Special Teams Coordinator Candidate Bisaccia ‘Is One of a Kind’

Former Las Vegas Raiders special teams coordinator and interim coach Rich Bisaccia was beloved by his players. Now, he could replace Maurice Drayton with the Green Bay Packers.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – One thing’s for sure. If hired by Matt LaFleur, Rich Bisaccia wouldn’t be fazed by any growing pains associated with the Green Bay Packers’ perennially awful special teams.

Bisaccia faced a career’s worth of adversity during the second half of the season with the Las Vegas Raiders. When coach Jon Gruden resigned in controversy after Week 5, the 61-year-old Bisaccia took over as interim coach. After winning his first two games, the Raiders dropped five of six to seemingly fall out of playoff contention. But, following a 48-9 loss at the Chiefs, Bisaccia rallied the troops. The Raiders won their final four games, including a Week 18 thriller against the Los Angeles Chargers, to sneak into the playoffs.

“Rich is one of a kind,” star defensive end Maxx Crosby said on The Rich Eisen Show last month. “Everybody’s been asking, ‘What’s going to happen?’ Everybody knows my vote. I made that very clear. I love Rich. I think he's the best man for the job. He's come in and done such an amazing job. We won 10 games with a team that's had tragedy, loss, everything you could imagine. And he's found a way to get a group of guys to come together and win football games in January and December, which is rare. Rich is the real deal. He’s a leader of men.”

The Gruden debacle was only part of the challenge. On Nov. 2, receiver Henry Ruggs killed a woman in an automobile crash in which his blood-alcohol content allegedly was 0.16 – twice the legal limit. On Nov. 8, the team released cornerback Damon Arnette after a viral video in which Arnette had a gun and threatened to kill someone. They were the team’s first-round picks in 2020.

That was a lot to overcome, not that Bisaccia sought any praise after becoming the first interim coach to lead his team to the playoffs since 1961.

“Coach Bisaccia’s son wrote this thing for himself and was kind enough to give me a copy,” quarterback Derek Carr said before the Week 18 victory over the Chargers. “It’s been in my office ever since we were back in Oakland. One part of it literally says, ‘No one cares.’ I’ve held on to that because no matter what you go through, no matter how many situations you’ve had, how many head coaches, coordinators and players have come through the building, no matter where you’re at, nobody cares. You’ve just got to win football games. … No one cares what happened. It’s something I teach my kids.”

Those would be words of wisdom for the Packers’ special teams if he is hired to replace Maurice Drayton. This year was a disaster. In 2019 and 2020, veteran kicker Mason Crosby missed only two field goals. In 2021, he missed a league-high nine. There was an end-of-camp change at punter and a midseason change at snapper. The returners for much of the season were rookies Amari Rodgers and Kylin Hill.

Rich Bisaccia wasn't exactly the greatest special teams coordinator for the Raiders. But the #Packers might build a statue of him alongside Lombardi and Lambeau if he has even a measure of success if he's hired by Matt LaFleur.https://t.co/F8lAYmp7PX

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) February 6, 2022

Drayton never made excuses but he never had a solution, either. All season, he spoke optimistically.

“We have to continue to get better and just continue to take baby steps each day,” Drayton said before the first preseason game. “If we get a little bit better each day, by the first time the first preseason game hits, the second preseason game, the third preseason game, opening game, we should be exactly where we need to be.”

Instead, one breakdown after another led to the divisional-round disaster against San Francisco.

The 45-year-old Drayton was a first-time coordinator. The 61-year-old Bisaccia just completed his 20th season.

“I’ve said it multiple times,” Bisaccia said after the Raiders clinched their playoff berth. “We’ve tried to develop a group of men that care about each other, know what to do and compete with relentless effort. That’s a hard team to beat. And once they learn to respect each other’s work, it’s an enjoyable place to come to work. And to respond to whatever adversity or whatever or prosperity that might show up that day, it gives you an opportunity to forge your identity.”

Bisaccia was a go-to coach for the Raiders’ players even before Gruden was dismissed. Crosby said visiting Bisaccia in his office was like talking to a friend. Several of his players lobbied for him to get the job, which ultimately went to Josh McDaniels and made Bisaccia a coaching free agent.

“When you’re looking for a head coach, you want somebody that can lead young men. Somebody that can lead grown men,” veteran linebacker K.J. Wright said before the must-win finale. “With the adversity we’ve faced this season, he’s been nothing but tremendous for us.”

Grading the Specialists

K Mason Crosby ($3.16 million cap charge; ranking No. 10 among kickers)

Crosby missed two field goals in 2019. He didn’t miss any in 2020. His red-hot kicking continued into the season at San Francisco in Week 3 with a 54-yarder in the first quarter and a 51-yarder to win the game.

But, with changes in the snapper-holder operation, Crosby went into a funk. He missed kicks because of bad snaps, holds and protection. When the operation improved, Crosby did not. Among kickers with at least 20 field-goal attempts, his 73.5 percent success rate was next-to-last in the league. Only his 2012 season was worse from an accuracy perspective. Due in part to age and late-season games in the cold, his touchback percentage on kickoffs ranked seventh from the bottom.

A restructured contract cut Crosby’s cap charge for 2021 but bumped it to $4.375 million for 2022. The Packers could move on and save $2.395 million for next season but incur dead-money charges through 2025. He’ll turn 38 just before the start of the season.

Grade: F.

P Corey Bojorquez ($1.02 million cap charge; ranking No. 19 among punters)

Acquired in a trade with the Rams after final cuts, Bojorquez ranked 11th with a 46.5-yard average and 17th with a 40.0-yard net average. His 82-yard punt at Chicago gave him the NFL’s longest punt for a second consecutive season. He had 18 punts inside the 20 with four touchbacks. Those were all improvements over the man he replaced, 2018 fifth-round pick JK Scott.

Still, his season seems like a disappointment because of how it ended. Starting with Week 6 at Chicago through Week 11 at Minnesota, Bojorquez had six consecutive games with net averages of at least 45.7 yards. In Week 12 against the Rams, he had a net average of only 39.8 yards because he had three punts inside the 20. It was a punting clinic. It all went off the rails in Week 14 against Chicago, with a four-game stretch with nets of 10.0, 42.0, 41.8 and 21.5 yards. Too many kicks either went straight down the middle of the field or were shanked out of bounds.

Punting is only part of the job. He’s also got to be a flawless holder for Crosby. There were some real struggles, though he was pretty solid down the stretch aside from a dropped hold in the bitter cold against Minnesota in Week 17.

Bojorquez will be an unrestricted free agent this coming offseason. With a league-best 50.8 average in 2020 and his mostly solid performance in 2021, he probably won’t be cheap.

Grade: C.

LS Steven Wirtel ($366,667 cap charge; ranking No. 33 among long snappers)

The Packers at midseason finally parted ways with 2018 seventh-round pick Hunter Bradley. Bradley was consistently inconsistent during his three-plus seasons but Wirtel wasn’t appreciably better. His snaps were never truly awful but the best snappers can spin it so perfectly that the holder doesn’t need to adjust the ball. He lacked that kind of precision. Wirtel got steam-rolled on the fateful blocked punt that doomed Green Bay in the playoff game.

Take them for what they’re worth, but Pro Football Focus grades long snappers. Bradley was the fourth-worst in the league and Wirtel was the third-worst.

The Packers don’t really have a problem finding long snappers. They’ve actually done well in that regard. They just have an impossible time in realizing they’ve found them. Five former Packers were full-time snappers this season. The Packers drafted Clark Harris (Bengals) in 2007, and signed J.J. Jansen (Panthers) in 2008, Rick Lovato (Eagles) in 2015, Taybor Pepper (49ers) twice in 2017 and Zach Triner (Buccaneers) in 2017 and training camp in 2018.

Grade: D.