The Green Bay Packers are hiring a former assistant from Mike Zimmer’s staff in Minnesota to fill an important job on Mike Pettine’s defensive staff in Green Bay.
According to Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Packers picked former Vikings assistant Jerry Gray to be the team’s new defensive backs coach, replacing Jason Simmons.
Gray, a former defensive coordinator with the Buffalo Bills (2001-05) and Tennessee Titans (2011-13), spent the last six years as the defensive backs coach for Zimmer and the Vikings.
A first-round pick who made four Pro Bowls over a nine-year career as an NFL player, Gray joined the coaching ranks in 1999 and has been coaching defensive backs as a position coach or coordinator ever since. He coached safety Harrison Smith to five Pro Bowls and cornerback Xavier Rhodes to three Pro Bowls while with the Vikings.
Zimmer let Gray go following the 2019 season. The Vikings have finished in the top 10 of pass defense DVOA for five straight seasons.
The Packers needed an experienced defensive backs coach to take over for Simmons, who is departing for Carolina. The secondary is filled with young talent and high draft picks, such as cornerbacks Jaire Alexander, Kevin King and Josh Jackson and safety Darnell Savage.
