Green Bay Packers Head Coach has made a choice for his new Defensive Coordinator and it’s 50 year old Joe Barry.
Actually, it’s LaFleur’s second choice as he initially offered the job to 39 year old Jim Leonard, the Defensive Coordinator of the University of Wisconsin Badgers but Leonard turned down the offer following a pair of interviews to return to Madison where he has produced one of the top collegiate defenses in the nation over the past four years.
So it is Barry who will succeed Mike Pettine who’s contract was not renewed after a three year run in Green Bay under both Mike McCarthy and Lafluer for his first two years on the job. Barry and LaFleur were together on Sean McVay’s first coaching staff with the Los Angeles Rams in 2017 when LaFleur was the offensive coordinator and Barry was the assistant Head Coach in charge on linebackers.
Barry played linebacker at college at USC and got his first NFL coaching job working with the same position with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers under both Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden from 2001 to 2006, earning a Super Bowl ring with the Bucs in 2002. Another former Bucs assistant, Rod Marinelli, brought Barry on board to be his defensive coordinator with the Detroit Lions in 2007 and 2008. It did not go well as Detroit finished dead last in the NFL in yards allowed per game in each season, They gave up 377.6 yards a game in a 7-9 campaign in 2007 and the following year, when Detroit went 0-16, Barry’s defense was last in both yards allowed (404.4) and points per game (32.3). When Marinelli was dismissed, Barry returned to Tampa for one season and then went back to his alma mater at USC for the 2010 campaign.
The San Diego Chargers under Norv Turner was Barry’s next stop in 2011, again working with linebackers. He stayed through the transition to Mike McCoy for three more years before Barry got another shot at running a defense for Jay Gruden and the Washington Football Team.
In two seasons in Washington, Barry’s defense finished 28th in yards allowed in both 2015 and 2016.
From there it was on to the Rams where he was joined by LaFleur for one season together.
While the numbers suggest Barry struggled to field competitive units, he was saddled with talent poor rosters. In his four years as a coordinator, not a single Detroit or Washington player was named to a Pro Bowl roster. He will inherit three players who have made Pro Bowl rosters in Kenny Clark, Za’Darius Smith and Jaire Alexander, the latter two were both named second team All Pro in 2020. Preston Smith was a second round pick of Washington in 2015 and played his first two seasons with Barry as his coordinator.
