The lone on-field coach who remains on the Green Bay Packers’ defensive staff from the 2025 season is defensive line coach/run game coordinator DeMarcus Covington. There’s a chance he doesn’t even make the initial 2026 staff announcement, though, as the Las Vegas Raiders are interviewing him for their defensive coordinator opening, per NFL.com.
The Packers have already lost defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley to the Miami Dolphins, who took linebackers coach Sean Duggan, defensive backs coach Ryan Downard and quality control coach Wendel Davis with him. Passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley left to take a lateral job with the Dallas Cowboys earlier this offseason, too.
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This isn’t Covington’s first defensive coordinator interview this cycle, as he also interviewed with the Cowboys and Packers for their vacancies. ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reported that each of Green Bay’s defensive assistants was interviewed for the team’s defensive coordinator vacancy once Hafley left, which makes the wholesale staff changes even more interesting.
Covington was previously the defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots in 2024. On paper, he has no ties to the new Raiders head coach, Klint Kubiak. They’ve never overlapped at a stop before.
Beyond Covington, the Raiders have interviews scheduled with Las Vegas defensive line coach Rob Leonard, Los Angeles Rams assistant head coach and pass game coordinator Aubrey Pleasant and Seattle Seahawks safeties coach Jeff Howard for defensive coordinator. For those who don’t remember, Pleasant had a cup of coffee in Green Bay in 2022 as an offensive consultant after being fired as the Detroit Lions’ defensive backs coach.
Keep an eye on how this situation plays out, as the Packers will need a defensive line coach if Covington leaves. When Jonathan Gannon, Green Bay’s new defensive coordinator, was the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, he split duties up on the line of scrimmage to a 3-4 defensive line coach and a 3-4 outside linebackers coach. So far, the Packers have yet to pair another line of scrimmage coach with Covington.
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