GREEN BAY – When Jonathan Gannon interviewed with Matt LaFleur about the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator vacancy, he repeated a philosophy he’s carried since his days as the Philadelphia Eagles coordinator.
Back in 2021, Gannon told Eagles coach Nick Sirianni he didn’t have a specific scheme for the new defense. Rather, he planned to build his scheme around the strengths of his players. Gannon’s approach did not change when he became the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
“He probably laughed,” Gannon said of Sirianni, “and said, ‘You better get one.’”
Five years later, Gannon hasn’t settled into one scheme. He let LaFleur know the same before being hired as the Packers coordinator.
“The point is the game adapts,” Gannon said. “I don’t really get caught up in the 4-3, 3-4. We’re an NFL-style defense, hopefully. I just believe you’ve got to continually, every year, try to adapt and solve problems, and really with your guys in mind. So this is a whole new crew for me that we’re just getting to learn, all new different players, so that’s kind of what I mean by that.
“Yeah, there’s some principles, there’s some things I like to do – but it’s only if our players can do it. I told them the other day, if we’re not good at this, just because I like it, we’re not going to do it.”
Gannon said his belief in not having a specific scheme meant waiting until after meeting with players before he started to develop the Packers defensive playbook. He expects to build the playbook over time, pulling from many different places.
“I told the players this,” Gannon said, “I said, ‘This is going to be a little different for them.’ Because as we’re teaching them things, they’re going to see tape of Philly, Minnesota, Arizona, Green Bay, San Francisco, Buffalo, Alabama, Georgia. I don’t really get caught up in, if you said, ‘This is my playbook, here’s what we’re going to run,’ what I said to you guys earlier is full of you-know-what. Because you’re really not adapting your scheme to the players you have. This is just what we do. Well, if this guy can’t do that, what are you going to do? We’re just going to do that. That doesn’t make sense to me.
“So it really is the truth when I tell you guys this is going to be a new system this year. It’s the 2026 Green Bay Packers.”
Even though the 2026 Packers will have a new coordinator, the philosophy appears similar to how predecessor Jeff Hafley approached the job. Gannon echoed Hafley in stressing play style over scheme.
“Before scheme,” Gannon said, “I truly believe it’s not what you play, it’s how you play. That goes into, Matt calls it play style. I love that. So that’s been cool for our guys defining that for them, here’s your expectation, here’s what you’re accountable for. We’re all accountable for it. Because I think that’s what a good defense looks like, a fast, violent, physical team that’s taking the ball away.”
This article originally appeared on Packers News: Why Jonathan Gannon didn’t carry set scheme with him to Green Bay