According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Jacksonville Jaguars have submitted an interview request for Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett for their head coach opening. NFL interview rules have changed recently, with the league allowing teams with head coaching opening to interview potential head coaches in the final two weeks of the regular season, officially starting today, December 28th.
At the moment, Jacksonville has requested interviews from Hackett, Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich, Cowboys OC Kellen Moore, Buccaneers DC Todd Bowles, Colts DC Matt Eberflus, Cowboys DC Dan Quinn and former NFL head coaches Jim Caldwell (Lions/Colts) and Doug Pederson (Eagles.) Hackett has some previous experience with Jacksonville, where he worked under head coach Doug Marrone after coaching under Marrone at Buffalo and at the college level at Syracuse.
Hackett was the Jaguars’ quarterback coach for the 2015 and 2016 seasons and was the team’s offensive coordinator from 2016-2018, which included their 2017 AFC Championship Game season. When Hackett was fired, along with the rest of the Jaguars staff, after 2018, he was picked up on Matt LaFleur’s initial staff in Green Bay.
Should Hackett leave, one would assume that the leader in the clubhouse to replace him as the Packers’ offensive coordinator would be quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy, who was a candidate for Akron’s head coaching opening earlier this season. The Akron job eventually went to Getsy’s mentor, Joe Moorhead.
As quarterback Aaron Rodgers explained on The Pat McAfee Show today, the offensive staff is fairly collaborative with positional coaches and coordinators taking on different roles in situational football. For example, Hackett’s focus is the red zone (which Green Bay calls the “Gold Zone”) while Getsy’s focus is third downs.
Aaron Rodgers talked about how the coaching staff splits situational football on offense:
Luke Getsy (QB)-Third down
Steno/Butkus (OL)-Run game
Nathaniel Hackett (OC)-“Gold zone” (red zone)
Jason Vrable (WR)-Two minute
Justin Outten (TE)/Ben Sirmens (RB)-Short yardage/goal line— Justis Mosqueda (NFL Owner) (@JuMosq) December 28, 2021