordinator. Mike Pettine, who he inherited from Mike McCarthy’s staff, was allowed to leave after the 2020 season ended with a NFC Championship Game loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Pettine’s replacement came down to three names.

Jim Leonhard, who was the defensive coordinator for the Wisconsin Badgers, pulled out of the search before there was an official offer on the table. Ejiro Evero has been successful in Denver and Carolina since interviewing for the job in Green Bay and is seen as a potential head coach.

Then, of course, there was the man LaFleur ended up hiring, Joe Barry.

Second Hire for Matt LaFleur

Of the three candidates, Barry had the most experience coordinating a defense after failed stints in Detroit and Washington. Barry’s tenure was only slightly more successful in Green Bay. Indeed, it was messy as he was running a system he was not overly familiar with, and the Packers’ defense was never good enough in the biggest moments against the best teams.

Ultimately, what the hiring of Barry did was help the Packers fall short in the final two seasons with Aaron Rodgers under center. It wasn’t good enough in the first season without Rodgers, either, and LaFleur finally made the decision to move on after three below-average seasons.

The hiring of Hafley was a success because he was promoted. If other teams do not want your assistant coaches, you probably don’t have the right guys on your staff. Hafley’s success, combined with a disappointing finish to the 2025 season, put a lot of pressure on LaFleur to get this hire right.

Pressure is a privilege, or something that you put in tires, depending on who you ask, but it comes with the territory of being the Packers’ head coach.

After kicking the tires on a variety of candidates that included some potentially popular hires such as Leonhard and former Packers cornerback Al Harris, LaFleur went with the experience possessed by Gannon.

Gannon made his name as a defensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles, helping guide their defense to the Super Bowl in 2022, where they lost to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

LaFleur has not spoken to the media since his contract extension and the hiring of Gannon, but the guess is LaFleur values the experience that Gannon brings as a former head coach and defensive play-caller. Of the known candidates that interviewed for the opening, Gannon was the only one who had called plays defensively in the NFL.

When hiring a coordinator, sometimes it’s guesswork. Could Leonhard turn into a great defensive play-caller in the NFL? Sure. Could Christian Parker have done the same thing? Absolutely.

There is, however, an unknown to those candidates, as well as anyone who has not been a play-caller at this level.

Pressure to Produce

The Packers do not have time to waste as they enter the 2026 season. Their division is set to be tougher than ever. Chicago went from worst to first in the NFC North and could be poised to take another step. Detroit, which won the division in 2023 and 2024, will play a last-place schedule. Minnesota could take a huge jump if quarterback J.J. McCarthy pans out.

Simply put, Green Bay’s defense cannot afford to go through growing pains due to an inexperienced coordinator.

To state the obvious, LaFleur cannot afford this hire to fail. If LaFleur found himself someone like Hafley, or better, the Packers can contend for a Super Bowl and feel good about their chances of winning a title before the contract inflection points of Jordan Love and Parsons following the 2027 season.

If LaFleur went with an unknown like Leonhard and his tenure looked more like Barry’s, the Packers would likely get absolutely nothing out of their bold move for Parsons and they’d probably waste the talented roster that Gutekunst has built since trading Rodgers.

For that reason alone, there is no question what the hiring of Gannon means for LaFleur as he chases his first Super Bowl title.

If he hopes to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, the hiring of Gannon has to be a stroke of genius.

If it isn’t, the Packers might be looking for more than just a new defensive coordinator. 

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