Source: Drayton to run Packers’ special teams
- Covered Packers for Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1997-2013
- Two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers moved quickly to name a new special-teams coordinator, promoting assistant special-teams coach Maurice Drayton.
A source confirmed the move one day after coach Matt LaFleur fired Shawn Mennenga after two seasons in that role.
Drayton has been with the team since 2018, a year before LaFleur arrived. He previously worked for the Indianapolis Colts from 2016-17 as a special-teams assistant.
The Packers struggled on special teams throughout the season. Blocked kicks, long returns allowed and an ineffective return game cost them field position and momentum at various points during their 13-3 season.
The Packers ranked 29th in Rick Gosselin’s annual special-teams rankings, widely considered the gold standard for special-teams evaluation around the league. They ranked 26th last season.
Mennenga inherited the worst special-teams unit in the league from 2018, when the Packers ranked 32nd under former coordinator Ron Zook. The Packers also ranked last in the league in 2014 under then-coordinator Shawn Slocum. The club’s highest ranking on special teams between 2014 and 2020 was 16th in 2017.
A source told ESPN on Wednesday that Drayton was the likely replacement, and NFL Network first reported that it was done on Thursday.
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