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Packers to interview former Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon for DC opening

According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the Green Bay Packers will be interviewing former Arizona Cardinals head coach and Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon for the team’s defensive coordinator vacancy this week. The Packers currently don’t have a defensive coordinator, as Jeff Hafley took the Miami Dolphins’ head coaching position. Gannon is the third known interviewee for Green Bay at the position, with the first two being Minnesota Vikings pass game coordinator/defensive backs coach Daronte Jones and Eagles pass game coordinator Christian Parker.

So far, Gannon is the first coach that Green Bay has set up an interview with who also has NFL play-calling on his resume.

From 2021 to 2022, Gannon’s Eagles were 12th in opposing passer rating (88.7). For perspective, those were during Joe Barry’s first two years in Green Bay, and the Packers were 9th with an 87.6 mark. In Arizona, Gannon didn’t call plays on defense, deferring to young defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, who was still in his 20s when he got the position, through three seasons. The Cardinals had the third-worst passer rating allowed in the NFL (98.4) during Gannon’s time with the team. Arizona went 15-36 under his watch.

One of the things that the Cardinals did well was disguise their coverage shells until the last second. This was something head coach Matt LaFleur brought up ahead of their matchup on October 19th of this year. Green Bay spent most of the game playing very slowly on offense, using every second of the play clock to run motions that would give them tells on whether the Rallis/Gannon unit was actually in the coverage that they were presenting, or whether it would be changing it post-snap.

In that Packers-Cardinals matchup, which Green Bay won 27-23, the Packers only ended up running 53 plays because of the slow pace of the game. Gannon has no prior ties to Green Bay, LaFleur or key members of the defensive staff. He has interviewed for the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator opening, but Gannon has yet to be requested for the New York Giants, New York Jets or Washington Commanders.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...r-cardinals-hc-jonathan-gannon-for-dc-opening