UnPack Pod: Justis Mosqueda on Joe Barry’s firing and what comes next

Who will be the Packers next defensive coordinator?

Justis Mosqueda picked the wrong morning to hit snooze. In his defense, he’s on Pacific time, so the text, Slack, and other alerts probably started heating his phone up around 6:30 am. Most of the messages probably looked something like this:

“Hey. Wake up. Joe Barry got fired.”

That’s right folks. After weeks of praise from the head coach, and coyness in his recent press conferences, Joe Barry has indeed been removed as Defensive Coordinator of the Green Bay Packers.

This brings to mind many questions. So, naturally, we asked Justis Mosqueda to join this week’s UnPack pod to set us straight.

Is Joe Barry really gone?

Barry has been fired as the team’s defensive coordinator, but ESPN’s Rob Demovsky is reporting that there are talks of his potential return to the team in some other capacity — perhaps as a linebackers coach, where he has had prior success. Of course, it’s worth asking if that’s even a good idea. The old boss gets demoted but hangs around, continuing to work under a new leader but in a reduced capacity? Sure, he’s well-liked by players and coaches alike, but that feels messy at best.

Who should the Packers target for defensive coordinator?

The thought of moving on may have many fans feeling relieved, but the reality is the team is now faced with an extremely important hire that will help shape the success (or failure) of the next few seasons. So who should the team be targeting? Do they need a scheme change? Realistically, how many schemes and coaching trees are currently having success at the NFL level? And who’s even available? Justis breaks it all down, pulling in part from his defensive coordinator interview tracker.

What kind of roster will the new DC be inheriting?

You can’t pin every failure on the defensive coordinator. The truth is, this season started as a rebuilding year, with a few key roster holes on defense left unaddressed. Justis helps us zero in on defensive draft needs to help set the new defensive coordinator up for success.

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