Getty Head coach Matt LaFleur of the Green Bay Packers looks on before a game against the Chicago Bears in December 2022.
The Green Bay Packers weren’t expected to have much turnover at the top of the coaching staff this offseason, but it now appears that things may have changed.
Most recently, one of the team’s newest additions interviewed for a head coaching job elsewhere in the NFL. ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported on Friday, January 20, that Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia had completed a meeting with the Indianapolis Colts about their vacant position.
“The Packers current special teams coordinator [Rich Bisaccia] just interviewed for the Colts head coaching job, the team announced,” Demovsky tweeted.
Bisaccia Made Major Impact on Packers’ Special Teams Last Season
GettyGreen Bay Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia helped the unit turn around quickly after being hired in 2022.
Bisaccia’s departure from Green Bay is far from imminent, as ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported the Colts will and/or already have interviewed a dozen people for the position. However, the possibility of losing Bisaccia is no small matter for the Packers.
Bisaccia produced a successful stint as the interim head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021. His promotion followed an abrupt end to Jon Gruden’s career and ended with the Raiders losing narrowly on Wild Card Weekend to the eventual AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals.
The Packers brought in Bisaccia to repair a flawed special teams unit, which arguably cost Green Bay its shot at an NFC Championship due to a missed field goal and a blocked punt in a Division Round home game against the San Francisco 49ers.
By all accounts, Bisaccia did his job and then some simply by adding kick return specialist Keisean Nixon to the roster. Nixon didn’t even assume the roll of returner until the middle of the season but was named a first-team All-Pro with 1,009 yards and a touchdown on 35 kickoff return attempts. He also returned 11 punts for 140 yards.
Nixon proved a key cog in the Packers’ four-game win streak, which fell just short of five and would have landed Green Bay in the playoffs after a 4-8 start to the season.
Packers Could Look to Mike LaFleur as New Offensive Coordinator
GettyFormer New York Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur looks on prior to a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium on December 5, 2021 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
Bisaccia isn’t the only Packers coordinator whose position is potentially in question.
Head coach Matt LaFleur told media members on January 9 that he didn’t expect serious turnover on his staff, particularly at the top.
“I don’t really anticipate a whole lot, if any, staff changes at all,” LaFleur said. “I think that although it wasn’t always pretty, I did think we started to improve as the year went on. I thought we saw more of an identity. I certainly thought we played well enough to win on the defensive side of the ball.”
LaFleur’s comments were initially made in reference to a question about defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s future. However, just two days later, the New York Jets announced they had fired offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, who is Matt LaFleur’s younger brother.
Green Bay requested permission to interview Mike LaFleur back in 2019 when he was with the 49ers, but San Francisco declined. The Packers went on to hire Nathaniel Hackett, and to considerable success. Former offensive line coach Adam Stenavich stepped into the offensive coordinator role last season when Hackett departed to serve as head coach of the Denver Broncos.
Hackett was out in Denver before finishing his first season, but is back on the market already. With the Packers’ former OC in Hackett, and the guy Green Bay arguably wanted even more than him for the job three years ago in Mike LaFleur, now both available, it is possible that Matt LaFleur re-evaluates his options.
Despite back-to-back MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers playing under center, the Packers’ passing offense took a dramatic step back in 2022, the biggest changes being the departure of wide receiver Davante Adams to Las Vegas and the arrival of Stenavich in the position of offensive coordinator.