Entering his 16th season coaching in the NFL, Jonathan Gannon begins his first year with the Packers in 2026 as the team's defensive coordinator. Gannon comes to Green Bay after spending the past three seasons as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals.
During his three seasons in Arizona, Gannon helped the Cardinals rank No. 2 in the NFL over that span in yards per carry (4.92), tied for No. 4 in explosive runs (132) and No. 9 in rushing offense (125.5 ypg). He guided the Cardinals to eight wins in 2024, double the team's win total from his first season despite playing nine games against playoff teams. Arizona finished the 2024 campaign with a 6-3 record at home, the first time since 2015 that it had posted six-plus home wins in a season. The Cardinals won five of their last six home contests and posted a scoring margin of 20-plus points in four games on the season, tied for No. 1 in the league in 2024 and their most in a season in franchise history. Arizona allowed 20 or fewer points in six home games, its most in a season since 2014 (seven).
Gannon oversaw a historic season by the Arizona offense in 2024 as the Cardinals finished with 6,090 total yards, just the fifth time in franchise history that the team registered 6,000- plus yards in a season. Arizona featured a 3,000-yard passer (QB Kyler Murray), a 1,000-yard rusher (RB James Conner) and a 1,000-yard receiver (TE Trey McBride) for just the fifth time in team annals. The Cardinals finished in the top 10 in the league in rushing offense (No. 7, 144.2 ypg), yards per carry (No. 2, 5.29), sacks allowed (No. 5, 30), first downs per game (No. 9, 20.9), third-down conversion percentage (No. 8, 43.0) and goal-to-go efficiency (No. 4, 86.2).
Over the final 11 games in 2024, Arizona ranked No. 4 in the league in points allowed per game (19.6) and allowed the fewest total TDs (20) and the fewest passing TDs (10) in the NFL over that span. The Cardinals also ranked in the top 10 in the league over the final 11 games in total defense (No. 6, 325.7 ypg), passing defense (No. 8, 213.8 ypg), first downs allowed per game (No. 5, 18.7) and sacks (t-No. 5, 30). Arizona was one of the most disciplined teams in the league in '24, ranking No. 2 in the NFL in fewest penalties with 92, an average of 5.41 per game that was the top mark by the team since 2002 (4.75).
In his first season with the Cardinals in 2023, Gannon led the league's third-youngest team that saw its rookie class lead the NFL in combined starts (64) and combined snaps on offense and defense (4,654). Arizona ranked No. 4 in the NFL in rushing offense (139.1 ypg) and No. 2 in yards per carry (5.02) while posting a league-high four 200-yard rushing games. The Cardinals were tied for No. 6 in the NFL in giveaways (18) and registered a team-record eight zero-giveaway games, tied for the most in the NFL in 2023.
Gannon joined the Cardinals after spending the previous two seasons (2021-22) as the defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles, where he helped the team rank No. 3 in the NFL over that span in total defense (315.1 ypg) and passing defense (200.4 ypg), No. 1 in sacks (99), No. 6 in tackles for a loss (168), and tied for No. 3 in defensive TDs (seven) and INT return TDs (four).
In 2022, Gannon guided a Philadelphia unit that posted a franchise-record 70 sacks and was tied for No. 4 in the NFL in takeaways (27) and INTs (17) as the Eagles advanced to Super Bowl LVII. The Eagles featured the top-ranked passing defense (179.8 ypg) and the No. 2-ranked overall defense (301.5 ypg) and became the first team in league history to have four different players register 10-plus sacks in a single season. Philadelphia's 70 sacks on the season were the most by a team since the 1989 Minnesota Vikings (71), and with eight additional sacks in the playoffs, the Eagles' 78 total sacks in 2022 were the third most in NFL history behind only the 1984 (82) and 1985 Chicago Bears (80). Philadelphia (seven points allowed vs. the N.Y. Giants, seven points allowed vs. San Francisco) became the first team to allow seven or fewer points in multiple games in a single postseason since the 2010 Baltimore Ravens (three games).
Under Gannon's tutelage, four different Eagles defensive players combined for five Pro Bowl selections (CB Darius Slay, two; LB Haason Reddick, one; DT Javon Hargrave, one; DE Josh Sweat, one). Reddick, Hargrave and Sweat all earned their first career Pro Bowl selections under Gannon, while Reddick and CB James Bradberry both earned second-team All-Pro honors from The Associated Press in 2022. In his first season with the Eagles in 2022, S C.J. Gardner-Johnson was tied for the league lead with a career-high six INTs, while Bradberry (three INTs, 17 passes defensed) and Slay (three INTs, 14 passes defensed) were the only CB tandem in the league to both register threeplus INTs and 14-plus passes defensed in 2022.
Gannon served as the defensive backs/cornerbacks coach for the Indianapolis Colts from 2018-20, helping the Colts rank in the top 10 in the NFL in takeaways and INTs all three of those seasons. He helped Indianapolis finish tied for No. 6 in the league over that span in INTs (45) and takeaways (74), No. 9 in scoring defense (22.9 ppg) and No. 10 in total defense (339.5 ypg). In Gannon's final season with Indianapolis in 2020, the team ranked No. 5 in the NFL in takeaways (25) and tied for No. 7 in INTs (15). CB Kenny Moore (four INTs, two sacks) was the only player in the league to register four-plus INTs and multiple sacks in '20.
Gannon spent the previous four seasons (2014-17) with the Vikings as assistant defensive backs coach/quality control, where he was part of a staff that helped guide the Vikings to No. 3 league rankings in total defense (319.9 ypg), scoring defense (18.8 ppg) and passing defense (214.6 ypg) over that span. Minnesota led the league in both total defense (275.9 ypg) and scoring defense (15.8 ppg) in 2017, its first time leading the NFL in both categories in the same season since 1970. S Harrison Smith and CB Xavier Rhodes both earned first-team All-Pro honors in '17, and Smith (2015-17) and Rhodes (2016- 17) also earned multiple Pro Bowl selections during Gannon's tenure in Minnesota.
Gannon served as a defensive assistant/quality control for the Tennessee Titans in 2012-13, where he was part of a staff that helped the Titans rank No. 5 in the league over those two seasons in INTs per passing attempt (3.4 pct.). He spent three seasons (2009-11) with the St. Louis Rams as a scout, serving as a college scout for his first two seasons before being promoted to a pro scout in 2011. His first NFL coaching job came with the Atlanta Falcons in 2007 as a defensive quality control coach.
Gannon played safety at Louisville and appeared in nine games as a redshirt freshman in 2002 before sustaining a career-ending hip injury in his first career start at Cincinnati. Following the injury, he worked as a student assistant for the Cardinals for three seasons (2003-05) and one season (2006) as a graduate assistant.
Gannon was born Jan. 4, 1983, in Cleveland, Ohio. He and his wife, Gina, have three children – Rocco, Lola and Angelo.
