In one year, Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia accomplished what he always accomplishes: an immediate turnaround.
With a new coordinator and some roster help from general manager Brian Gutekunst, the Packers special teams went from worst to the middle of the pack under Bisaccia’s leadership.
“I really like what we did as a teams unit this year,” Gutekunst said. “A lot of respect for Rich and how he goes about things. I think the thing I liked the most was the play style of those guys. Not only the effort and intensity but then the pride they took in it. The cover teams were as good as they’ve been here in a long time.”
The Packers finished 17th in special teams DVOA in 2022 after a dead-last, 32nd-place finish in 2021.
Bisaccia got the Packers to approach special teams the right way, and Gutekunst added key players such as Keisean Nixon, Rudy Ford, Dallin Leavitt and Eric Wilson to the roster.
Nixon was a first-team All-Pro kickoff returner, Ford and Leavitt were key players all season and Wilson – who was added in October – ended up being the team’s highest-graded special teamer at Pro Football Focus.
Expect the emphasis on veterans for special teams to continue in Green Bay.
“The way we approached it was a little different from a roster-building perspective, and I think that will continue,” Gutekunst said.
Kicker Mason Crosby made 25 of 29 field goals (86.2 percent), Pat O’Donnell averaged 40.0 net yards per punt, Nixon led the league in kickoff return yards and the Packers allowed 9.5 yards per punt return and 23.2 yards per kickoff return.
Coach Matt LaFleur is confident his special teams are “going the right way” coming out of 2022.
“I thought you saw improvement,” LaFleur said. “You saw a lot of young players improve throughout the course of the season. I think as a team, in terms of that phase of the game, we are definitely trending in the right direction.”
The Packers finished 32nd in Rich Gosselin’s special teams rankings under Maurice Drayton last year. The result – and the finish against the 49ers in the postseason – led to Drayton’s dismissal, the hiring of Bisaccia and the new-found roster-building emphasis for Gutekunst. In 2022, the Packers special teams won’t be found at the bottom of the barrel in the NFL.
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