We can really see who Jonathan Gannon is as a coach by his coverage scheme usage.
Coverage Scheme Usage
Gannon's Cardinals called strikingly similar levels of Cover-0, Cover-1 and Cover-2 when compared with Hafley's Packers. The most notable coverage tendency displayed by the Cardinals was their propensity to play Cover-4 (or Quarters coverage).
While Gannon wasn't the man directly calling the plays, he was still central to the overall philosophy of the Cardinals defense — which called more Quarters coverage than any other unit in the NFL.
Hafley's Packers ranked 19th in the same category, preferring more frequent usage of Cover-3 and Cover-6 than Arizona.
Gannon's Eagles were also second in the league in Quarters coverage usage during his final year there.
Quarters is an inherently conservative coverage. It is designed to limit explosive passing plays by eliminating concepts such as four verticals. The 2025 Cardinals faced the fourth fewest deep pass attempts (20+ yards downfield).
Keeping four defenders deep can however really stretch underneath coverage defenders. Gannon's defense may ask a lot from players like Edgerrin Cooper and Javon Bullard in shallow zone coverage.
Elsewhere, Gannon's defenses have called roughly the same amount of man coverage as the Packers over the last few years. The Packers and Cardinals ranked 24th and 28th respectively in man coverage usage this past season.
One notable positive stat about Gannon's 2025 defense is that the Cardinals busted just ten coverages all season. That's the fewest of any NFL team and almost half the league average.
Coverage busts, or a lack thereof, are a characteristic of good defensive coaching. Along with the Cardinals at the top of the league in this category were Vic Fangio's Eagles, Mike Vrabel's Patriots and, of course, Jeff Hafley's Packers.
What About Blitzing?
Jeff Hafley's stark contrast in blitz tendencies between early downs and late downs is well-documented. The Packers loved sitting off on first and second down before sending pressure on third downs.
If anything, Gannon's approach is almost the opposite. While the overall blitz rates appeared similar for each team, Gannon's Cardinals actually blitzed more often on early downs and dropped back on late downs.
This adjustment may not be a welcome one for Packers fans who hated watching Joe Barry's defenses drop off and allow easy conversions on third down. Jeff Hafley's chaotic conversion-down approach may have come back to bite the Packers a few times over the past couple of seasons, but it sure was exhilarating to watch.
I'm going to stop before we get too bogged down in the defensive approach a coach has carried over the years. Don't forget Jeff Hafley played more Cover-1 than any other coach in college football before coming to Green Bay and actually diving deeper into the world of split-safety coverages instead.
The truth is, we don't know. Jonathan Gannon has never coached a player like Micah Parsons before. He alone is good enough to change your entire approach from previous years.
All we know is that the Packers are clearly fans of Jonathan Gannon. These hirings can often be just as much about culture as they are about schematic philosophy.
