English
Español
I was combing through the data on our consensus 2026 NFL free agent rankings, which is now up to 26 data points, and decided to look at a different angle today: Players with connections to new Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. As we’ve seen in the past, connections to a coach on the staff have produced some of the team’s biggest free-agent signings over the years, such as Josh Jacobs (Rich Bisaccia), Nate Hobbs (Bisaccia), Xavier McKinney (Derrick Ansley), De’Vondre Campbell (Matt LaFleur) and Christian Kirksey (Mike Pettine).
So who are those players with Gannon connections? Here are the defensive tackles, off-ball linebackers and outside cornerbacks, the defensive areas where Green Bay should be looking to add talent based on their current depth chart, who are top-150 free agents.
#32: Nakobe Dean, LB, Philadelphia Eagles
Generally, 3-4 defenses play with one smaller run-and-chase Will linebacker (for Green Bay, this is Edgerrin Cooper) and a plugger Mike linebacker (Quay Walker, who is set to be a free agent in 2026). In Philadelphia, Nakobe Dean was the Will, not the Mike, a role that went to Zack Baun.
Signing Dean would be a little redundant with Cooper’s skill set, but ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler stated that the Dallas Cowboys, who are also transitioning to a 3-4 defense this year, consider Dean to be a green-dot middle linebacker. The Cowboys’ new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker, also comes from the Eagles’ coaching tree.
In Gannon’s final year in Philadelphia, Dean was drafted in the third round, after sliding from his first-round projection due to injury concerns. Dean didn’t start until 2023, when Gannon was already in Arizona, and has missed 21 games over the last three seasons due to injury.
#62: Calais Campbell, iDL, Arizona Cardinals
Calais Campbell will turn 40 years old on September 1st, so don’t expect him to learn new tricks. For Arizona last season, he was pretty much a pass-rushing specialist, which isn’t surprising considering the 6’8”, 315-pounder essentially played an edge rusher position for the Atlanta Falcons in 2023. He’s not really trying to bang heads in the run game at his big ole age.
While he started 17 games for the Cardinals, he only played 46 percent of the total snaps, with a lean toward obvious passing downs. He didn’t play the nose tackle position much outside of these passing downs, too, so don’t expect him to solve the Packers’ run game nose tackle issue.
To me, Campbell would be more of a luxury signing than one that would fill a need. Another non-run-down guy whose snap count must be managed on a 48-man gameday roster isn’t really what the team needs right now, but maybe they could sign Campbell and push out someone like Karl Brooks, who is on an expiring contract.
#115: Josh Jobe, CB, Seattle Seahawks
Like Nakobe Dean, Josh Jobe’s rookie season overlapped with Gannon’s last year in Philadelphia, but he didn’t play much for Gannon. In 2022, the undrafted free agent played 220 of his 232 snaps in the regular season on special teams.
Jobe hits all of the Packers’ height/weight/speed thresholds and comes from a quarters-based system (both in Philadelphia and Seattle), but there are two hangups. First, Jobe wasn’t really an above-average player until this past year. Second, how much was his 2025 production helped by the fact that the team around him was extremely talented? That’s what teams will be asking themselves before turning in contract offers.
#128: Alex Singleton, LB, Denver Broncos
During his first season as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, Alex Singleton was a part-time starter for Gannon at linebacker. The former CFL all-star ended up leaving the Eagles in free agency to sign a one-year $1.12 million contract with the Denver Broncos in 2022, which then turned into his three-year, $18 million extension.
Singleton is on the older side at 32 years old, but he’s still an option if all else goes wrong on the linebacker market.
Outside the top-150
Beyond just the top-150 free agents, two players worth mentioning here are nose tackles Roy Lopez and Khyiris Tonga. Lopez was the Detroit Lions’ backup nose tackle this year, but graded out well for Pro Football Focus. Tonga had a breakout year as a part-time starter as a significant run defender for the AFC championship-winning New England Patriots.
Both are under 30 years old and played for Gannon in Arizona.
As it stands now, here’s how the nose tackles rank on the consensus board:
- #53: David Onyemata
- #69: DJ Reader
- #94: DaQuan Jones
- #164: Roy Lopez
- #173: Tim Settle (coming off foot surgery)
- #177: Khyiris Tonga
It’s not a great crop of nose tackles, so teams could find themselves getting to Lopez and Tonga faster than some of these analysts who ranked these players outside of the top-150 think.