Expected outside interest played a role in Maurice Drayton becoming the new special teams coordinator for the Green Bay Packers.
Coach Matt LaFleur confirmed Drayton, the team’s assistant on special teams over the last three years, will take over the coordinator role after the Packers parted ways with Shawn Mennenga following two disappointing seasons.
On Monday, LaFleur said Drayton is an “excellent teacher” and “excellent communicator” who has both “energy and enthusiasm” in the role, and the Packers coach went into the process believing Drayton was on the verge of becoming a special teams coordinator, whether it was in Green Bay or elsewhere.
Instead of making an outside hire, LaFleur promoted Drayton to keep him with the Packers.
“I really think he can elevate our level of play in that area,” LaFleur said. “Guy that’s been here for a while now. Had the opportunity to interview him in the first go-around, was super impressed with him, I just didn’t know a whole lot around him. After being around him for two years now, I think it was just a matter of time before he got one of these other opportunities that presented itself outside of this building. Did not want to lose a guy like Mo Drayton.”
The promotion will give Drayton a chance to turn around a phase of the game that hasn’t been good or even competent in Green Bay in years.
Mike McCarthy originally hired Drayton as the special teams assistant under Ron Zook in 2018. LaFleur retained him after becoming the coach in 2019 but did not promote him, choosing instead to keep Drayton in the assistant role under Mennenga.
Two years working on LaFleur’s staff gave the Packers coach the necessary confidence to promote him to coordinator.
Drayton has five years of experience as an assistant, having served two years with the Indianapolis Colts under Tom McMahon, who has coordinated special teams in the NFL during every season since 2009.
McMahon told Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated that he thinks Drayton will get the Packers special teams – ranked 26th and 29th in Rick Gosselin’s rankings the last two years – back into the top five in the league.
“I think he’s going to excel. I think the core, the specialists, the building, I think they found themselves a special guy,” McMahon said.
Drayton, a collegiate cornerback at The Citadel, has 22 years of coaching experience.
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