Former Jaguars offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett is about to get a major upgrade at quarterback.
According to NFL.com, the Packers are going to hire Hackett as their next offensive coordinator, which means Hackett will basically be getting an offensive coordinator's dream by going from Blake Bortles to Aaron Rodgers.
With the hire, new Packers coach Matt LaFleur seems to be trying to turn Green Bay into his own mini version of the AFC South. Not only did LaFleur come from the Titans, but Hackett is arriving from Jacksonville, where he spent nearly four seasons before being fired in November.
The Jaguars' decision to fire Hackett was somewhat surprising at the time. When he was let go on Nov. 26, Hackett said he actually thought he was being called into the coach's office to talk about a possible quarterback change. Although the Jaguars did eventually make a change at the position when they benched Blake Bortles, that wasn't enough to save Hackett's job.
Hackett arrived in Jacksonville in 2015 and served as quarterbacks coach for a season before being promoted to offensive coordinator in 2016. Although he got off to a rough start in Jacksonville -- the Jags offense ranked just 23rd overall in 2016 -- things got drastically better in 2017. During Jacksonville's playoff season, the Jags finished with the top rushing offense in the NFL and the league's sixth-best offense overall.
In Green Bay, Hackett will be getting a considerable upgrade at the quarterback position, which will almost certainly make it easier to implement any new offense he has planned for the Packers. Coincidentally, Hackett actually coached against Rodgers for two years while both were in college. The 39-year-old Hackett was an assistant at Stanford while Rodgers was the quarterback at Cal.