The Green Bay Packers appear to be ready to retool this season. They will trade Aaron Rodgers; important pieces throughout the roster were let go (Allen Lazard, Robert Tonyan, Randall Cobb, Marcedes Lewis, Dean Lowry, Jarran Reed); and they haven’t really added anybody so far. However, they have made several investments in one phase of the game: special teams.
Every aspect of the Packers offseason has shown how much they value special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia. The most obvious sign is that the coordinating position is no longer his only role; he was promoted to assistant head coach.
“I think there’s a lot to learn from Rich Bisaccia,” head coach Matt LaFleur said. “We are so fortunate to have him. I personally think he’s one of those guys that should be here right now [among head coaches]. I think he’s one of the best leaders I’ve ever been around, just how he’s able to coach guys really hard and these guys will run through a brick wall for him because they know he cares about the man.”
Almost every pending free agent the Packers re-signed is primarily a special teamer. On the list of players retained, no one played more than half of defensive or offensive snaps, and five of seven played more snaps on special teams. Justin Hollins is the only real exception. They acquired him to be an edge depth piece. Keisean Nixon and Rudy Ford also had defensive roles, but their main contributions were on special teams.
Percentage of snaps from unrestricted free agents re-signed by the Packers:
- Corey Ballentine – 24.77% special teams/1.65% defense
- Rudy Ford – 25.23% special teams/42.79% defense
- Dallin Leavitt – 71.96% special teams/0% defense
- Keisean Nixon – 53.97% special teams/27.98% defense
- Eric Wilson – 46.03% special teams/3.39% defense
- Tyler Davis – 80.84% special teams/15.9% offense
- Justin Hollins – 1.87% special teams/12.39% defense
Green Bay’s additions since the new league year started are also telling. There are just two of them, and both are connected with special teams: long snapper Matt Orzech, a former Los Angeles Rams starter, and safety Tarvarius Moore. Moore played only 3.83% of the defensive snaps with the San Francisco 49ers last season and 50.68% of the special teams snaps.
Since the Packers hired him last season, Bisaccia has had an unusual voice in personnel decisions. For instance, Nixon and Leavitt were core special teamers and had played under Bisaccia with the Las Vegas Raiders. With Bisaccia and his new players, the Packers improved from 32nd to 17th in special teams DVOA in one season.
Nixon, in particular, has been an essential part of the roster; he was a First-Team All-Pro kickoff returner. And now the plan is to use him more as a nickel corner, too.
“He made such a big difference for our football team last year with what he was able to do not only in the nickel, but he’s a good return specialist and did different things on [special] teams,” said Brian Gutekunst. “He is one of the better gunners in the NFL. We’re not only excited about the return stuff, but I think he’s going to see a lot more time in the nickel this year. We’re all really excited about that because when he was in there, he was really impactful.”
Bisaccia came to the Packers after a stint as the Raiders’ interim head coach in 2021. He took over an unsettled team after the Henry Ruggs incident and Jon Gruden resigned,, and he even managed to lead them to the playoffs. Bisaccia was a finalist for the Jacksonville Jaguars head coaching job in 2022 before they landed on Doug Pederson. And the Indianapolis Colts considered him before hiring Shane Steichen.
Building the special teams staff was a priority for the Packers after years without strong investment in the area — and consequent poor results. Maurice Drayton was the coordinator in 2021. They promoted him from assistant ST coach after firing Shawn Mennenga. Besides Bisaccia, the Packers also hired Byron Storer as the assistant ST coach, the same role he had under Bisaccia in Las Vegas. They brought in Kyle Wilber this year, a former Raiders player, as the special teams quality control coach.
Rich Bisaccia has more than just gotten results in Green Bay, he’s earned trust and respect. All the investments in special teams show that both the coach and the teams unit is a major priority, which makes sense after years of failure in the third phase of the game.
