Packers say they are changing their coaching staff
As of now, Joe Barry will not be back as the Green Bay Packers’ defensive coordinator. The news came out Wednesday from head coach Matt LaFleur.
Barry has been a coach in the NFL for 22 years. For the last three years, he has been the defensive head coach for the Packers.
“We would like to acknowledge Joe for his commitment or contributions to our achievement the past two seasons,” stated LaFleur.
“These decisions can be extremely difficult as well as Joe is one of the finest men I’ve had a chance to collaborate with in this league.”
Even though Joe Barry’s defense held up adequately to help the Packers make it to the NFC semifinal round of the playoffs, he is no longer the defensive coordinator for the Packers.
The Packers announced the move on Wednesday, two days after coach Matt LaFleur wouldn’t say anything about Barry’s job and said he was “going through the process that my own pace.”
“We want to thank Joe for his hard work and contributions to our success over the last three years,” LaFleur said in a team statement.
“These decisions can be very difficult as well as Joe is one of the finest men I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with in this league.”
Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Barry could stay on the Packers’ staff in some capacity. This is a possibility that is being talked about.
With one year left on Barry’s contract, LaFleur will be on his second defensive assistant in six years when he hires a new one. Barry had served as the Packers’ defensive assistant since 2021 when he took over for Mike Pettine.
As early as the season 2022, Barry seemed to be on thin ice. That year, the Packers went from having the ninth-best total defense in the country to having the seventeenth-best.
They were also 17th in total defensive this season, but they moved up into the top 10 in terms of fewest points allowed.
Under Barry, though, Green Bay had a lot of trouble with run defense. In 2023, the Packers came in 28th against the run.
That was down from 26th in 2022 and 11th in 2021. In 2023, they let four teams run for over 200 yards against them.
Barry may have lost it when the Packers lost at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 15. Baker Mayfield had a huge game, throwing for 381 yards and four touchdowns in a 34–20 win at Lambeau Field.
The Packers lost, and now they are 6-8 and one game behind a team tied for the last playoff spot. However, LaFleur said that the time his intention would not make any changes to his defensive coaching staff during the season.
The Packers’ defense then played badly again in Week 16 when they beat the weak Carolina Panthers, who scored 30 points and enjoyed 394 yards of total offense, which was the highest total score of the season.
But Barry seemed to be getting the defense back on track by the end of the season. Even though the defense lost 24–21 to the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs, LaFleur said it was “fantastic.”
But after the season, LaFleur wasn’t as sure. He said the Packers might “kind of go on and work out how we can be somewhat more consistent.”
Before hiring Barry, LaFleur tried to hire Jim Leonhard, who used to be the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin and was thought to be the best candidate but chose to stay at his old school. In 2017, Barry and LaFleur served together for the Los Angeles Rams.
Barry worked for the Rams under Brandon Staley, who ran a version based on the Vic Fangio defense. Some of the reason LaFleur hired Barry was so he could run a similar scheme in Green Bay.
Lots of people didn’t like Barry’s hiring because he had been a defensive coordinator before, with the Detroit Lions from 2007 to 2008 and the Washington Commanders from 2015 to 2016. In those spots, his defenses gave up between the 28th and 32nd most yards in the NFL.