The Green Bay Packers are moving to a new schematic world under defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. Matt LaFleur decided to hire the former Philadelphia Eagles DC and Arizona Cardinals head coach as his next defensive coordinator to replace Jeff Hafley, and most likely that means going back to a 3-4 base.
But that’s just a small part of what the defensive adjustments will mean for the defense. These days, teams play nickel packages around 70% of the time anyway, so the base only matters to a certain extent. The rest of the changes are much more intriguing.
Cody Alexander, from MatchQuarters, called Gannon’s defense a “unique system of hybrid fronts and college-style coverages.”
Gannon ran a Vic Fangio-style scheme in Philly, but he also worked under Mike Zimmer on the Minnesota Vikings and Matt Eberflus on the Indianapolis Colts. That’s more than enough schematic flexibility in his background to make necessary adaptations.
Differences from Hafley to Gannon
In addition to running a 4-3 base, Jeff Hafley used primarily Cover 3 and 2 — in an ideal world, in this order. Hafley had to lean on disguised pressures without the defensive talent upfront back in 2024, which worked and showed his adaptability, but it’s not what he likes to do.It is what Gannon likes to do. Disguised pressures and coverages were a big part of Gannon’s identity with the Cardinals — you can reasonably argue that the results weren’t any good, but the defensive talent had obvious deficiencies and went to a rebuild in 2025.
Gannon will prioritize five-man fronts and a heavy usage of quarters coverage. Nobody in the entire league had a higher-rate of Cover 4 in 2025. Gannon runs a decent share of man coverage when needed, and Cover 1 is his preferred coverage when he does that.
He doesn’t rely on blitzes too much, but disguises and stunts tend to be a big part of his weekly plan — which bodes well with the Packers’ disrupting defensive line personnel.
Adaptability
In the real world, though, coaches have to adapt. During his time with the Eagles and Cardinals, Gannon talked about his priority to adjust his scheme to the players he has at disposal.“The first thing is we’ve got to figure out what our players can do, and then we’ve got to put them in those situations as much as possible to utilize their strengths,” Gannon once said. “The main thing for us is, it’s not what we play. It’s how we play.”
The Packers have now a special circumstance with Micah Parsons coming from the edge — and making some type of transition from a 4-3 defensive end to a 3-4 outside linebacker, which seems to fit well what he does.
Defensive personnel
One aspect in particular is intriguing for what the Packers have on defense. The Cardinals used a lot of three-safety looks — around 30% of the defensive snaps in 2025. That’s perfectly suitable for the Packers’ personnel with Xavier McKinney, Evan Williams, and Javon Bullard.The Packers will have a lot to figure out, and defensive personnel changes are realistic. But the scheme is going to inevitably look different, and Matt LaFleur isn’t shying away from a new reality even after two relatively successful seasons with Hafley at the helm.
