Who says you can’t go home?
Former Broncos head coach and Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett is now back on staff with the Packers, head coach Matt LaFleur confirmed in his Thursday press conference.
Hackett will serve as a defensive analyst for the club, helping give coordinator Jeff Hafley a fresh perspective.
It’s a similar role to what Robert Saleh played for the offense when he joined the staff last year after being fired as Jets head coach. Luke Getsy also served as a defensive analyst last year after he’d been fired from his role as Raiders offensive coordinator. Getsy is now still on staff as a senior assistant.
“He’s a guy I really respect and we’ve had a lot of great times together,” LaFleur said Thursday, via Zach Kruse of USA Today.
“It’s a fresh perspective. It gives you a little different lens to see it through, talk it through,” LaFleur added. “He’s sitting in with our defensive staff. He’s been in our linebacker room going through the film, giving them a good offensive perspective.”
Hackett was the Packers’ offensive coordinator under LaFleur from 2019-2021. He was then hired as Broncos head coach in 2022 and was fired after a 51-14 loss to the Rams on Christmas Day with two games remaining in the season. He then served as Jets offensive coordinator in 2023, reuniting with Aaron Rodgers. He lost play-calling duties after Saleh was fired as Jets head coach midway through the 2024 season.
When it comes to a marriage between a head coach and quarterback, few partnerships in recent memory have worked better than Sean Payton and Drew Brees with the Saints.
But now Payton is the head coach of a different team with a different young quarterback in Bo Nix. After the pairing guided Denver to the postseason in 2024, Payton revealed that Nix sought out his coach’s old dance partner during the offseason.
When asked about his partnership with Nix, Payton noted that the young quarterback went to San Diego to visit with Brees for four or five days over the last few months. Payton also noted Nix worked with famed throwing coach Tom House during the offseason.
Both were Nix’s idea. Payton said Nix wanted to learn more about Payton’s offense, but also how a pro quarterback should set up his schedule during the week.
“All of that is just stuff he’s doing on his own,” Payton said. “And, again, that’s what you’re looking for.”
Payton added that Nix is someone who “works his tail off, wants to improve.”
We’ll see how that visit to Brees and the rest of Nix’s offseason work pays off once the season begins.
The Panthers have released linebacker Josey Jewell, the team announced.
Jewell, 30, remains in concussion protocol seven months after a head injury in Week 16 against the Cardinals. He intends to prioritize his health with hopes of returning at some point in the future if his symptoms clear.
Jewell signed a three-year contract with the team during the 2024 offseason, and he started 12 games last year. He was second on the team with 97 tackles, while also contributing 3.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries and an interception.
The Panthers signed former Rams starter Christian Rozeboom on the first day of free agency and have 2024 third-rounder Trevin Wallace returning at the position.
Others on the roster at that position are Claudin Cherelus, Jacoby Windmon, Jon Rhattigan and Bam Martin-Scott and Tuasivi Nomura.
In seven seasons, Jewell has totaled 550 tackles, three interceptions, 12.5 sacks, five forced fumbles and 22 passes defensed in 90 games.
Von Miller has worn only 58 and 40 in his 13 NFL seasons with three teams. He will wear No. 24 in his first season with the Commanders.
Miller’s preferred numbers were taken in Washington, with second-year linebacker Jordan Magee wearing 58 and second-year safety Tyler Owens 40. So, Miller picked a number to honor Hall of Fame defensive back Champ Bailey, Miller’s former teammate in Denver, and Kobe Bryant.
Miller wore 40 while he was at Texas A&M, but in one game against Arkansas after Corey Borner was paralyzed while making a tackle during practice at DeSoto (Texas) High School, Miller wore Borner’s No. 24. Miller is from DeSoto.
“When I came here, 58 and 40 were gone, and those were the only two numbers that I had. Oh, I wore 5. That was my very first number, but obviously 5 is already taken, too,” Miller said, via Nicki Jhabvala of the Washington Post. “Respect Champ Bailey a lot. Played with Champ Bailey for three years. One of my big brothers, and he played here, and he wore 24. So, it was kind of like it spoke to me in so many different ways, so I decided to go with 24.”
After facing each other 17 times during their careers, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning came to think of each other as friends. But Brady says he didn’t let himself think of Manning that way while they were trying to beat each other.
Brady wrote on TomBrady.com that he had to convince himself to dislike Manning in order to play his best against him.
“When I look back on my relationship with Peyton Manning, my respect, admiration, and appreciation for him as a competitor has grown with each passing year,” Brady wrote. “It was always there, don’t misunderstand, but while we were competing against each other I couldn’t let that get in the way of the fact that he was my enemy, that he didn’t respect me, that he thought he was better than me because he was a #1 pick from an SEC school—or at least that’s what I made myself believe. Convincing myself that those things were true created a sense of urgency within me to prove him wrong, and it provided the extra bit of energy and motivation necessary to lock in and focus and execute just that much more so that I could beat him more often than he beat me.”
Brady wrote that rivalries are at their best in sports when the athletes think of themselves as enemies, not friends.
“I also believe—and this is kind of an old school point of view considering where we are with social media these days—that you have to allow your rivals to become your enemies,” Brady wrote. “True enemies, in your mind and on the field. You can, and should, respect them, but you can’t look at them like ‘friendly competition.’”
Brady considered his teammates to be his only friends in the NFL during his playing career.
“I didn’t have any real friends on any other teams when I played,” Brady wrote. “I had the guys on my team and that was it.”
