Getty Packers head coach Matt LaFleur could have a coaching vacancy to fill on his staff for the 2023 offseason.
The Green Bay Packers could be losing one of their most experienced defensive coaches for 2023 with another NFC team knocking at the door with a promotion.
According to NFL insider Benjamin Albright of KOA Colorado, the Atlanta Falcons have requested to interview Packers defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator Jerry Gray for their defensive coordinator vacancy and are planning to sit down with him for the interview in the upcoming week following Super Wild Card Weekend.
“Per league source: The Atlanta Falcons have requested to interview Green Bay Packers Pass Game Coordinator Jerry Gray, and plan to conduct an interview next week,” Albright tweeted on January 14. “Gray is a well-respected, longtime DBs coach and former DC for the [Buffalo] Bills and [Tennessee] Titans.”
Per league source: The Atlanta Falcons have requested to interview Green Bay Packers Pass Game Coordinator Jerry Gray, and plan to conduct an interview next week.
Gray is a well respected long time DBs coach and former DC for the Bills and Titans.
Gray has been with the Packers since he was first hired as their defensive backs coach in 2020 and has 25 years of NFL coaching experience on his resume. He has also played an instrumental role in helping star cornerback Jaire Alexander earn second-team All-Pro recognition in two of the past three seasons as well as his first-career selections to the Pro Bowl (2020, 2022). Without “O.G.” — as his players call him — the Packers would need to find a new leader for their secondary after a shaky season defensively in 2022.
The Falcons have also put in a request to interview former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores for the same coordinator vacancy, per CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson.
Gray Vied for Packers’ DC Job Before Joe Barry Hiring
Outside interest in Gray as a potential defensive coordinator candidate should come as no surprise given his wealth of experience and overall success with the Packers over the past three seasons. In fact, prior to moving into his current role as the passing game coordinator of their defense, the 60-year-old veteran coach interviewed for the Packers’ own coordinator vacancy following the 2020 season after Mike Pettine was relieved.
Gray, who was 1985 first-round pick and four-time Pro Bowler as a cornerback, has held the defensive coordinator role multiple times in the past. He was the leader of the Buffalo Bills defense from 2001 to 2005 and then took up the post again for the Tennessee Titans from 2011 to 2013. He also spent six years as a defensive backs coach for the Minnesota Vikings on Mike Zimmer’s coaching staff before arriving in Green Bay.
The Packers ultimately decided against promoting Gray as their defensive coordinator and instead went with Joe Barry, who touted an impressive unit in 2021 that finished as the 10th-best passing defense and 11th-best rushing defense. Unfortunately, the unit faltered in Barry’s second season with lackluster pass rushing and the seventh-worst run defense in the league; although, Gray’s secondary still helped the Packers finish the year as the sixth-best passing defense.
Packers Not Planning to Make Any Staff Changes for 2023
There is no denying the Packers fell far short of expectations in 2022. They finished with a losing record (8-9) for the first time in four years under head coach Matt LaFleur and were eliminated from the playoffs in heartbreaking fashion after suffering a Week 18 loss to the Detroit Lions in front of their home crowd at Lambeau Field. And no matter how you spin it, the coaching staff deserves a chunk of the blame for the collapse.
LaFleur, however, told reporters during his end-of-season press conference on January 9 that he does not anticipate making any changes to his coaching staff in the 2023 offseason, even as fans call for Barry’s job for the defense’s regression this season.
“I don’t really anticipate a whole lot, if any staff changes at all,” LaFleur said. “Certainly I think there’s a lot of things that all of us can improve upon, most notably myself. But I do believe in the people, not only in the locker room, but our coaching staff. And like I said, are there a lot of things that we’ve got to improve upon? Absolutely. No doubt about it.”
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Packers ‘O.G.’ Being Targeted for Promotion in NFC: Report