Packers with continued emphasis on special teams in free agency

An added emphasis on special teams is a focus once again for the Green Bay Packers this offseason, with all of their early free-agent signings or re-signings playing key roles in that phase of the game.

In Rich Gosselin’s end-of-year special teams rankings, the Packers finished ranked 22nd. That may not sound all that great, still in the bottom third of the NFL, but it was a big improvement for Green Bay, who had finished last the season prior, and over the previous decade, had two other last-place finishes, along with several other seasons where they were close to it.

There are a number of factors that contributed to this turnaround. One, of course, was the hiring of Rich Bisaccia as special teams coordinator, who helped alter the culture and how special teams was viewed within the organization, along with his abilities as a coach. However, there was also a change in approach by GM Brian Gutekunst when it came to roster building. To put it simply, the Packers had better special teams players.

As he said prior to the 2022 season, in the past, the Packers have focused on offensive and defensive contributions when building their roster, with special teams play being secondary–and the results showed that. As the old saying goes, you get what you emphasize. But last offseason, the Packers went “out of character” and made several special teams-specific additions, which included Dallin Leavitt, Keisean Nixon, Eric Wilson, and Rudy Ford, all of whom played key roles in 2022.

During his end-of-season press conference, Gutekunst told reporters that the Packers would take a similar approach this offseason, again putting an added emphasis on special teams, and it’s something they’ve done early on the free agency process.

"“I really like what we did as a teams unit this year,” said Brian Gutekunst via Packers.com when asked about his new approach. “I got a lot of respect for Rich (Bisaccia) and how he goes about things. I think the thing I liked the most was the play style of those guys. Not only the effort and intensity but the pride they took in it. Our cover teams were as good as they’ve been here in a long time. The way we approached it was a little different from a roster-building perspective, and I think that will continue.”"

So far, the Packers have brought back All-Pro return man Keisean Nixon, along with having re-signed Tyler Davis, who led the Packers in special teams snaps in 2022, and Rudy Ford, a flier on Green Bay’s punt return unit. Green Bay would also sign safety Tarvarius Moore, who has 4.32-speed and nearly 1,200 career special teams snaps. The Packers also added long-snapper Matt Orzech to push Jack Coco, although based on the length of Orzech’s deal, he is the favorite entering training camp.

Although the Packers’ special teams unit finished the year ranked 22nd, they were playing much better than that by year’s end. A continued emphasis on that phase of the game, coupled with Rich Bisaccia being in his second season, will hopefully lead to more improvements.

With Green Bay in the midst of a transition, buttoning up the special teams unit and making sure it is an asset rather than a liability is a small thing that can be done to help Jordan Love in his first year as a starter, but still an important one as well. Taking advantage of field goal opportunities and winning the field position battle are two things that can help set Love up for success.