Despite Matt LaFleur being snubbed for Coach of the Year, it was pretty impressive that the Green Bay Packers had two coaches in contention for the award. LaFleur and new special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia each earned votes. That means the Packers will be good on special teams now, right?
Green Bay learned from its mistake after being too cheap to land premier special teams guru Darren Rizzi in 2019. All it took was a season-ending special teams meltdown! They threw a blank check at Bisaccia following his impressive stint as interim head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. I’ve been burned before, and I won’t believe in special teams until they give me a reason to. But the Packers finally landed an experienced candidate with a good resume, and if Bisaccia is even league-average, build his statue next to Curly and Vince.
After this season’s disaster of a year, LaFleur will undoubtedly take a larger interest in special teams. After all, he took a similar approach after Mike Pettine’s defense led to similar playoff woes. It will require buy-in from the personnel side, but Bisaccia’s hiring should represent a philosophical shift to what special teams look like. Bisaccia’s hiring, along with poor performance from special teams players and a tricky cap situation, means that special teams personnel could look very different in 2022.
Barring a disastrous 2012 season and the occasional one-game meltdown, Mason Crosby, the Packers’ all-time leading scorer, has been Mr. Reliable. Except he was anything but in 2021, leading the league in missed field goals. Sure, the unit was terrible on the whole this season, and poor blocking and specialist changes certainly contributed to the misses, but a veteran like Crosby isn’t blameless.
Crosby’s restructured contract leads to an increased cap hit this season. He’ll cost north of $4.3 million in 2022. Green Bay needs every penny they can get, and Crosby is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career. While Crosby could bounce back like in 2013, Bisaccia may shake things up with a new kicker. David Youngs wrote about what life after Crosby could look like. Green Bay could look to the draft for a replacement, with many of the best kickers of the last decade being drafted players.
But it seems like the Packers already have one heir in mind, as they’ve been developing kicker JJ Molson on the practice squad and protecting him every week. Molson provides a home-developed option at a much lower price, and the situation will be worth monitoring.
The Packers moved on from punter JK Scott to bring in Corey Bojorquez, who had a much more powerful and reliable leg. Green Bay seemed to have a real weapon with Bojorquez blasting every week, but he tapered off towards the end of the season. And he wasn’t always reliable as a holder on kicks, leading to more than a few missed field goals.
While Bojorquez was much better than Scott, he’s an unrestricted free agent this year. There is no guarantee he’ll be back in Green Bay. He shouldn’t be terribly expensive to re-sign. However, if Green Bay wants to pinch pennies, they could look to the draft or a cheaper free agent. Scott’s poor performance likely leaves a sour taste regarding drafting a punter. But Day 3 picks are a crap-shoot anyway, and one bad pick shouldn’t discourage the team from using the draft.
Now, for every fan’s favorite topic: long-snapper discourse. One of the NFL’s most forgotten positions played a significant role in Green Bay’s special teams meltdown. The Packers made a midseason switch, replacing former seventh-round pick Hunter Bradley, one of PFF’s lowest-graded long snappers, for Steven Wirtel, one of PFF’s lowest-graded long snappers.
Wirtel will almost certainly be gone next season. The good news is that the Packers are great at finding long snappers. The bad news is that they move on before realizing their long snappers are good. Multiple former Packers are starting around the league. Bisaccia will have freedom with this one, but it may be worth seeing what Brett Goode is up to.
All three specialists could be gone next season, but the fun doesn’t end there. Zach Kruse of PackersWire writes that the top special teams’ players in terms of snaps may all play for different teams in 2022. Oren Burks, Henry Black, and Isaac Yiadom are long shots to return, and it wouldn’t be unrealistic to see Ty Summers released. LaFleur previously mentioned exploring playing starters on special teams. But whether they are starters or fringe-roster players, your core special teamers for next season may not be on the roster.
And let’s not forget returners! Kylin Hill showed promise as a kick returner before his injury, but punt return was a disaster all season. Amari Rodgers was not good in the role, and he needs a good offseason to further develop into his primary role of a wide receiver. After a late-season pickup, David Moore showed a lot of flash as a returner, but soon we were back to Rodgers’s returns. It’s one area where Bisaccia needs to find the right player, and the Packers should be willing to look for a skilled veteran.
Special teams should look completely different next season, with all three specialists, core special teamers, and returners uncertain to return. Bisaccia should get a good deal of input to bring the unit under his control. After last year’s disaster of a unit, the front office should support his vision in any way they can. It’ll be a long time before we can say whether these changes will be for better or for worse — but then there’s no way special teams can be worse than this year, right? Right?
