Matt Lafleur spent his first week as head coach of the Green Bay Packers meeting people around the organization and cleaning out the old coaching staff. The fan base was getting antsy as they continued to witness other teams hire assistant coaches. Tuesday afternoon, it was reported that Lafleur has finally found his offensive coordinator in
Nathaniel Hackett.

According to Ian Rapoport, Matt Lafleur is hiring Nathaniel Hackett to be his top assistant coach.

Former #Jaguars OC Nathaniel Hackett is headed to Green Bay, as the #Packers are hiring him as their new offensive coordinator, source said. He’ll absolutely challenge and engage Aaron Rodgers.— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 14, 2019

Hackett spent the 2018 season as the offensive coordinator of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Before that, he was the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills from 2013-14. Prior to that role, he was the offensive coordinator from 2011-2012 at Syracuse.

In 2017, he helped lead the Jacksonville Jaguars to a ranking for fifth in points scored, sixth in yards gained and first in rushing yards. A year later he was released of his duties as the Jaguars offense struggled. They didn’t just struggle, the Jaguars offense was terrible in 2018, but they were playing without their top playmaker and receiving less than average quarterback play. Star running back Leonard Fournette played only half the season and quarterback Black Bortles took a step backwards. This contributed to regression in the Jacksonville offense.

While with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Nathaniel Hackett called the offensive plays. This is something that he will not do in his role with the Packers. Those duties with rest with new head coach Matt Lefleur.

Hackett is a young coach himself, as he is only 39 years old. The Packers brass obviously feels going young is a key to turning the offense around and invigorating their their 35 year old future hall-of-fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Getting Rodgers to return to form will be key, but if that happens, watch out NFL. A rejuvenated Rodgers with creative offensive minds, could be deadly.

On a personal note, Hackett is the son of Paul Hackett, who was a long-time NFL assistant coach who learned the West Coast offense under Bill Walsh in San Francisco. Unlike Lafleur, Hackett is not from the Shanahan offensive tree. This will help keep the Packers in a west coast offense somewhat and allow for creativity and Lafleur and Hackett blend their offensive backgrounds.

New Head Coach Matt Lafleur now has his top lieutenants on both sides of the football. Hackett on the offensive and Mike Pettine returning to lead the defense. Now, his sights are set on hiring a specials teams coordinator to replace the fired Ron Zook. Matt Lafleur is expected to meet with
Darren Rizzi today to discuss the specials teams coordinator role. Stay tuned for that hire.

With Lafleur’s top two coaches in place, the attention will turn to fill the position coaches and then to the draft. Young, fresh ideas and energy have been brought into 1265 Lombardi Ave to try and bring a championship level product back to titletown. The off-season is in full force in Green Bay.

Anthony Haag is a writer for PackersTalk.com. He has been a Packers fan since the day he was born and truly bleeds green and gold. He makes annual visits to Lambeau Field and has attended his fair share of games. You can follow Anthony on Twitter at @anthony_haag