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Packers Hire Capers as Defensive Coordinator

Dom Capers. | Photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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Story Created: May 18, 2009

Story Updated: May 21, 2009

Packers Hire Capers as Defensive Coordinator

By By Dan O'Donnell

The Green Bay Packers have reached an agreement in principle with Dom Capers to be the team's defensive coordinator.

"I feel that Dom Capers will be an excellent fit for the Green Bay Packers," Packers Head Coach  Mike McCarthy said in a news conference Monday.  "His vision of playing defense and my vision of how we're going to move forward in Green Bay are big reasons why I think he's an outstanding fit for our organization."

Capers, 58, was the head coach of the Carolina Panthers when they lost to the Packers in the 1996 NFC Championship Game, and also served as head coach of the Houston Texans from 2001-2005.  He has been an NFL defensive coordinator three times before; in Pittsburgh from 1992-1994, in Jacksonville from 1999-2000, and in Miami from 2006-2007.

Blogs:
• Sports Glance with Lance: Is Capers Capable?
• The Big Unit Blog: The 4-3 vs. 3-4 Defense
• The O'Blog: Rebuilding the Defense is Not As Easy as 1, 2, 3-4
• The Llama Laments: Commitment to Defense
Capers brings with him the 3-4 defense, which will now be the Packers' base defensive front.

"I'm big believer in the 3-4 defense for a number of different reasons," McCarthy explained.  "From an offensive standpoint, it gives you targeting problems and allows you as a defense to [better] use your personnel.  I really cuts the menu of the offense in half of what you would normally do against a 4-man front."

Earlier this month, Green Bay fired defensive coordinator Bob Sanders after three years with the team.  To replace him, the Packers then interviewed former 49ers head coach Mike Nolan, former Jaguars defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, and Rams interim head coach Jim Haslett.

Terms of Capers' deal were not initially disclosed.

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