After sacking defensive line coach Jason Rebovich, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur has turned to Aaron Whitecotton as a potential candidate, according to NFL.com.

LaFleur didn’t have to look far to get an endorsement on Whitecotton. When LaFleur’s close friend, Robert Saleh, became coach of the Jets in 2021, Saleh hired Whitecotton to be his defensive line coach. Saleh spent the end of the season working with LaFleur.

Whitecotton’s defensive lines have sacked the quarterback.

In 2022, the Jets’ defensive line produced 45 sacks – seventh-most in the NFL – and Quinnen Williams was named first-team All-Pro as the Jets finished fourth in total defense.

In 2023, the Jets’ defensive line delivered 48 sacks – once again seventh in the NFL – to help spearhead the league’s third-ranked defense.

In 2024, the Jets fired Saleh – which is why Whitecotton is available – and the defensive line wasn’t as productive, though 2023 first-round pick Will McDonald went from three sacks and five quarterback hits as a rookie to 10.5 sacks and 24 quarterback hits.

By contrast, Green Bay’s Rashan Gary went from nine sacks and 22 quarterback hits in 2023 to 7.5 sacks and 15 quarterback hits in 2024.

Meanwhile, Bryce Huff had 10 sacks for the Jets in 2023 to 2.5 and a spot on the bench for the Eagles in 2024.

“I would say the biggest thing is that there’s been no tug of war,” Whitecotton said of his coaching philosophy. “It’s always a give and take. I take things they’ve been successful with and we incorporate them, and they buy into the stuff that we’ve had success with. And it’s kind of a little bit of collaboration in the most positive way.”

This year, the Packers finished 10th in sacks but 16th in pressure percentage, though a lot of Green Bay’s pass rush came schematically via defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley as the high-profile trio of Gary, Kenny Clark and Lukas Van Ness combined for only 11.5 sacks.

The Jets finished seventh in sack percentage and 11th in pressure percentage, with most of the production coming from Whitecotton’s front.

“I don’t go into the numbers (but) you can feel it on the field if you’re getting consistent pressure or not,” he said. “And sometimes, the game dictates whether or not you’re getting sacks.

“You can pressure, pressure, pressure, but if the quarterback’s doing a great job of getting the ball out quick or the game dictates that this is the way the offense is playing us, maybe your sacks per attempt aren’t very high one game.

“But the standard is the way that we play the game, our plan, our execution of the fundamentals, and all that stuff. We as a unit, the players and coaches, we should know this is what it’s supposed to look like. I just know when you’re standing there, you know what it’s supposed to look like.”

His belief in rotating players would mesh nicely with that of Hafley. It’s all about making sure his best players are on the field in the big moments.

“You can play 55 plays a game in this front, but you can’t sprint to the ball 50 times in a game,” Whitecotton told Jets reporter Eric Allen for The Official Jets Podcast. “I’m talking about guys running 50 yards to the ball to run guys down, and that’s after you set the edge on your man. Fifty times in a game, it’s diminishing returns.

“When we get to critical moments in the game, Quinnen should be fresh, we have to have him ready for that moment. If we don’t have third-and-8 with our best rushers to finish, we’re kidding ourselves. You need rotational value, we need eight starters.”

Whitecotton was an offensive lineman at South Carolina and Charlotte. When his college career was complete, he started working for his dad’s construction company.

Nothing could replace football, though.

“I just missed football so bad,” he told Allen. “I had to figure out a way to get back in. I went to my old high school [Myers Park in Charlotte] and talked to the same AD as when I was there. I asked if there’s anything I could do, I have to be around the game. I talked to the coach, we hung out, but he told me he already had an O-line coach, but he said he didn’t have a D-line coach.”

That conversation took him to the Jets – where he was being hailed as a potential defensive coordinator candidate – and potentially to the Packers.

Early this season, Williams and Whitecotton got in a heated argument on the Jets’ sideline.

“It wasn’t really a shouting match like everyone is making it seem,” Williams said. “I just trust my D-line so much. Put it on our back to win this game. It came out of me to just challenge our D-line coach like, ‘Put it on our back, Coach. You know what we got in this room. Four-man rush, we don’t need all these extra blitzes and stuff like that. Put it on our back and let’s go out there and rush.’”

Saleh downplayed the incident as well.

“I love the fire, I love all of it,” he said. “Obviously, we don’t need them to go jawing at each other, but he’s being competitive, so he’s fine.”

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