Normally, we wouldn’t be real excited about the Green Bay Packers adding an assistant to one of their assistant coaching positions. This is a little different because the Packers are adding Mike Solari as assistant offensive line coach.
For the past five seasons, Solari has coached the San Francisco 49ers offensive line under Jim Harbaugh. The 49ers have had one of the best lines in football over that span and they’ve developed certifiable studs like Mike Iupati (three Pro Bowls, one first-team All Pro) and Joe Staley (four Pro Bowls).
It certainly helps that there were three first-round draft picks playing on that line, but we’re still going to give Solari the benefit of the doubt and say he had something to do with their development.
Solari has been a coach in the league for 28 years.
He’s faced a bit of uncertainty since Harbaugh left to coach Michigan after the 2014 season. The 49ers hired defensive line coach Jim Tomsula as their new head coach and that prompted a mass exodus of Harbaugh’s former offensive assistants.
That, along with the departure of the Packers’ former assistant offensive line coach Steve Marshall to the New York Jets, allowed the Packers to snag Solari.
The Packers offensive line coach is the team’s former center, James Campen. He has held that job since 2007 and while we’ve never been terribly impressed with his body of work, the Packers did have one of the best lines in football in 2014.