Entering his ninth season coaching in the NFL, Cam Achord begins his first year with the Packers in 2026 as the team's special teams coordinator. Achord (AY-cord) comes to Green Bay after spending the past two seasons as assistant special teams coach for the N.Y. Giants. He was on the New England Patriots' staff for the previous six seasons (2018-23), including four as special teams coordinator (2020-23).
During his two seasons with the Giants (2024-25), Achord helped the team rank No. 4 in the NFL over that span in kickoff return average (27.9), the top two-year mark in the history of the franchise. New York posted a franchise-record 1,942 yards on kickoff returns last season and an average of 27.7 yards per return (No. 5 in the NFL), the second-best single-season mark in team history behind only the 28.3-yard average in 2024. The Giants registered a league-best 35 kickoff returns of 30-plus yards from 2024-25, the most by an NFL team over a two-year span since the 2009-10 Chicago Bears (35). Achord helped the Giants rank No. 3 in the NFL in 2024-25 in average starting field position after kickoffs (31.4) and No. 4 in opponent average starting field position after kickoffs (29.6), the only team in the league to finish in the top five in both categories.
In 2025, CB Deonte Banks posted the first kickoff returns of his three-year NFL career and returned 19 kickoffs for 622 yards (32.7 avg.) and a TD, ranking No. 2 in the NFL in kickoff return average among players with 15-plus returns and posting the top single-season average in team history (min. 15 returns). Banks posted a team-high nine kickoff returns of 30-plus yards, the most by a Giant in a season since RB David Wilson recorded 15 in 2012, and WR Gunner Olszewski added eight returns of 30-plus yards as the Giants tied for the league lead with 26 kickoff returns of 30-plus yards as a team. Banks (622, 32.7) and Olszewski (682, 26.2) formed the first duo in team history and the sixth in NFL history to both record 600-plus yards on kickoff returns with an average of 26-plus yards per return in the same season.
In his first season with the Giants in 2024, Achord helped guide two players to NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. LB Isaiah Simmons earned the recognition in Week 5 after he blocked Seahawks K Jason Myers' game-tying 47- yard FG attempt that WR Bryce Ford-Wheaton caught and returned 60 yards for the clinching TD. In Week 17, WR Ihmir Smith-Marsette took home the honor after he returned a kickoff 100 yards for a TD against Indianapolis in the 45-33 win. The Giants were the only team in the league to block a field goal and return it for a TD and return a kickoff for a TD in 2024, becoming the first NFL team to accomplish both in a season since the 2012 Seattle Seahawks.
Achord's first NFL coaching experience came with New England, where he served as special teams coordinator for four seasons (2020-23) and assistant special teams coach for two seasons (2018-19). In 2023, Achord helped the Patriots rank No. 3 in the NFL in kickoff return average (26.2) and No. 6 in opponent kickoff return average (20.6). P Bryce Baringer led the league with a franchise-record 38 punts downed inside the 20, the most by an NFL rookie dating back to 2000, and was the only punter to post at least one punt of 50-plus yards in all 17 games in 2023. S Brenden Schooler was tied for No. 2 in the league in special teams tackles with 13 and was named to the NFLPA All-Pro team in '23.
In 2022, Achord tutored CB Marcus Jones as he led the NFL in punt return average (12.5) and punt return yards (362) and ranked No. 2 in total return yards (1,007). Jones earned first-team AP All-Pro honors at punt returner and became the first rookie in team history to garner first-team All-Pro recognition. As a team, the Patriots ranked No. 3 in the league in total return yards (1,274). In 2021, Achord helped guide New England to a No. 4 league ranking in opponent average starting field position after kickoffs (24.3). K Nick Folk ranked No. 2 in the NFL with a career-high 36 field goals, posting a 92.3 percentage (36 of 39) that ranked No. 5 in the league. WR Matthew Slater recorded 11 tackles on special teams, earning second-team AP All-Pro honors as well as his 10th career Pro Bowl selection.
In his first season as coordinator for the Patriots in 2020, Achord helped the team rank No. 1 in the league in Rick Gosselin's annual ranking of all NFL special teams. New England ranked No. 1 in the NFL in opponent average starting field position (24.6) and No. 2 in yards allowed on punt returns (71), the second-fewest yards allowed by the Patriots in a season (54 in 1962). P Jake Bailey led the NFL with a teamrecord 45.6-yard net punting average, the second-best mark in league history to that point, on his way to earning first-team AP All-Pro honors as well as a Pro Bowl selection. Olszewski led the NFL with a 17.3-yard average on punt returns (20 returns for a league-best 346 yards), the top average in team history and the second-best single-season mark in the league dating back to the 1970 AFL-NFL merger (min. 20 returns). Olszewski earned first-team AP All-Pro recognition with Slater also taking home second-team AP All-Pro honors on special teams.
In 2019, Achord assisted with a New England special-teams unit that ranked No. 3 in the NFL in Gosselin's rankings. The Patriots led the league with four blocked punts, including a league-best two blocked punts returned for TDs, as they became the first NFL team to block four punts in a season since the 2014 Philadelphia Eagles. Bailey placed 36 punts inside the 20, good for No. 2 in the NFL, and New England ranked No. 9 in the league in opponent punt return average (6.3). In 2018, WR Cordarrelle Patterson ranked No. 3 in the league with a 28.8- yard average on kickoff returns, including a 95-yard TD in Week 7 at Chicago, and the Patriots went on to win Super Bowl LIII over the Los Angeles Rams.
Prior to joining New England, Achord spent the previous five seasons (2013-17) at Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he served in roles as offensive coordinator, special teams coordinator, quarterbacks coach, running backs coach and tight ends coach and as recruiting coordinator. In 2016, Achord helped TE Ravian Pierce earn NJCAA All-America honorable mention after he led the team in receptions (50) and receiving yards (426). In 2014, Achord helped the Bears rank No. 2 in the country in punt return average and No. 3 in kickoff return average.
Achord's first coaching experience came at Southern Mississippi, where he served as an offensive graduate assistant/ quarterbacks in 2012 and a special teams graduate assistant/linebackers in 2011. In 2011, he was part of a staff that helped guide the Eagles to a 12-2 record and a Conference USA title. Achord was a four-year starter at free safety and a two-time team captain at Belhaven University. He earned all-conference honors in 2009 and honorable mention in 2007 and was twice named the Mid-South Conference Player of the Week. In 2010, he participated in the NAIA Senior Classic.
Achord was born Feb. 4, 1987, in Brookhaven, Miss. He and his wife, Emily, have a son, Dawson.
