Green Bay Reporter

The Green Bay Packers have hired a new special teams coordinator in former Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia, who brings more than two decades of NFL experience to the squad and addresses one of the team’s major concerns stemming from last season's playoff woes.

Bisaccia is coming off a season where he filled in at the head coaching position for the Raiders, who went 7-5 under his command and earned a playoff berth for the first time since 2017. 

He became a popular figure with the team’s players and fans but former Patriots Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels was chosen for the job in the offseason. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bisaccia has been the special teams coordinator for Tampa Bay from 2002-2010, San Diego from 2011-2012, Dallas from 2013-2017 and the Raiders from 2018-2021. 

According to the Rick Gosselin annual special teams ratings, Bisaccia had eight top 10 finishes over 20 seasons. His best season was 2009 when Tampa Bay finished second in the category. His last year as a coordinator he was ranked 19th.

“Welcome to Green Bay, Coach!” The Packers tweeted along with the announcement through the team’s website on Feb. 8.

Bisaccia has 38 years of coaching experience in total, with 19 seasons in college coaching running backs and special teams before being hired by Tampa Bay.

The Packers have had special team issues last season under the then special teams coordinator, most notably in the first round of this year’s playoffs three major blunders that ultimately led to the team losing to the 49ers. Green Bay allowed a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown, a blocked field goal just before halftime that would have put the team up 10-0 and a kickoff return that got the 49ers to midfield and set the team up for the game-winning drive. 

Former special teams coordinator Maurice Drayton was removed by Packer Head Coach Matt LaFleur just days later and after Bisaccia lost the head coaching job in Las Vegas, he was pursued by the Packers for the new role and he was hired on Feb. 8.

Acme Packing Co. reported that Bisaccia will be charged with revamping the unit that ranked 32nd in the league through the Rick Gosselin ranking. Last year the Packers had four kicks blocked and kicker Mason Crosby missed nine of his 34 field goals, and two of 51 extra points. It is expected that he will be making staff changes, which could include specialist positions of punter, kicker and long snapper.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that several sources said the Packers would be paying Bisaccia well, with some speculating as much as $2 million per year, which would be the highest for his position.