Fired by Cards, Jonathan Gannon finds new home as defensive coordinator
Jonathan Gannon, the Eagles’ defensive coordinator during the 2022 Super Bowl run, has agreed to become the Packers’ defensive coordinator, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported Sunday morning.
Gannon was fired Jan. 5 after three years as head coach of the Cards. Arizona went 15-36 over the last three years, and Gannon’s .294 career winning percentage ranks 200th among 207 coaches in NFL history who’ve coached at least 50 games.
Gannon, who was on Frank Reich’s Colts staff with Nick Sirianni, was Sirianni’s first defensive coordinator with the Eagles, and in his two seasons here the Eagles ranked 11th in points allowed and 3rd in yards allowed.
But his stay here did not end well. The Eagles led the Chiefs 24-14 at halftime of Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, Arizona, before allowing 24 2nd-half points and losing 38-35. They became only the second team to lead a Super Bowl by double digits at halftime and lose.
Gannon was hired as head coach of the Cards two days after the Super Bowl and the following spring it was learned that Gannon had interviewed with the Cards during the week after the NFC Championship Game, which is not a legal period for interviews. The Cards were penalized by the NFL in a draft pick swap, and the timing raised questions about Gannon’s focus during the days leading up to the Super Bowl.
The timing of Gannon’s hiring in Arizona also prevented the Eagles from replacing him with their preferred candidate, Vic Fangio, who had already agreed to become the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator. The Eagles instead hired Sean Desai, who lasted only one year before being replaced by Fangio, who by then had left the Dolphins.
Although things did not end well, Gannon’s 2022 defense was ranked second in the NFL overall in yards allowed and eighth in points allowed. He also took valued linebackers coach Nick Rallis with him to Arizona as defensive coordinator, a move the Eagles were not happy with.
In Green Bay, Gannon replaces Jeff Hafley, who was hired as head coach of the Dolphins after two seasons as Packers defensive coordinator. Gannon inherits a unit that was ranked 15th in yards allowed and 17th in points allowed this past season. He also inherits future Hall of Famer Micah Parsons, whose torn ACL could sideline him early in 2026.
Gannon, 42, is not the first Packers defensive coordinator with Eagles ties. One-time Eagles head coach Ray Rhodes was Green Bay’s DC in 1992 and 1993, and when Rhodes became Packers head coach in 1999 he brought Hall of Famer Emmitt Thomas, his secondary coach with the Eagles, to Green Bay as defensive coordinator. They were both fired after one year.
Gannon began his NFL coaching career with the Falcons in 2007 (and Thomas finished that year as their interim head coach) before spending two years under Mike Munchak in Tennessee. He spent 2014 through 2017 coaching under Mike Zimmer in Minnesota before joining Reich with the Colts in 2018 on a staff that included future Eagles coaches Sirianni, Jason Michael and Kevin Patullo as well as future Bears head coach Matt Eberflus.
The Packers went 9-7-1 this year in head coach Matt LaFleur’s seventh year as head coach. LaFleur’s .654 career winning percentage is 4th-highest among active NFL head coaches, behind Sirianni (.694), Jim Harbaugh (.679) and Sean McDermott (.662).
