Mike McCarthy had already promoted Joe Whitt Jr. as a secondary coach, and now he's added Darren Perry to coach the safeties. Perry was a great player in the mid-90s for Pittsburgh, although I think his career was derailed due to injuries by 1997 (or thereabout). He's been a secondary coach in Pittsburgh and Oakland for the past few seasons. I'm sure he's good, but he doesn't deserve all the credit for Oakland's great CB Nnamdi Asomugha and he doesn't deserve all the blame for the CB DeAngelo Hall fiasco either. Although if this means that the Packers are going hard after Asomugha in free agency, then hiring Perry is a brillant move.
Why would the Packers go after Asomugha in free agency? Although cornerback isn't an area of need, if the best cornerback in the NFL wants to play on your team, you should let him play. CB Charles Woodson and CB Al Harris are both still good players, but Asomugha is so good that he would be an upgrade, and at age 27, he will still be playing at an elite level for the next few seasons. If they are going to spend major money in free agency, GM Ted Thompson might as well get someone who really deserves it.
I noticed yesterday that Kevin Greene was hired to specifically coach the outside linebackers, and now Perry will coach specifically the safeties. At first it seemed odd to have specific position coaches instead of a general linebackers coach or secondary coach. But it's not; it's just a change in titles. The Packers had two secondary coaches last season; Kurt Schottenheimer and Lionel Washington. Instead of labeling them as either the safeties or cornerbacks coach, Schottenheimer was the secondary coach and Washington was the assistant. Either way, there are still two secondary coaches on staff no matter the title.