Entering his fifth season coaching in the NFL, Sam Siefkes begins his first year with the Packers in 2026 as the team's linebackers coach. Siefkes (SEEF-kiss) comes to Green Bay after spending the 2025 season at Virginia Tech as defensive coordinator. He spent the previous four seasons in the NFL, serving as the linebackers coach for the Arizona Cardinals (2023-24) and working two seasons for the Minnesota Vikings as assistant linebackers coach (2022) and as a defensive quality control coach (2021).
In 2025 at Virginia Tech, Siefkes helped guide DT Kemari Copeland to third-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors after he started all 12 games and posted a career-high 48 tackles (11 solo), a career-best 7½ tackles for a loss, a team-high 4½ sacks and an interception. Copeland was named the ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week for his performance in a 42-34 overtime win over California, recording seven tackles (four solo) and three sacks and becoming the first Virginia Tech DT to register three sacks in a game since 1995. The Hokies limited their opponents to less than 100 yards on the ground in five games, their most in a season since 2019. That included their performance vs. Wofford (-1 yard on 23 carries), the first time Virginia Tech had held its opponent to a negative rushing-yardage total since Nov. 8, 2012 (-15 yards allowed vs. Florida State).
With the Cardinals in 2024, Siefkes was part of a defensive staff that helped Arizona rank No. 4 in the league in points allowed (19.6 ppg) and allow the fewest total TDs (20) and the fewest passing TDs (10) in the NFL over the final 11 games. The Cardinals also ranked in the top 10 in the league over that span 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). Siefkes tutored LB Kyzir White, who ranked No. 2 on the team with 137 tackles (60 solo) and added 2½ sacks and nine tackles for a loss (No. 2 on the team). White became the first Cardinals LB dating back to 2000 to register 135-plus tackles, multiple sacks and nine-plus tackles for a loss in a season.
In his first season with the Cardinals in 2023, Siefkes worked with White as he led the team with 90 tackles (53 solo) and nine tackles for a loss despite missing the final six games of the season due to injury. White was one of only four LBs in the league with 90-plus tackles and nine-plus tackles for a loss through Week 11. LB Josh Woods appeared in 11 games with a career-high seven starts and registered a career-best 61 tackles (33 solo).
In 2022 with the Vikings, Siefkes helped tutor Eric Kendricks (team-high 137 tackles) and Jordan Hicks (No. 2 on the team with 129 tackles), the first linebacker duo to both record 125-plus tackles for Minnesota in the same season since 1993 (Jack Del Rio and Fred Strickland). Hicks was tied for No. 2 among NFL linebackers with 10 passes defensed. Siefkes helped oversee a linebacker unit in 2021 led by Kendricks, who posted a career-high 143 tackles (81 solo) and a career-best five sacks while adding eight tackles for a loss, two INTs and a fumble recovery. Kendricks was the only player in the league to register 140-plus tackles, five-plus sacks and multiple INTs in 2021 and became just the fifth NFL linebacker to reach those marks in a season dating back to 2000 (Shaquille Leonard, 2018; Lavonte David, 2013; NaVorro Bowman, 2013; Keith Bulluck, 2004).
Prior to his time in Minnesota, Siefkes was the defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach at Wofford College (2018-20), with the 2020 season postponed at the school due to COVID-19. In 2019, he guided the Terriers to top-20 rankings in passing defense (No. 14, 175.0 ypg) and total defense (No. 20, 335.3 ypg) and helped lead them to their third straight Southern Conference title and their fourth straight appearance in the FCS playoffs. In his first season at Wofford in 2018, Siefkes helped the Terriers rank No. 8 in the country in scoring defense (19.0 ppg) and No. 12 in total defense (305.5 ypg) on their way to a conference title and a berth in the second round of the FCS playoffs.
Siefkes spent two seasons (2016-17) as the defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach at Wisconsin-Platteville, where he helped the Pioneers to a 15-6 record (.714), including an 8-3 mark and a playoff berth in 2016. The defense allowed just 18.9 points per game in 2016 and recorded three shutouts for the first time since 1972. Siefkes worked as a defensive graduate assistant at the University of Wisconsin in 2015, where he was part of a staff that helped the Badgers rank in the top five in the nation in scoring defense (No. 1, 13.7 ppg), total defense (No. 2, 268.5 ypg) and rushing defense (No. 4, 95.4 ypg).
Siefkes served as a defensive/special teams quality control coach at Florida International in 2014 and was a student assistant at Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2012-13, where he assisted with the Eagles' defensive backs, linebackers and specialists. Siefkes also served as a strength and conditioning intern at the Air Force Academy in the summer of 2013. He played defensive back at Wisconsin-La Crosse in 2011 before injuries ended his career.
Siefkes was born Aug. 26, 1991, in Oconomowoc, Wis. He and his wife, Carrissa, have a daughter, Brynlee.
