GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur interviewed former Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Eric Washington to be his defensive line coach, according to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones.
The Bears hired Ben Johnson as coach this week, and Johnson presumably will be building his own staff, which makes Washington a free agent. The Packers need a defensive line coach after LaFleur fired Jason Rebrovich.
Washington was the Bears’ defensive coordinator this season. The Bears finished 13th in points allowed. They were bad in most categories, ranking 27th in total defense, 28th against the pass and 16th against the run. But they were second in the red zone and 10th in takeaways.
“We’re going to understand the strengths of the guys that we have on defense and we’re going to make sure we put forth a plan that accentuates that and puts that forth,” Washington said upon replacing then-coach Matt Eberflus as the defensive play-caller.
“We have to be smart. We have to make sure that our assignments are clean. We’ve got to do our jobs. And then we’ve got to have a lot of fun together and make sure that the confidence is right and that we’re connected to every situation.”
He was with the Buffalo Bills the previous four seasons, serving as defensive line coach in 2020 and 2021, defensive line coach and senior defensive assistant in 2022 and defensive line coach and assistant head coach in 2023.
“He is a great communicator with elite leadership skills and he will enhance our current defensive staff,” Eberflus said upon hiring Washington. “His track record speaks for itself with coordinator experience as well as expertise in the area of defensive line.”
During his four seasons in Buffalo, the Bills ranked first in points allowed and eighth in sacks.
“We’re going to be a team that generates pressure with our front four,” Washington said after joining the Bears. “We’re going to build the best pass rush in football. That happens to fortunately be an area that I’ve had tremendous success with, and we have the personnel to get that done.”
During Washington’s final season in Buffalo, the Bills ranked fourth in points allowed, fourth in sacks and 10th in tackles for losses. The Bills finished second in points allowed in 2022, first in 2021 and 15th in 2020.
In 2018 and 2019, Washington was the Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator.
“He gets to know you before he coaches you, because he wants to know how hard he can push you,” defensive end Brian Burns, Carolina’s first-round draft pick in 2019, told The Athletic during his rookie season. “He got to know me, and I think that’s why our bond is so tight and that’s why I’m able to learn.
“(People think) that coaching is just ‘coaching’. They don’t understand that bond you have to have with the player to get that response. They don’t really understand that.”
Washington got his first NFL job as a defensive assistant with the Bears in 2008. He was promoted to defensive line coach in 2010, with that unit finishing fourth in points allowed before losing to the Packers in the NFC Championship Game.
That game was part of the highlight of his coaching career.
“My son being born in this area,” Washington recalled. “He was born in Evanston. We were in the NFC Championship Game against the Green Bay Packers in 2010, and at a certain point, I stopped letting my wife, Amy, come to the game because I didn’t want something to happen when we were in a stadium with 70,000 people in downtown Chicago.
“I believe it was two weeks after the game, Ellis was born. Nothing will ever top that. Now to bring him back here all these years later is unbelievable.”
Washington played tight end at Grambling in 1989 and 1990.
He recently donated $50,000 to his alma mater.
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– Kacy Rodgers, a candidate to be the #Packers’ new defensive line coach.https://t.co/JqDE67d0Wp
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