The Jacksonville Jaguars coaching search will leak into next week as the regular season will be over, and coaches who preferred the NFL’s old interview window will be open to meet with them. Among those coaches will be Green Bay Packers and former Jags offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, who has accepted his interview request, according to the Associate Press.
Hackett was with the Jags not too long ago under Doug Marrone but was fired on Nov. 26 of 2019. However, the move was one that Hackett was shocked by as the Jags were going through many injuries. That led many fans to feel he was possibly scapegoated. It also didn’t help that Hackett had Blake Bortles as his signal-caller, who didn’t have a great 2018 season and was eventually benched.
Hackett joined the Packers as their offensive coordinator on Jan. 14 of 2019 when Matt LaFleur was named their head coach. Since, he’s established a great relationship with Aaron Rodgers, who endorsed him last season when Hackett was interviewed by the Atlanta Falcons.
Hackett has had the opportunity to learn from LaFleur, who has handled play-calling duties and has also learned more about the quarterback position being played at a high level through Rodgers.
Hackett started his NFL coaching career with the Tampa Bay Bucs (2006-07) and Buffalo Bills (2008-09) as a quality controls coach. Afterward, he linked up with Marrone at Syracuse for three seasons (2010-12) before becoming the Bills’ offensive coordinator under Marrone from 2013-14. When Marrone was hired by the Jags, Hackett was brought along with him as the quarterbacks coach from 2015-16 before becoming their offensive coordinator from 2017-18.
Hackett has familiarity with the Jags organization and could hit it off with Khan if he has a good plan for quarterback Trevor Lawrence. When adding in what he’s learned in Green Bay, he could end up having one of the better interview processes of the candidates the Jags are eyeing.