This is the time of the year where coaches around the NFL have a truly reasonable idea of where the landscape of the industry will go in the following offseason. Assistants look for promotions or lateral movements, and talk in league circles intensifies.

And, around the league, the general perception is that Joe Barry won't be the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator for much longer.

According to ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler, "the heat is on" Barry, even though head coach Matt LaFleur said the plan is to keep the assistant until the end of the season.

"Speaking of coordinators, several spots will be closely watched over the coming weeks. The heat is on Packers DC Joe Barry. That's a job on the radar of many in the coaching industry."

Joe Barry is in his third season as the Packers defensive coordinator. Matt LaFleur is the first coach to give Barry a third year on the job — on his two previous spots as a DC, Detroit and Washington, Barry ended up being fired after two years.

Since 2021, the Packers are 24th in EPA/play. This year, there has not been significant improvement — a downgrade is a better way to describe the situation. After being 20th in DVOA last season, the defense is now 29th through the first 15 weeks of the season.

"If I thought that was the best solution today, then we'd make that decision," LaFleur said on Monday when asked why he wouldn't fire Barry during the season.

"When you're having basic communication problems and you're supposed to be in a certain coverage or a certain rotation and we're not getting that communication, it always starts with us," the coach added. "It starts with myself and it goes to all our assistant coaches. So obviously the coaching wasn't up to the standard and our performance on the field definitely showed that as well."

Adjustments

LaFleur said he will be more active trying to help the defense — which might be detrimental to the offense, which has so many first- and second-year players. According to DVOA, the Packers offense is much better, 11th in the league.

Over the last decades, the Packers have prioritized the defense with their roster-building plan. Since Aaron Rodgers got drafted in 2005, the Packers have had 19 first-round picks. They took 16 defenders and three offensive players — two offensive tackles, Bryan Bulaga and Derek Sherrod, plus quarterback Jordan Love.

With Brian Gutekunst as the general manager, Love is the only offensive first-rounder, while he took Jaire Alexander, Rashan Gary, Darnell Savage, Eric Stokes, Quay Walker, Devonte Wyatt, and Lukas Van Ness for the defense. Moreover, most of the external free agent signings have been for the defense too — Za'Darius Smith, Preston Smith, and Adrian Amos are the best examples. For the offense, the most significant signings were Jimmy Graham and Billy Turner.

Even with so much invested, the Packers defense has been mediocre at best year after year.

The team fired Dom Capers after the 2017 season, still under Mike McCarthy, who chose Mike Pettine. After a solid first season, Pettine was kept by LaFleur for two more years. However, he was fired as well and replaced by Barry.

Countering every argument to keep Joe Barry as the Packers’ DC

Matt LaFleur decided to retain his assistant