Matt LaFleur and Green Bay Packers May Have Felt Pressure to Hire Jonathan Gannon
Rushed decision or smart strategy? The Green Bay Packers snagged Jonathan Gannon amid rival interest, potentially overlooking another top defensive coordinator candidate.
Video Transcript
All right, you ready for my rankings?
All right.
Let's start at number seven, and I'll tell you who it is.
Number seven, I have coach number four at number seven.
One, two, three, four.
That is DeMarcus Covington.
Okay.
He is the defensive line coach of the Packers.
In 2024, he was the defensive coordinator for the Patriots under Jerod Mayo.
Yep, that's a good place for him.
Number seven is perfect.
Okay.
No, no, no offense, but that's a- No offense taken on him.
Ranking six, I have coach number five.
Five, let's see, one, two, three, four, five.
That is Jim Leonard.
He- I thought so.
The former.
Yep, okay, former Wisconsin.
Former NFL safety.
He played at Wisconsin.
He coached at Wisconsin as a defensive coordinator.
I forget which coach was fired, but he took over as interim head coach.
Yeah, and he's now the assistant head game coordinator in Denver.
Okay.
Denver's.
Yeah... Defense is stinky, so, they just rush the quarterback very well.
Yep.
All right, number five, I have coach two, two.
That is Christian Parker.
So, he is the pass game coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Mm-hmm.
He has already interviewed with the Packers.
Okay.
He was a quality control coach under LaFleur.
Couple years ago.
And interestingly, he interviewed for the defensive coordinator position.
Before Jeff Hafley got it.
Okay, so he might be higher on the Packers' list from.
Yep... From that historical.
All right, number four, I have Coach One, the former defensive back.
Al Harris.
He was a Hall of Famer for the Packers.
Yep.
He coached DBs for the Chiefs, the Cowboys, most recently the Bears.
And he's currently their pass game coord.
Okay.
Oh, he's the Bears' pass game coordinator?
Yeah, Bears' pass game coordinator, yep.
They give up a boatload of points.
I like him there.
They just turn, they just force a bunch of turnovers.
They, they, they force a bunch of turnovers.
You get the bonus of stealing somebody from the Bears, too.
In that, in that case.
Yeah, definitely.
Definitely.
All right, top three, drumroll.
All right, number three is coach six.
Six.
That is Jonathan Gannon.
Who was just fired.
Oh... By the Arizona Cardinals.
He, he was defensive coordinator with the Eagles, when they lost to the...
The, what was it?
The, the Chiefs in Super Bowl.
The Chiefs.
Yep.
I actually, I wouldn't hate that.
I wouldn't hate that at all.
He's a good coordinator.
All right, coach number two is coach seven.
Seven.
That's Raheem Morris, who was just- Oh, ho, ho, okay!
Raheem Morris, just fired by the Atlanta Falcons.
Wow.
He had stints as a head coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Falcons.
Obviously.
He was a Super Bowl-winning defensive coordinator with the Rams a couple years ago.
Yeah, okay.
Him and LaFleur coached together with the Rams, with the, with Washington, and apparently they're really good buddies.
I wouldn't, I definitely wouldn't hate that, and that leaves one guy left.
Yep.
Coach number three is my, is my ranking.
Or is my top guy.
Three, interestingly.
Interesting.
I don't know much about this guy, but his name is Deronte Jones.
Okay?
Okay.
He's the Minnesota Vikings' pass game coordinator, and defensive backs coach.
He was a defense coordinator at LSU, and if you look at kind of his resume, He's coached DBs in college and in the NFL all over the place.
I don't like it.
I w- I want to take that back.
I would flip.
You want to switch it around?
Okay.
I would flip- I would put Raheem Morris first.
Okay.
And the reason, the reason behind it is, I don't know how I got coach three up there.
I must have just got excited.
But, um, you heard he coached with Bri- with Flores.
I bet.
Okay.
Oh, that's exactly what it was!
Yep.
I like Brian Flores.
That was, that was what it was, 'cause that gets you a little bit of newness to you.
Yep.
But I would say this, like, we talked on our, on our last couple shows about maybe LaFleur needs a little bit of juice with his coordinators, right?
Mm-hmm.
A little bit of that veteran-ness to him, Because some of the mistakes he makes, right?
We talk about him being frantic.
We talk about him, you know, with all the, you know, all of the stuff.
Basically, go back and watch our last episode, and, and, and kind of hear us talk about him, because he could use a little bit of that that m-maybe not so much he was lacking, but it could just continue to, to get guys in there that have been there, done that.
Mm-hmm.
And can be a real asset to him going.
