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With former defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley off coaching the Miami Dolphins, the biggest move that the Green Bay Packers will make this offseason will probably be who they replace Hafley with. In talking to those in the know in the coaching and coaching representation space, two names have come up consistently (throughout the year), mostly because of convenience: defensive line coach/run game coordinator Demarcus Covington and pass game coordinator Derrick Ansley, two internal candidates who came to Green Bay after previous stints as defensive coordinators in the NFL.
Along with Hafley, both Covington and Ansley each have six years of non-Packers experience as on-field coaches in the NFL, the most on the staff outside of head coach Matt LaFleur and special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia. Covington has received some defensive coordinator interest from other clubs in 2026, but the same hasn’t been said of Ansley, at least yet.
For what it’s worth, the same people who believe that Covington and Ansley could be defensive coordinator candidates in Green Bay also believe that Hafley could bring one with him at his next gig, too. Another name to know, from the Hafley end, is Jacksonville Jaguars’ linebackers coach Tem Lukabu, who was Hafley’s defensive coordinator from 2020 to 2022. Sean Duggan, the Packers’ current linebackers coach, was a linebackers coach under Lukabu and was one of two co-defensive coordinators who were promoted once Lukabu left for the NFL.
At this point, it’s unclear whether Hafley, who coached in the booth on gamedays for Green Bay, will be a sideline play-caller for the Dolphins or if he will simply be a “CEO” style head coach. Now that the Hafley talk is over, let’s steer it back to the Packers.
Other teams are going to be in the defensive coordinator market, but the teams that are hitting it the most aggressively, in terms of interviews, right now are the Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets. The Washington Commanders are also poking around, but their search is going much more slowly than the Cowboys and Jets, at least on Monday, January 19th.
Other candidates might become available down the line (teams can block lateral moves if coaches are under contract), but at least one, the Atlanta Falcons’ Jeff Ulbrich, has been taken off the board. Ulbrich will be staying with the Falcons under new head coach Kevin Stefanski. He had an interview for the Dallas Cowboys’ opening blocked by the Falcons.
A name brought up a lot by Packers fans is Raheem Morris, because of his close ties with LaFleur, but there’s some thought that he might just pivot to television (he has fans in the media) or could take a year off. Remember, when coaches are fired, their remaining salaries are still guaranteed. Morris might not be in a hurry to take a job, and he hasn’t scheduled an interview for defensive coordinator yet.
Other candidates who might become available include Miami’s Anthony Weaver, Baltimore’s Zach Orr, Cleveland’s Jim Schwartz, Tennessee’s Dennard Wilson and...
