Six Promising Assistants Who Could Replace Rich Bisaccia for Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The good news for the Green Bay Packers is there’s plenty of room for growth on special teams after four years of disappointing results under former coordinator Rich Bisaccia.

The bad news for coach Matt LaFleur is he’ll be looking at a diluted crop of candidates.

Bisaccia’s right-hand man, Byron Storer, is the new coordinator for the Browns. Former Packers safety Anthony Levine is the new coordinator for the Ravens. Craig Aukerman, who led Miami’s excellent unit, is the new coordinator for the Falcons. Michael Ghobrial, who led the Giants’ strong unit, is the new coordinator for the Cardinals. Longtime Steelers coordinator Danny Smith is the new leader of the Buccaneers.

Here are some assistant special teams coaches who might be on LaFleur’s list.

Devin Fitzsimmons, Seahawks

With Fitzsimmons as the assistant to Jay Harbaugh, Seattle finished third in our Packers On SI rankings, a 12-spot jump over 2024. It was third in kickoff-return average, third in punt-return average and fourth in kickoff coverage, serving as an impetus to the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl.

“You just want to out-coach the other guy,” Fitzsimmons told Nola.com after the Super Bowl. “You just want your players to be like, ‘That’s exactly what we talked about.’ You just want them to know the look and beat the other coach. Winning the Super Bowl was a dream come true, but we know next season will be a new chapter.”

Fitzsimmons spent the past two seasons with Harbaugh after serving as an assistant for Carolina in 2023 and Arizona in 2021 and 2022. He also was the assistant special teams coach for Detroit from 2014 through 2018.

Fitzsimmons got his start in the NFL as a quality control coach with the Colts in 2011. He played receiver and quarterback at Bucknell.

Brian Schneider, Commanders

The Commanders tied for sixth in our rankings, with Schneider serving as the assistant. He is the experienced coordinator on the market.

He was a first-time coordinator for the Raiders in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, he was the coordinator at USC under Pete Carroll. Carroll was hired by the Seahawks in 2010, and Schneider followed him to Seattle and was his coordinator from 2010 through 2020. That includes 2014, when his unit scored a touchdown on a fake field goal against Green Bay in the NFC title game. Seattle led the NFL in takeaways and blocked kicks during his tenure.

He led the Jaguars in 2021 and the 49ers from 2022 through 2024. San Francisco tied for last in our rankings in 2024.

Schneider played linebacker at Colorado State.

Colt Anderson, 49ers

The 49ers finished 11th in our rankings during Anderson’s lone season as an assistant under Brant Boyer, who is one of the best in the business. From 2020 through 2023, Anderson was an assistant for the Bengals. That set him up to be coordinator of the Titans in 2024, but they were across-the-board bad; they finished 31st in kickoff coverage and 32nd in punt coverage on the way to finishing 30th in the Packers On SI rankings.

Anderson was an NFL safety from 2010 through 2017 after an All-American career at Montana.

Joe Hastings, Colts

The Colts were the No. 1 team in our rankings in 2025, with Hastings in his fifth season as an assistant overall and his third year under coordinator Brian Mason.

Before landing in Indianapolis, Hastings worked at Michigan from 2015 through 2017, Indiana State in 2018 and 2019 and Mississippi in 2020. His focus ranged from defensive line to receivers. In 2017, he was a pro personnel assistant for the Eagles.

A receiver during his playing career, Hastings spent parts of three seasons in the NFL. He played in one game for the 49ers but did not catch a pass.

Ben Jacobs, Bengals

The Bengals were fifth in our rankings under longtime coordinator Darrin Simmons. Jacobs, who joined Simmons in 2024, played 73 games as a linebacker for the Browns (2011) and Panthers (2014 through 2018). He went straight from the playing field to the sideline, with then-Carolina coach Ron Rivera convincing Jacobs to give coaching a try.

“The initial thought was, ‘I’m not done playing yet,’” Jacobs told Panthers.com. “But then the more I sat on it and thought about it and talked to people around the league and to friends I have that are coaches and some old coaches that I had, it became the only decision that made sense – to take the job.”

He was an assistant special teams coach for the Panthers in 2019 and the Commanders from 2020 through 2023.

Luke Thompson, Jaguars

The Jaguars were 10th in our rankings in 2025 and fifth in 2024, with coordinator Heath Farwell and Thompson retained by first-year coach Liam Coen. This was his fourth season as an assistant for the Jaguars, and he helped produce a Pro Bowler each season, including punter Logan Cooke and long snapper Ross Matiscik in 2025.

Before landing in Jacksonville, he was an assistant for the Eagles in 2019 and 2020. Prior to making the jump to the NFL, he coached in the college ranks for 20 seasons, capped by being defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Lafayette College in 2017 and 2018.

Wild Card: Ben Kotwica, Ravens

One wild card would be Kotwica, who was hired last week to be an assistant special teams coach for the Ravens.

After the Rams fired Chase Blackburn late in the season, Kotwica was promoted from assistant special teams coach but was unable to create a dramatic turnaround. Rather than give Kotwica the full-time job this offseason, Rams coach Sean McVay hired Bubba Ventrone, whose unit in Cleveland last season finished 29th in our rankings.

Kotwica was an assistant for the Jets from 2007 through 2012 before becoming promoted to coordinator in 2013. He then was coordinator for Washington from 2014 through 2018 and Atlanta in 2019 and 2020. He got another coordinator opportunity for Denver in 2023 and 2024. The Broncos finished fourth in our rankings in 2024 and seventh in 2023.

Packers Must Improve

In the Packers On SI NFL special teams rankings, the Packers under Bisaccia finished 20th in 2025, 22nd in 2024, 27th in 2023 and 17th in 2022.

Longtime NFL writer Rick Gosselin, formerly of The Dallas Morning News, put together a more extensive special teams rankings for more than 20 years before retiring after the 2023 season. In the 19 seasons from 2005 through 2023, the Packers had one top-10 finish (2007) and four last-place finishes (2018, 2014, 2006 and 2005). Under LaFleur, the Packers’ best finish in the Gosselin rankings was 22nd in 2022.

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