GREEN BAY, Wis. – The last time the Green Bay Packers made a seismic change in defensive philosophy was 2009, when Dom Capers was hired as defensive coordinator and installed a 3-4 scheme.

For 15 years, from Capers to Mike Pettine to Joe Barry, the 3-4 was a way of life. With the firing of Barry and the hiring of Jeff Hafley, the Packers are flipping back to the 4-3.

Why? Coach Matt LaFleur said he wasn’t necessarily looking to make a schematic change when he made the coordinator change.

“I wanted to get who I thought was the best for us,” LaFleur said on Thursday, when Hafley was introduced as defensive coordinator. “I equate putting a coaching staff together to putting a puzzle together. And how does each piece fit? And that’s an important part of it, the fit, and he just happens to run more of a 4-3. But I felt comfortable with what we had. Because the last thing you want to do is just scrap everything that you’ve got going for you, especially when you’ve got some pretty good players that have performed at a high level and guys under contract.”

To be sure, the change is noteworthy and overblown all at once. Going to a 4-3 base defense will require another starting linebacker. And switching coverage philosophies from Barry’s preferred Cover-2 to Hafley’s Cover-1 and Cover-3 schemes will demand a new type of safety.

Those are important changes.

At the same time, as general manager Brian Gutekunst said earlier this month, “this league’s a 4-2-5 league.” That 4-2-5 is the universal nickel package run by every team in the NFL. That’s four men up front, two linebackers and five defensive backs. Green Bay operated out of that look about two-thirds of the time in 2023. The 11 men on the field for the season-ending loss at San Francisco with Barry as coordinator might be the same 11 men on the field for a hypothetical rematch with Hafley as coordinator if played today.

Still, about 30 percent of the time, the Packers will line up in a 4-3. Depending on the future of high-priced veteran De’Vondre Campbell, the Packers might enter the 2023 NFL Draft looking for a third linebacker to join Quay Walker and Isaiah McDuffie. Even if Campbell returns, the Packers will have to bolster their depth chart.

Will the rangy, athletic Walker be the man in the middle? About a week-and-half into the job, Hafley wasn’t ready to say.

Continue Reading @ Sports Illustrated 

Sports Illustrated wrote:

Whole article is good for some insight on the new DC. What are you WAY TOO EARLY thoughts about it?

Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 

I posted in the draft picks thread, but my questions would have just as easily been posted here. We seem to be relatively strong at IDL and weak a LB particularly MLB

Originally Posted by: Martha Careful