Darren Perry Likely Leaving Packers

Darren Perry
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Darren Perry

The Green Bay Packers’ offseason of upheaval continues. It now appears the Packers will lose safeties coach Darren Perry.

Perry is reportedly interviewing for the same position with the Houston Texans.

Perry was one of the internal candidates to interview for the defensive coordinator position that went to Mike Pettine. And if he’s interviewing elsewhere, it’s a pretty good sign that, A. he’d now like to leave the Packers, and B. if he’s interviewing for a lateral position, which this appears to be, then coach Mike McCarthy doesn’t care if Perry leaves. If Perry is under contract with the Packers, they could block such a move.

Our assumption is McCarthy wouldn’t bother replacing Perry. When Pettine was hired, McCarthy immediately promoted cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt to defensive passing game coordinator.

Clearly, a sign that McCarthy values Whitt even though he didn’t hire him for the DC position.

And it may not be done there. There have been consistent rumors that McCarthy would like to be rid of assistant head coach and linebackers coach Winston Moss.

The Packers brought on Patrick Graham over the weekend as a defensive assistant. He was the defensive line coach of the New York Giants, last year. However, he has also served as a linebackers coach for the New England Patriots. When Graham came in, Tom Silverstein suggested he would replace Moss as linebackers coach.

It’s also logical that Pettine would want to construct his own defensive staff. McCarthy, except for the year he handed off — temporarily — playing-calling duties to Tom Clements, has been hands-off with the Packers’ defense. Pettine, who coached the Cleveland Browns for two seasons, is like adding a second head coach simply for the defense.

Not to bring up any bad memories, but it’s similar to what McCarthy did when he hired Dom Capers in 2009. Out was Bob Sanders, who had no head-coaching experience. In was Capers, who had previously coached both the Carolina Panthers and Houston Texans.

And I think we can effectively say Mike McCarthy knows nothing about defense at this point. So he will rely on people who presumably do.

One of those people who presumably do who will presumably not return to the Packers’ coaching staff appears to be Darren Perry.

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6 Comments on "Darren Perry Likely Leaving Packers"

    • Cheese

      You could say that it already is. The new GM had to “fit” with McCarthy. He essentially got to pick who his new boss was, and then his new boss was stripped of the power to fire him.

  2. ay hombre

    How does Pettine feel about being forced to take on Joe Whitt? They hire a new DC and tell him, “Oh by the way this guy is your number 2.” This has McCarthy’s finger prints all over it. I predict another debacle.

  4. Howard

    The defensive coaching staff will replace Perry. Will probably hire a secondary assistant coach or two to assist Whitt and replace Perry. They still have at least 3,4, or more defensive coaching positions to fill. I hope it is Pettine making the decisions.

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