Packers promote four coaches and hire four more to fill out staff for 2021

The Green Bay Packers have finalized their 2021 coaching staff, promoting four coaches and hiring four more, ensuring some measure of continuity on a staff that’s been through a fair bit of turnover this offseason.

The bulk of the moves center on the offense. First, the Packers have promoted Adam Stenavich to offensive line coach/run game coordinator, a dual role that gives him more responsibility and, presumably, a pay bump.

Stenavich and the rest of the offensive staff will get help from three outside hires. John Dunn will work on that side of the ball as a senior analyst; he coached tight ends for the New York Jets last season and has previously worked as an offensive assistant for the Chicago Bears in addition to a number of stops throughout college football.

Meanwhile, Ryan Mahaffey and Tim Zetts will both work as quality control coaches on offense. Mahaffey most recently worked as the offensive coordinator for Northern Iowa (where he played college football) and has also spent time at a few other positions throughout college ball after a short professional playing career. He has worked with Matt LaFleur previously; Mahaffey was on Notre Dame’s staff as a graduate assistant/wide receivers coach during LaFleur’s time on that staff.

Zetts worked as an offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach for Austin Peay last season and previously held a variety of coaching positions at the college level.

On defense, the Packers have promoted Jerry Gray to the joint role of defensive backs coach/passing game coordinator. Like Stenavich’s promotion, the move gives Gray some additional responsibility (and, presumably, a pay increase) under new defensive coordinator Joe Barry. Gray joined the Packers in 2020 and saw two of his young charges make significant strides in his first year on the job: Jaire Alexander blossomed into a Pro Bowl corner, while Darnell Savage rebounded from a shaky first half to finish 2020 strong.

Gray will get some additional help from Justin Hood, whom the Packers have hired as a defensive quality control coach. Hood’s most recent pre-Green Bay role is very similar to the job Gray holds now: he was the secondary coach and defensive pass game coordinator for Kent State in 2019-20. Like many of the new hires on this list, Hood has also worked a long list of college jobs.

Finally, the Packers have promoted Rayna Stewart to assistant special teams coach. He worked as a quality control coach under former special teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga for the past two seasons. He now fills the role previously held by Maurice Drayton, who, in turn, has taken Mennenga’s role.

Connor Lewis will assist on special teams as well, earning a promotion from his previous role as an offensive quality control coach. Lewis, who may have the most interesting coaching resume on the entire team, will also serve as a game management specialist. Lewis earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics with a corporate strategy minor at Vanderbilt and also worked in the university’s football program. He put his math skills to work in the New York Giants’ analytics department in 2014, then worked as an independent consultant for the Raiders the next year. He joined the Packers in 2016 and has worked a variety of data-related roles since then.