Packers, Broncos’ Jim Leonhard have ‘mutual interest’

At least as far as the reporting goes, the Green Bay Packers are running a relatively slow defensive coordinator search. Currently, the Packers have only interviewed four candidates for the job, despite the Dallas Cowboys hitting the double-digit mark for interviews and other teams, notably the Washington Commanders and New York Jets, also being aggressive with their time. Per the reporting, Green Bay had Al Harris and Christian Parker (hired by the Cowboys) in on Wednesday, only interviewed Daronte Jones on Thursday and only Jonathan Gannon on Friday. So far, there have been no reports that they’ve set up interviews over the weekend.

The initial reaction of many Packers fans to Green Bay’s interview schedule has been to say, “They must be waiting for someone.” Well, those notions won’t be swept away today, as NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport claimed on social media that both the Packers and Denver Broncos assistant head coach/defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard have “mutual interest” for the defensive coordinator vacancy.

As the story goes, Leonhard was head coach Matt LaFleur’s first choice to be his first hire at defensive coordinator after the team moved on from Mike Pettine, who LaFleur inherited from the Mike McCarthy administration. Here’s a snapshot of where the team was in 2019, via Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine was not forced on LaFleur, but the new coach was strongly encouraged to keep him.

When it came to other assistant coaches, LaFleur wasn’t the sole decision-maker, sources said.

LaFleur was excited about hiring highly regarded Miami special teams coach Darren Rizzi, who was not returning to the Dolphins and had told the Packers he would come up for an interview but was not going to sign for less than three years and total of $4.5 million, a source said.

Rizzi was told to come. He and LaFleur hit it off in their interview, the source said. But when it came time to talk about a contract, the Packers offered Rizzi less than he was seeking and Rizzi felt he had been led astray.

In LaFleur’s first year as head coach, the 13-3 Packers lost in San Francisco, where the 49ers ran for 285 yards and four touchdowns, only having to throw the ball eight times to secure a 37-20 victory. Green Bay didn’t buy out Pettine’s contract then, allowing for him to enter a true contract year (which is rare even among coordinators) in 2020. It’s industry standard for teams to add an extension year for coaches they retain if they’re in the penultimate year of their contract, so that they’re never put in the position that the Minnesota Vikings were with Brian Flores this offseason, where a sitting coordinator can shop around for prices. For the most part, most teams either add the extension year or just move on from the coordinator entirely and eat the final year of his contract.

Instead, the Packers let Pettine’s deal expire after the 2020 season, capped off with an NFC Championship Game loss, leading to the 2021 defensive coordinator search.

Per Silverstein, Leonhard was the first candidate offered the job to replace Pettine that cycle, but turned down the job on January 31st. Six days later, LaFleur hired Joe Barry, who overlapped with LaFleur’s time with the Los Angeles Rams, to be his new defensive coordinator.

Leonhard, a Wisconsin native who coached for his alma mater, held his position as defensive coordinator for the Badgers until October 2nd, 2022, when he was named interim head coach of the team. When Wisconsin hired Luke Fickell, Leonhard joined Bret Bielema, who had been Leonhard’s defensive coordinator in his senior year, as an analyst for Illinois in 2023.

In 2024, Leonhard finally made his much-anticipated jump to the NFL level, joining Sean Payton, who signed Leonhard as a player in 2013, with the Denver Broncos. That year, the Broncos allowed 18.3 points per game, the third-best mark in the league, as Leonhard served as the team’s defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator.

This season, with the assistant head coach title bump on Leonhard’s resume, the Broncos again are averaging 18.3 points per game allowed, again the third-ranked number in the NFL.

Leonhard has interviewed for two jobs this hire-fire cycle: the Cowboys and the Jets. Both came during Denver’s bye week to start the playoffs. Green Bay couldn’t do it then, since they didn’t have a defensive coordinator vacancy at that point (Jeff Hafley was just hired to be the Miami Dolphins’ head coach on Monday).

Because of NFL rules, after the first round of the playoffs, Leonhard is unable to interview with teams until either the Broncos’ season is over or during the bye week leading up to the Super Bowl. In simple terms, since Denver is in the AFC Championship Game, the earliest window that the Packers can interview Leonhard during this whole cycle is next week.