Packers defensive staff takes a hit after respected coach joins Jeff Hafley in Miami, creating an obvious void to fill
DBs coach Ryan Downard is going to the Dolphins.
Jeff Hafley is not the only coach leaving the Green Bay Packers to the Miami Dolphins. The new head coach is building his coaching staff in Florida, and he’s taking Packers defensive backs coach Ryan Downard with him.
KPRC2’s NFL insider Aaron Wilson reported the news. He will be the passing game coordinator.
Later, Tom Pelissero also reported that linebackers coach Sean Duggan will go to the Dolphins as well as the defensive coordinator.
Rising coach
Despite being young, Ryan Downard was one of the most respected assistant coaches in Green Bay. He’s 37 years old, but had been with the Packers since 2018 — the final year of Mike McCarthy as the head coach. Downard was initially retained by Matt LaFleur and climbed the coaching ladder.
He went from defensive quality control coach to assistant defensive backs coach to safeties coach to defensive backs coach, a position he held for the past three seasons. Previously, Downard had two years of NFL coaching experience with the Cleveland Browns — curiously, the same two years that Jeff Hafley worked there as well.
New defensive staff
On Sunday, the Packers hired former Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon as their new defensive coordinator. With him, and without Downard, the defensive staff will inevitably go through some changes.
The Packers have immediate solutions, like establishing veteran passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley as the defensive backs coach as well — that’s his background. Besides potential internal solutions, some names that have worked with Gannon include Seattle Seahawks safeties coach Jeff Howard and Cardinals defensive quality control coach Ronald Booker.
Ryan Downard is the fourth member of the Green Bay Packers going to the Miami Dolphins, who now have Jon-Eric Sullivan as the general manager, Jeff Hafley as the head coach, and former Packers strength and conditioning assistant Todd Hunt as a part of their staff.
The fifth is Duggan, who was Hafley’s linebackers coach at Boston College. Initially hired as a defensive assistant by the Packers, he was promoted to linebackers coach in 2025 when Anthony Campanile left to become the Jacksonville Jaguars’ defensive coordinator.
Over the next few days and weeks, head coach Matt LaFleur will have a lot of work to do to rebuild parts of his staff — and those are hugely impactful moves for 2026 and beyond.
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