The Green Bay Packers have found their replacement for Jeff Hafley. It's being reported that Jonathan Gannon, former head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, will be the Packers' new defensive coordinator.

Gannon was recently fired by the Cardinals after going 3-14 this season and 15-36 in his three seasons as the head coach in Arizona. 

It was a rough stint for him, and the first head coaching gig of his career could not have gone any worse.

That does not mean Gannon is a bad hire for the Packers, though.

In fact, many great coordinators have failed as head coaches at this level. Some good examples of that include Josh McDaniels, Wade Phillips, Steve Spagnuolo, and Vic Fangio, among others.

So what are the Packers getting in Gannon?

First, let's talk basics.

He's 43 years old and hails from Cleveland, Ohio. He played college ball at Louisville as a safety in 2001 and 2002, but he transitioned into coaching while he was still in school. In fact, he was a student assistant for Louisville from 2003 to 2005 and then a graduate assistant in 2006.

Gannon then jumped to the NFL, with his first gig in the league coming with the Atlanta Falcons as a defensive quality control coach in 2007. He became the assistant defensive backs coach for the Minnesota Vikings in 2014 and got his first "real" assistant coaching job with the Indianapolis Colts. He was their defensive backs coach from 2018 to 2020.

His success as an assistant in Indy led him to the Philadelphia Eagles, where he was the defensive coordinator in 2021 and 2022.

Gannon's defenses in Philly were elite.

The Eagles boasted a top-ten defense in both of his seasons as defensive coordinator. Gannon helped Philadelphia make a run to the Super Bowl in 2022, and in that campaign, the Eagles were ranked second in the NFL in total defense. They also led the league in sacks with 70. They were first in passing yards allowed and eighth in points allowed. They were also a top-10 defense in takeaways with 27, and top-five in quarterback pressures.

It was because of his time running the defense in Philly that he earned the head coaching job in Arizona. And again, that failed spectacularly, but there's no reason to doubt that Gannon can't create the success he had with the Eagles with Green Bay's defense.

Gannon is known for modeling his defenses after the Vic Fangio-inspired two-high "shell" look that has become so popular and effective in the NFL in recent years.

This defense often uses "quarters" coverage with the two high safeties covering the hashes and the No. 2 receiver, while the cornerbacks play outside leverage on the No. 1 receiver. 

This defense is meant to take away the deep shot, but it is also good for run support. The reason behind that is that the safeties key in on the No. 2 receiver or running back. If they read run, they can immediately fill the gaps and essentially create a nine-man box against the run.

This works great in Green Bay because both Xavier McKinney and Evan Williams are strong run defenders with enough athleticism to get back and cover down the seams. 

There isn't a ton of blitzing in Gannon's scheme either, as it generally relies on the front four to get after the quarterback. Gannon having a healthy Micah Parsons to play around with can almost act like a cheat code in this defense, but he'll also be responsible for getting the most out of players like Lukas Van Ness, Devonte Wyatt, Colby Wooden, Karl Brooks, Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver, amongst others.

According to ESPN's Rob Demovsky, head coach Matt LaFleur also really loved the idea of having a defensive coordinator with head-coaching experience. We know he wants to focus on the offense, so getting a coordinator who can essentially be the head coach of the defense was vital.

All in all, this is a hire that makes sense for the Packers.

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