GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Packers may have to settle on an unproven NFL assistant or college coordinator to fill their vacant special-teams coordinator position.
Rich Bisaccia’s decision to step down as assistant head coach and special-teams coordinator has left Packers coach Matt LaFleur without many options for adding a replacement with NFL coordinator experience.
Nearly six weeks into the offseason hiring cycle, the candidate pool has been picked clean of the top special-teams candidates, leaving LaFleur with far fewer options than he would have had if Bisaccia had made his decision to step down right after the season.
There are a couple of candidates with experience but just about all of them were fired for performance reasons.
With 10 head-coaching changes in the NFL, some very good special-teams coaches became available and switched teams, including Danny Smith (Tampa Bay), Chris Tabor (Miami), Chris Horton (New York Giants), Bubba Ventrone (Los Angeles Rams), Danny Crossman (Pittsburgh), John Fassel (Tennessee) and Michael Ghobrial (Arizona).
Though not every team has announced its hirings, it appears the Packers are the only team left without a special-teams coordinator, which at least gives them the ability to take their time and interview as many candidates as possible without risk of losing out.
Just as the Cleveland Browns did in hiring Bisaccia’s assistant, Byron Storer, to become their special-teams coordinator, the Packers probably will need to identify an assistant ready to step out on his own.
There are some college coaches who might be able to handle the job, most special-teams coaches in the NFL come up through the professional ranks. Finding someone like Indianapolis’ Brian Mason or Seattle’s Jay Harbaugh, who had immediate success after coming from the college ranks, isn’t easy.
Since most of the special-teams coordinators in the NFL served as special-teams assistants first, LaFleur’s best bet may be identifying the next hot prospect. LaFleur tried that in 2021 when he elevated promising assistant Maurice Drayton, but that move was a bomb.
If LaFleur is considering some top NFL assistants, here are a couple of names he might pursue:
Joe Hastings, Indianapolis
Hastings, who had a brief NFL career as a wide receiver, was a graduate assistant (2015-’17) and offensive assistant (2018) under Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh before becoming a full-time offensive assistant at Indiana State. Ventrone, then the Colts’ special-teams coordinator, hired Hastings as his assistant and was retained after Mason was hired in 2023. A year later, Hastings was promoted to senior special-teams assistant.
The Colts have gradually improved on special teams under Mason and were considered to have one of the best units in ’25.
Luke Thompson, Jacksonville
Thompson got his start in Philadelphia under head coach Doug Pederson and special-teams coach Dave Fipp in 2019 and ’20. A year after Pederson was fired and then hired in Jacksonville, he hired Heath Farwell as special-teams coach and Thompson as his assistant. The Jaguars have had some highly ranked special-teams units since Farwell took over in ’22. The experience Thompson received under Fipp, who now is Detroit’s special-teams coach, and Farwell, should earn him some consideration for a full-time job from LaFleur or someone else in the future.
Chris Gould, Los Angeles Chargers
A punter and kicker at Virginia, Gould served as an assistant special-teams coach in Denver for two seasons before former Minnesota Vikings coordinator Ryan Ficken hired him as his assistant under Brandon Staley. When Jim Harbaugh was hired in ’24, he retained both Ficken and Gould. The Chargers have had some outstanding special-teams units under Ficken and a few middle-of-the-road.
Gould’s work with the kicking game has been notable. He worked with current Packers kicker Brandon McManus during some of his best years in Denver and coaxed three different kickers during the ’22 season into hitting 93.9% of their field goals. Over the past three seasons, undrafted free-agent kicker Cameron Dicker has hit better than 90% of his field goal attempts.
Ben Kotwicka, Baltimore
Kotwicka was part of a disastrous special-teams season for the Los Angeles Rams, but he wasn’t in charge until coach Sean McVay fired coordinator Chase Blackburn after an overtime loss to Seattle late in the season. Kotwicka took over as interim coordinator. The Rams’ Xavier Smith muffed a punt against the Seahawks in the NFC championship game that swung momentum Seattle’s way and Kotwicka was let go after the season.
The 51-year-old Kotwicka has been a special-teams coordinator with five different teams, so he’s not exactly an up-and-comer like the others. But he is trying to re-establish himself in the coaching ranks. The Ravens hired him as a senior special-teams assistant under Anthony Levine Jr., but the Packers would be able to hire him because he would be receiving a promotion to coordinator.
Devin Fitzsimmons, Seattle
Fitzsimmons was hired with coordinator Jay Harbaugh in ’24 after spending the previous three years as an assistant with Carolina and Arizona. He spent the 2023 season with the Panthers as special-teams assistant after serving in the same role with the Cardinals (2021-‘22). Prior to that, he was the special-teams coordinator/tight ends coach at Vanderbilt (2019-‘20) and assistant special-teams coach with the Detroit Lions (2014-‘18).
The Super Bowl-champion Seahawks had an outstanding year on special teams, scoring five touchdowns throughout the regular season and playoffs.
Ben Jacobs, Cincinnati
Just 37 years old, Jacobs has seven years experience as an assistant special-teams coach. He served under Blackburn in Carolina, Nate Kaczor in Washington and Darrin Simmons with the Bengals. A former undrafted NFL linebacker with Cleveland, Cincinnati and Carolina, Jacobs has real-life experience playing on special teams and has been involved with some of Simmons’ top-flight units in Cincinnati.
This article originally appeared on Packers News: Packers may have to take chance on young special-teams coach like these candidates
Reporting by Tom Silverstein, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Packers News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
