In today’s NFL, where every inch of the field and every second on the clock can swing a season, the margin for error is razor thin. And that’s exactly why the Green Bay Packers’ apparent reluctance to invest heavily in their coaching and analytics staff is raising eyebrows - especially when you look just across the parking lot at what the Milwaukee Brewers have been doing.
Let’s start there. In Major League Baseball, small-market teams like the Brewers, the Guardians, and the Rays have figured out how to compete without opening up the vault for big-name free agents.
Their secret? A relentless focus on analytics and player development.
The Rays, for instance, reportedly employ several times more analysts than the average club. The Brewers, meanwhile, have become synonymous with their cutting-edge pitching lab - a facility that’s turned overlooked arms into legitimate rotation pieces and bullpen weapons.
The logic is simple and smart: rather than spend $20 million on a single player, spend that same amount on infrastructure that improves every player. A pitching lab doesn’t just make one guy better - it raises the floor and ceiling for the entire staff.
That’s real return on investment. And it’s not just pitching; Milwaukee’s been making strides in hitting development too, with a renewed focus on swing decisions that helped turn a struggling Andrew Vaughn into a solid contributor - at least for a stretch.
Now, football isn’t baseball. But when it comes to coaching and development, the parallels are hard to ignore. And that’s where the Packers come in.
Green Bay, like the Brewers, operates in a small market. But unlike their baseball counterparts, the Packers haven’t shown the same willingness to go all-in on coaching infrastructure. And in a sport like football, where leverage is everything, that can be a costly choice.
Let’s talk about leverage for a second. In baseball, a single play - a ball, a strike, an out - is just one tiny piece of a 162-game puzzle.
In football? One missed assignment, one miscommunication, one blown timeout can derail an entire drive - and in a 17-game season, those drives are gold.
A botched extra point because there are only 10 men on the field, a blown coverage because of poor communication, a timeout burned in the third quarter that you desperately need in the fourth - these aren’t just mistakes. They’re missed opportunities that can swing games, seasons, and legacies.
So when the Packers fail on the small stuff - the execution details that elite coaching staffs drill into their players - they’re not just getting beat. They’re leaving value on the table.
A better-prepared team doesn’t make those mistakes. A better-coached team doesn’t waste those moments.
And here’s the kicker: coaching and analytics investments don’t count against the salary cap. That’s right - this is one of the few areas where teams can spend freely to gain a true competitive advantage.
For big-spending owners like Jerry Jones, it’s a no-brainer. But for the Packers, a publicly-owned team without a billionaire writing checks, every dollar has to come from revenue.
That makes it a tougher call - but not an impossible one.
The Packers can spend more on coaching. They just haven’t. And that’s a problem.
We’ve already seen one intriguing candidate, Christian Parker, land with the Cowboys. Where Green Bay goes next with its defensive coordinator hire - and with its broader coaching staff - will say a lot about how seriously this front office takes the margins. Because make no mistake: the Packers have been losing those margins for years now, across all three phases of the game.
No team can be perfect in every area. But in a league where the difference between 10-7 and 7-10 is often a handful of plays, investing in the people who teach, plan, and prepare your team for those moments isn’t a luxury - it’s a necessity.
The Brewers figured that out. It’s time for the Packers to do the same.