Packers set to hire former Patriots defensive coordinator

Matt LaFleur and Jeff Hafley bring in DeMarcus Covington as their defensive line coach.

By Jaren KawadaJan 30, 2025 at 1:08 PM ET

The Green Bay Packers are determined to make changes entering the 2025 offseason. Just weeks after the New England Patriots hired Mike Vrabel, Matt LaFleur scooped up the team's former defensive coordinator, DeMarcus Covington, in the aftermath.

LaFleur will hire Covington as the Packers' defensive line coach, per ESPN's Rob Demovsky. The two sides have verbally agreed to the deal, but as of Thursday morning, no contract has been signed.

After seven years in various roles with the Patriots, Covington was promoted to defensive coordinator ahead of the 2024 season. In his lone year in the position, New England took a step back defensively, ranking in the bottom half in points and total yards allowed.

Covington joined the Patriots in 2017 after spending the previous season as the co-defensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois. He began his tenure as a defensive assistant for two years before serving as the outside linebackers coach in 2019. He shifted to defensive line coach in 2020, where he would remain through the 2023 season.

Following Jerod Mayo's firing at the end of the 2024 season, Vrabel opted not to retain Covington on his staff. This made him temporarily available before LaFleur hired him to work on Jeff Hafley's defensive personnel.

Demovsky also noted that LaFleur will promote former offensive assistant Sean Mannion to quarterbacks coach. Mannion, a decade-long backup quarterback in the NFL, retired from professional football in 2024 and transitioned to coaching.

Once hired, Covington will replace Jason Rebrovich as the Packers' defensive line coach. Rebrovich held the job for one season and was fired after Green Bay's loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Wild Card round.

In Rebrovich's lone season as the defensive line coach, the Packers recorded 45 sacks, 10th in the league. They also limited opponents to just 4.0 yards per carry, the third-best in the NFL. However, they ended the year on a sour note, as Eagles running back Saquon Barkley torched them with 119 rushing yards in the Wild Card game.

So far, Rebrovich is the only major assistant coach to leave the team in the 2025 offseason, although they were unable to retain former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh in a full-time role. Saleh spent most of 2024 as an offensive consultant with Green Bay after his surprising firing. He was re-hired by Kyle Shanahan on Jan. 24 to return as the San Francisco 49ers' defensive coordinator.

However, linebackers coach Anthony Campanile recently interviewed for the Jacksonville Jaguars' vacant defensive coordinator role and is reportedly a preferred candidate. His potential departure would create another significant opening in Hafley's defensive staff.

Seems like a good hire to me.

Promoted beyond his apparent capabilities in the first place. It is a we shall see thing for the Pack. A reduced
responsibility and concentration should be good, but it has been tried so many times that I have kinda lost faith in this plan. I want coaches from teams better than ours.

Dont like this hire. He has done nothing notable for me to be excited about. We should of plucked coordinators or assistants from actual teams with good defenses and pass rush. Hope he proves me wrong.

Nice to see as DL Coach his units performed 11th or better. Now he's got talent to work with. It'll be good.

bboystyle;468545Dont like this hire. He has done nothing notable for me to be excited about. We should of plucked coordinators or assistants from actual teams with good defenses and pass rush. Hope he proves me wrong.

I am not sure why a former DC would and to come here other than he sees the potential in our guys....which is a good thing.
I hope he uses the opportunity to greatly improve their performance which, in turn, would enhance his career

dfosterf;468544Promoted beyond his apparent capabilities in the first place. It is a we shall see thing for the Pack. A reduced
responsibility and concentration should be good, but it has been tried so many times that I have kinda lost faith in this plan. I want coaches from teams better than ours.

The problem is, you are not going to get guys from teams better than ours other than for a promotion (other than big money) and the DC roll is not available, thankfully.

dfosterf;468544Promoted beyond his apparent capabilities in the first place.

The Patriots offense failed the team and got the head coaches fired after one year... I'm not sure how that reflects so negatively on the defensive coaches.

I'd be interested in hearing what connection (if any) got the Packers to sign or like DeMarcus Covington, as I'm not seeing a clear and obvious one.

My best guess is Boston College coaches maybe interact with the New Patriots coaches some. Hafley did talk about being in touch and talking with pro coaches while in college.

But I was guessing it was good to be Eric Washington, long term coach for the Panthers and Bills, and one year defensive coordinator for the Bears. Seemed to do pretty well at DL coach.

We'll have to wait and see how Covington does. And if Van Ness and others can step it up and help Gary more than they have been, the DTs too.

beast;468548The Patriots offense failed the team and got the head coaches fired after one year... I'm not sure how that reflects so negatively on the defensive coaches.

I believe the "book" on the Patriots has been good defense, but crap offense. The good defense reputation pretty much fell off the table in 2024. They went from the 7th rated defense in the NFL in 2023 to the 22nd rated defense in 2024. That kind of serious regression can get you fired on it's own merit, or lack thereof. Ultimately, I don't know the guy, so I'll defer to any and all optimism. Call it generalized bitching on my part.

dfosterf;468550I believe the "book" on the Patriots has been good defense, but crap offense. The good defense reputation pretty much fell off the table in 2024. They went from the 7th rated defense in the NFL in 2023 to the 22nd rated defense in 2024. That kind of serious regression can get you fired on it's own merit, or lack thereof. Ultimately, I don't know the guy, so I'll defer to any and all optimism. Call it generalized bitching on my part.

Scepticismus est bonus nisi ad extremum.


Your skepticism is valid, but 'don't worry -
be happy'

Sometimes these "overall" statistics and rankings can be deceiving.
I am reminded of the Bare's defenses of yore (not including the 80's.)
Their defenses ranked very high, but they had bad win loss records.
The reason, their offense stunk, therefore opposing offenses knew that if they scored 14 to 17 points, they would win.
So they took fewer risks and the defenses looked better than they actually were.

Now, the rules favor the offenses and overall scoring is up, so statistically, a bad offense will reflect more on the defense than in the old days...i.e. more possessions, with more advantageous rules, should equal more points and lower defensive rankings.

The DL was disappointing. Hopefully the new coach is able to get them going.