Green Bay Packers have a new defensive coordinator. Joe Barry will be the guy taking over for Mike Pettine. Barry is not a name that many Packers fans wanted when he interviewed for the job. Barry’s history of being a defensive coordinator is rocky at best. He coached the 0-16 Lions defense and spent two years as the Washington Redskins defensive coordinator in 2015-2016. Barry has never even had a top 20 defense in his four years of being a coordinator. There seems like there would not be a positive with Barry, but there are some. Let’s talk about those before getting to the obvious negatives.

POSITIVES
– Barry seems to be a well-liked guy throughout football: Things you read this weekend it appears that Barry is appreciated by his co-workers. Some people thought that Barry would have a head coaching job in the NFL. It seems like he is a player’s coach. Pettine had some of that, but it appears as Barry might have a similar attitude to Nathanial Hackett.

– Barry impressed McVay and Staley: Take this for consideration in the last two years. Barry got promoted to assistant head coach of the Rams staff. Who knows what that actually means, but it shows that he moved up with McVay. Then Brendan Staley, the new coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, was ready to bring him into LA to be his passing game coordinator. If he made a positive impression on those guys, I have to think there are some likable qualities about him.

– The talent on both of his defense stunk out loud: The one thing people should point out when talking about Barry’s past failures is the lack of talent he had on those teams. They were not good defenses. It is not like he was given the keys to a Lamborghini. The car he had was a Dodge Neon with either team. So it is possible that these defenses could not play up to Barry’s potential.

NEGATIVES
– It is a retread, uninspired hire: As a Packers fan seeing how close Green Bay was to the Super Bowl, the hire does not elude much confidence in the future of this team. Barry is not a guy you immediately think puts you over the top as a coach. Now if they hired one of Tampa Bay’s defensive assistants, I think a ton of people have their ears perked up with the coach.

– Matt LaFleur wants to give his buddy another chance: This can be good or bad. LaFleur is clearly helping out Barry by getting him another job. Does that mean LaFleur will have more say in the defense than he did with Pettine? Time will tell. I hope not. But that is on the table for certain with a friend now as your defensive coordinator.

– 4-3 defenses are what he’s used to… – Here’s the one part that gives me so much pause. Is Green Bay going to work into a 4-3? They haven’t been a 4-3 team in a long, long time. Green Bay does not have a roster for a 4-3 team. Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith both do not fit a 4-3. Rashan Gary played a 4-3 in college, but the Packers spent the last two years making him an EDGE rusher. It would make no sense. Maybe with the other Packers’ coaches, he can adapt. Fingers crossed.

Charlie.