How Will the Packers Handle Losing Assistant Coaches?

Nathaniel Hackett has been a key member of Matt LaFleur’s coaching staff since day one, but sooner or later he’s going to move on to a bigger opportunity.

I’m really happy for Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. 

This week, he’s interviewed with the Atlanta Falcons for their available head coaching job, and that’s exciting news for an exciting, up-and-coming coach.

Obviously, this is bad news for the Packers. Losing Hackett would be a big blow. As the offensive coordinator, he's a big part of game-planning with Matt LaFleur. He’s also responsible for their red zone (or gold zone) packages and play designs. And, in large part because of Hackett’s work, the Packers have been dynamite in the red zone over the past two years. Losing Hackett would be a big blow in that respect alone.

Nathaniel Hackett’s interview means the Packers are doing something right

But the fact that Hackett is getting an interview is also good news for the Packers in a way. If your coaches are getting interviews for head coaching positions, that generally means you’re doing something really well. And the Packers are doing something really well. They’ve had a lot of success over the past two years, and Hackett has been a big part of it. Now he’s getting some recognition from around the league. Even if he doesn’t get the job, it’s good for him to start getting interviews. 

Hackett has had an interesting journey to this point. His coaching resume has some stops on it that probably make him look a bit weaker as a head coaching candidate than he actually is — spending time in Buffalo and Jacksonville has a way of doing that to you. That’s why, from a gut feel standpoint, I think Hackett’s about a year away from getting a real shot at a head coaching job. He feels like the kind of guy who’d really benefit from a year of buzz, one of those situations where everybody’s doing the “Hey, who’s this Hackett guy? He’s doing some great stuff. He’s probably the next big thing in coaching! Somebody should snap him up.” 

How will the Packers handle losing assistant coaches?

But whether it's now or a year from now, the Packers are going to have to deal with this sooner or later. And that’s why I think that the Packers are going to have to make preserving their culture a big priority. One of the biggest changes (and biggest successes) of the Matt LaFleur era has been cleaning out the cobwebs of the latter Mike McCarthy years. You can talk about Aaron Rodgers being in year two of the LaFleur system as a big driver of this year’s success, and that’s true, but another big reason the Packers have thrived is because of the culture LaFleur and the rest of his staff have put in place. 

Of course, it's easy for the culture to be great when you're 26-6 over the past two years, but I don't think it's really debatable that the culture is vastly different now than it was even in 2016, which probably represents the last good season under McCarthy — and it’s even hard to call that a good season. As good as the “run the table” run was, there were plenty of moments that year when it seemed like that team was on the brink of total collapse, especially during their four-game losing streak. It's really hard to envision this version of the Packers having that kind of long downswing where everything seems to be going poorly. 

Preserving a culture that feels that way is, at some point, going to involve replacing guys like Hackett when they leave. Finding the next Nathaniel Hackett is going to be a big part of future success for this Packers organization. I am interested to see how Matt LaFleur handles stuff like that. When he has to start making tough decisions like that, who does he go with? The Packers have bungled the assistant coach thing under LaFleur at least once. If you look back at the Darren Rizzi hire/non-hire, it seems the Packers got in LaFleur’s way. Eventually, he’s going to have to make key decisions again, and it will be interesting to see how it goes.

In the meantime, guys like Nathaniel Hackett are going to start getting opportunities. I'm interested to see how the Packers handle them

This post is an adapted transcript from the most recent episode of Blue 58 —A Packers Podcast from The Power Sweep. If you found this post helpful, listen to the full episode below and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you prefer to listen.