Acme Packing Company
Jeff Hafley’s poaching of the Green Bay Packers’ coaching staff has officially begun. On Monday, Aaron Wilson of KPRC in Houston reported that the new Miami Dolphins head coach is bringing the Packers’ defensive backs coach, Ryan Downard, with him to Miami.
Wilson did not report details on what Downard’s responsibilities will be with the Dolphins. Hafley has not yet named a defensive coordinator, and there is at least a possibility that Downard will end up in that role with Hafley still potentially calling the defensive plays for the Dolphins.
Downard spent three years as the defensive backs coach for the Packers, doing so first under coordinator Joe Barry prior to Hafley’s hiring in 2024. Prior to that promotion, he was the team’s safeties coach in 2022, when the team split up coaching duties between the safeties and corners.
Prior to that, Downard was a holdover from the pre-Matt LaFleur era in Green Bay, as he joined the defensive staff as a quality control coach during Mike Pettine’s first year as defensive coordinator in 2018. He then earned a promotion to assistant DBs coach in 2019 for LaFleur’s first season. Downard’s arrival in Green Bay was likely due in part to Pettine’s hiring, as he had worked with Pettine previously; he served as a defensive assistant with the Cleveland Browns during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, when Pettine was the Browns’ head coach. He then spent two years working in college football at Bowling Green before rejoining Pettine.
The Packers will need to determine how to replace Downard’s duties on the staff of new coordinator Jonathan Gannon. One potential candidate is Derrick Ansley, who was the team’s defensive passing game coordinator for the past two years and who is an experienced defensive backs coach at both the NFL and college levels.
Additionally, there could be more departures from Green Bay coming if Hafley plans to bring other members of his team from the past two years with him to Miami. Sean Duggan, the Packers’ linebackers coach, is another strong candidate to join Hafley, as the two have worked together continuously since 2019 when Hafley was the co-defensive coordinator at Ohio State.
