How Risky Is It For Matt LaFleur To Wait Around For Jim Leonhard?

Putting all your eggs into one basket can be a dicey proposition. Still, it sounds like Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers will wait until they can talk to the Denver Broncos’ Jim Leonhard before deciding on their defensive coordinator opening.

It's quite the risk when considering all the factors.

Appearing on

Now here's where this can get a little hairy for Green Bay.

Green Bay hasn't yet interviewed Leonhard. During the first cycle, when candidates on playoff teams could get interviewed, Jeff Hafley still hadn't taken the Miami Dolphins job. Thus, there was no opening for a defensive coordinator in Green Bay.

The Broncos are in the AFC Championship on Sunday. If they were to lose to the New England Patriots, LaFleur and the Packers could talk with Leonhard as early as Monday. However, if the Broncos win, a second window opens for another week of second interviews. Still, because the Packers haven't interviewed Leonhard yet, they'd have to wait until after the Super Bowl, a full two weeks away.

So if the Packers really want to focus on Leonhard, it'd be in their best interest to root for the Patriots on Sunday. If the Broncos win, can Green Bay really afford to wait weeks, all in the hopes that Leonhard will win them over and take the job?

Keep in mind, Leonhard appeared to be the frontrunner in 2021 when the Packers had the same opening. All reports indicated LaFleur and Leonhard hit it off and that the job was his to take. Leonhard ultimately withdrew his name from consideration late in the process to remain at Wisconsin. He cited how he didn't believe it was the right time to make the jump to the NFL.

Demovsky didn't ignore what happened in 2021 when talking about the situation Green Bay is in now.

The disaster scenario for Green Bay would be the Broncos winning on Sunday, the Packers choosing to wait for Leonhard, only for him to shut down the idea of taking the gig yet again. Not only that, but if the Packers do wait for Leonhard in the scenario where the Broncos make the Super Bowl, the other candidates in contention aren't stupid. They'll see the writing on the wall and come to terms with the fact that they are a fallback plan for LaFleur and the Packers.

One thing definitely working in Green Bay's favor is that of all the defensive coordinator openings, there are plenty. Many analysts, including ESPN pundits, put the Packers at the top of the list.

In an ESPN article, Ben Solak and Jeremy Fowler ranked the Packers as the top defensive coordinator opening.

Candidates could choose to wait and see what Green Bay does, given how enticing the position is. On the other hand, if the Packers have to wait until after the Super Bowl to talk to Leonhard, the market will certainly have dried up more by then.

Since the Packers have started the process, Green Bay's brain trust has interviewed Christian Parker, who ended up taking the defensive coordinator job in Dallas, and they considered the pie-in-the-sky dream that Brian Flores might be available if he didn’t land a head coaching job elsewhere.

With so many openings at defensive coordinator, including the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Giants and Jets, Tennessee Titans, Washington Commanders, Baltimore Ravens, and Miami Dolphins, the risk in waiting for Leonhard will only grow because of the demand for defensive coordinators, given all the openings.

If the Packers are hell-bent on waiting for Leonhard, that's fine, but they better be convinced they can land him in Green Bay. In an ideal world for the Packers, the Broncos lose on Sunday and speed up Green Bay's process.