Green Bay Packers: Current NFL Head Coach Identified As Joe Barry Replacement
The Green Bay Packers suddenly have life this season. After three extremely strong wins the Packers currently hold the last playoff spot in the NFC (seventh seed). Jordan Love and the offense have completely turned a corner and the defense is doing their part as well.
That being said, Joe Barry has been on the hot seat for multiple seasons now. No matter how the 2023 season ends, Barry’s future in Green Bay is far from guaranteed. If the Packers do in fact move on from their current defensive coordinator, one report indicates one current NFL head coach could take over.
Matt Schneidman of The Athletic mentioned the idea of Saleh becoming the defensive coordinator:
I won’t lie — I have asked this question out loud in recent days. The Packers have the No. 9 scoring defense in the NFL. Barry has done little to lose his job this offseason. However, I’d imagine LaFleur would be enticed if his best friend and one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers before the New York Jets hired him became available.
He has to become available for this to be a possibility, of course, and I’m not sure Saleh will lose his job because Aaron Rodgers has been hurt, despite how disappointing the Jets’ season has been.
Would The Packers Move On From Joe Barry?
Fans of the Packers might have moved on from defensive coordinator Joe Barry a while ago if they had the opportunity. Fans have been upset with the direction Barry has taken the defense since he was hired, and they think it might be a matter of “when” rather than “if” before a new defensive coordinator is appointed.
However, it is possible that Barry has saved his Job in Green Bay. According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, the Packers’ often-maligned defense has reasons for optimism:
There were signs from the beginning that the Packers’ defense could keep them in games, even if it couldn’t win them outright. Coach Matt LaFleur probably lost track of how often in the first half of the season he said the defense did enough to win.
A month ago, all that meant nothing because the Packers couldn’t marry it with an effective offense. But now that LaFleur and quarterback Jordan Love have found a rhythm, people have begun to notice a defense that in consecutive weeks has turned away Justin Herbert, Jared Goff and [Patrick] Mahomes.
The defensive coordinator job in Green Bay is going to be extremely interesting to watch in off-season.
