As NFL teams begin reporting to training camp, familiar faces are popping back up in unexpected places — and few moves are more surprising than what’s happening with the Green Bay Packers.
Nathaniel Hackett, once considered one of the league’s top offensive minds, is rejoining the Packers. But this time, he won’t be calling plays for the offense or mentoring a young quarterback. Instead, Hackett is crossing over to the other side of the ball.
“At Packers camp today — coach Matt LaFleur says former OC Nathaniel Hackett has rejoined the staff in ‘an analyst role for our defense,’” Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer posted Thursday. “This is becoming more common across the league, where an offensive coach comes in to give the defense his perspective or vice versa.”
Hackett’s return to Green Bay comes years after his most successful stretch as a coach. As the team’s offensive coordinator from 2019 to 2021, Hackett helped guide the Packers to elite offensive numbers, including a No. 1 scoring offense in 2020. That season and the next, quarterback Aaron Rodgers won back-to-back MVP awards.
But his departure from Green Bay led to two high-profile failures. Hackett’s tenure as head coach of the Denver Broncos lasted less than one season after poor game management and lackluster results. He followed that with a stint as offensive coordinator for the New York Jets, which ended after he lost play-calling duties and was quietly let go after the 2024 season.
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Now back in Green Bay, Hackett’s analyst role marks a humbling — but potentially valuable — shift. Rather than leading an offense, he’ll now work to help LaFleur’s defense gain insight from an offensive point of view. It’s an unconventional path, but perhaps the right one for a coach looking to rebuild his career from the ground up.
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