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It has officially been reported that Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers are hiring Jonathan Gannon as the next Defensive Coordinator.
Gannon spent the last three seasons as the Arizona Cardinals head coach, compiling a 15-36 (.294) record, where his best season was the 2024 season where Arizona finished 8-9 in Third Place in the NFC West.
Gannon didn’t call plays for the Cardinals defense, but only two NFL teams gave up more points than Arizona during Gannon’s three seasons.
Prior to Arizona, he was the Philadelphia Eagles DC in 2021 and 2022. Prior to that he had various stops as a defensive backs and/or quality control coach.
Just a random stat that may not mean anything: According to Sumer Sports, Arizona blitzed 26% of the time in 2025. For reference, the Packers blitzed 21% of the time in 2025.
I’m absolutely shocked by this hire. I thought Matt was going to hire Raheem Morris, but I was rooting for Jim Leonhard to be the next defensive coordinator.
I’m pretty bummed out and disappointed that Matt didn’t wait to at least give Leonhard an interview.
I am not a fan at all on the Gannon hiring, but I’ll give him a chance.
This is LaFleur’s most important hire of his Green Bay tenure. The defense has to be good enough to win a Super Bowl, probably within the next two seasons. It’s paramount that he got this hire right and Gannon can lead the unit to a top defense.
Let’s hope he got it right! Time will tell.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments!