GREEN BAY – The Packers' defensive assistant coaches met with the media on Tuesday. Here's a sampling of their key comments.
Outside linebackers/run game coordinator DeMarcus Covington
On learning and teaching the new defense:
I think that's been my career. If you look at over the time with me, every year, it's something different almost – linebackers, D-line, outside linebackers. I coordinated and then back to D-line and now this. I think we're always forever growing. I talked to the guys earlier when they first came back. I talked to them about a white belt mindset. Really what does that mean? Every year it's a start-over mentality. You have a humble mentality – not a know-it-all, a learn-it-all. I think if we approach that with a black belt skill set but with a white belt mentality, I think we're gonna be all right.
On Lukas Van Ness:
I've kind of been saying this since Day 1, since I walked in here, I think the sky's the limit for him. Whatever he puts his mind to, he can do it. It's about him being out there, being consistent like all of our players on a daily basis. The more you're out there, the more you do it, the more consistent you are, the better you're gonna be. That's with all our players. I'm excited to see him compete this offseason and help us improve as a team for this 2026 year. I'm looking forward to watching him grow like I've been seeing him this past 1½ years.
Defensive line coach Vince Oghobaase
On his animated coaching style:
I'm always going to be myself, and I want the players to be themselves, and I believe whenever you are in this position I'm in as a coach, you want guys to feel your energy, feel your passion because, ultimately, I want them to be great on the field. I live through them. Their failures are my failures, their wins are my wins, their success is my success. So, I believe they need to see that from the coach. We are in charge of leading our groups. We're the managers of our groups. We have to motivate, lead, make sure these guys are getting everything we want to get out of them from a technique standpoint, finish standpoint, tackling, what have you, and I got to be the leader of that. So, my energy is my energy. But, ultimately, it's the message behind my energy that I think the guys are going to get a good feel for.
On newcomer Javon Hargrave:
One thing about Hargrave is he's still hungry at his veteran years right now. I believe he still has a lot of ball left in him. Playing ball for this long, he's learned a lot of things from a technique standpoint, the nuances of the game, from a shade, zero, nose, three-technique. I mean, he's played in a lot of different systems and he's been very successful. So, I'm looking forward to working with him. He's been incredible from a communication standpoint. Very jovial guy, understands some of the stuff we've already talked about from a scheme standpoint. He'll fit in very well with the room right now. So, it's been good. He'll do some good things for us.
Linebackers coach Sam Siefkes
On growing up in Wisconsin and now coaching for the Packers:
It means a lot. I grew up watching, obviously, Green Bay, and that was what we did every Sunday, you know? So I don't take it lightly. If anything, it's helping me work even harder, which I didn't know that that was possible, probably prior to getting here. But … I don't take it lightly, just to put it pretty bluntly. So every day, I try to have that mindset coming in to work here, that it means something a little bit different for this organization. I try to make sure I'm putting my best foot forward every single day for the organization, Matt, JG, everybody else that's included.
On his experience as a defensive coordinator at the D-III level:
I think it allows for you to see the game in a little bit different of a lens. You see the issues for not only your position, but all the other positions. You see what's hard to coach for your position and other positions. The biggest thing is you're able to tie it all together, right? So I had that experience very early on in my career. That was actually advice from Coach (Dave) Aranda was, I think I was 23 or 24 years old, and he said, 'Go coordinate. It'll help you in the long run.' So at that time, I had no idea what I was talking about or doing. But you kind of figured it out as you went and doing it at that time was an awesome experience for me at Platteville.
Secondary/pass game coordinator Bobby Babich
On following in his dad's footsteps as a coach:
Obviously he was a big influence. Seeing him as I'm growing up – shoot I think before eighth grade I moved seven times – and seeing the way he goes about his job and how hard he works and how much he loves the game, how much he would impact players and help them get better and also create relationships … Life's about relationships. That's really what it comes down to and my interest in football got a lot heavier as I got older. Obviously played it in college, wasn't good enough to play it in the NFL and to be honest with you, I think I would've rather coached than played and him kind of showing me that way led me this way and obviously it's evolved as I have established my career. That's really what it came down to, and he forever will be an influential part of my career and I owe him a lot.
On boosting the Packers' low takeaway numbers from last season:
This is this year. Last year has nothing to do with this year. Nothing that has happened in the past has anything to do with this year coming up, and we're looking forward to the opportunity to take the ball away.
Cornerbacks coach Daniel Bullocks
On how he got into coaching:
I always was a player coach growing up when I played the game, always was a student of the game. When I played back in the day with the Detroit Lions, my head coach Rod Marinelli told me you'll be a good coach, this was going into my second year. I always studied the game. Unfortunately I was hit with a lot of injuries, spent a lot of time in the offseason rehabbing, studying the game, and that's where I found my passion at. When my career's over, I wanted to be a coach. So I started coaching in 2012 and been a coach ever since.
On rookie CB Brandon Cisse:
Smart player, hard worker. Just getting a chance to see him run around the field in person, he's athletic, got good quickness, got good transition, got good burst out of his breaks. He's a guy that hit me up every night talking about scheme, talking about players. He's the same guy I see on the tape. He's going to be a good player.
