Friday Cheese Curds: Welcome back the 3-4 base defense

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 28: Lukas Van Ness #90 of the Green Bay Packers rushes the passer during an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Field on September 28, 2025 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The Green Bay Packers have been giving hints that the team will return to a 3-4 base defense in 2026 under new coordinator Jonathan Gannon, but the team's coaching announcements on Thursday all but locked that in place.

When announcing the team's full coaching staff for the coming season, a subtle piece of information that reveals this plan was present. The team is adjusting the responsibilities of Demarcus Covington - previously the team's defensive line coach - to outside linebackers coach; meanwhile, Vincent Oghobaase got a promotion to defensive line coach from his previous title as assistant DL coach.

This is a clear sign that the Packers are redefining their edge rushers as outside linebackers instead of defensive ends, signaling the return to the 3-4 after two years of Jeff Hafley running a 4-3 base. It's simple: 4-3 teams just don't have separate coaches for inside and outside linebackers.

Fundamentally, this will still only matter on a handful of snaps per game. The NFL is a base nickel league these days; most teams spend the majority of their time in a 4-man front (take your pick if your edge players are in a two- or three-point stance) with two off-ball linebackers and five defensive backs. But in those 25-30% of base snaps, the Packers are setting up to go back to a 3-man interior line, and they could bring back some of the Penny fronts (consisting of three interior linemen, two edge rushers, one off-ball linebacker) that they used frequently under Joe Barry.

The big thing that the Packers probably still need to find in order to run this scheme is a run-stuffing nose tackle. Javon Hargrave can play the nose in a 4-man nickel front, but he's not built to be an early-down plugger in a 3-4. April's NFL Draft should be a place where the Packers could land a player like that. But at least now we know with certainty the broad strokes of what Gannon intends to run in Green Bay.

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