Green Bay Packers: 3 Defensive coordinator candidates to replace Mike Pettine
By Joe Kipp
2. Jim Leonhard
Jim Leonhard doesn’t have any NFL coaching experience, but his impressive run as defensive coordinator at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been mightily impressive.
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The former three-time All-American at Wisconsin enjoyed a 10-year NFL career as a safety after going undrafted in 2005. He retired in 2014 and became Wisconsin’s defensive backs coach in 2016, and was quickly promoted to defensive coordinator in 2017 while continuing to oversee defensive backs. He was named a finalist for the Broyles Award in his debut season as coordinator, which goes to the top assistant coach in college football.
After three impressive seasons as defensive coordinator in the college ranks, Leonhard is starting to gain steam as a potential NFL coaching candidate — either as a defensive backs coach or defensive coordinator. During his three seasons as coordinator, Wisconsin finished third, 35th and 10th, respectively, in team defense (points allowed). They finished second, 29th and sixth, respectively, in total yards allowed during that same span.
Leonhard offers some risk because he has no coaching experience in the NFL. But the Packers have shown that that doesn’t necessarily matter. Green Bay interviewed Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald last year for their head coaching position before hiring Matt LaFleur. Leonhard could be the next great defensive coaching candidate.