The Green Bay Packers have officially appointed **Cam Achord** as their new special teams coordinator. Head Coach Matt LaFleur made the announcement on Friday.
Achord (pronounced AY-cord) brings a decade of NFL special teams coaching experience to the Packers, including four seasons spent as a coordinator. Most recently, he served as assistant special teams coach with the New York Giants for the 2024-25 seasons. In his final season (2025) with the Giants, he helped guide a unit that set a single-season franchise record with 1,942 kickoff return yards on 70 returns, averaging an impressive 27.7 yards – a mark that surpassed the 1964 record of 1,688 yards. This 27.7-yard kickoff return average was the second-highest in Giants’ history for a single season and ranked fifth across all NFL teams in 2025. During the 2024 season, two Giants players earned NFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors: Isaiah Simmons in Week 5 for blocking a 47-yard field goal attempt which Bryce-Ford Wheaton then returned 60 yards for a clinching touchdown, and Ihmir Smith-Marsette in Week 17 for a spectacular 100-yard kickoff return touchdown.
Prior to his time with the Giants, Achord spent six seasons coaching special teams for the New England Patriots. He served as assistant special teams coach from 2018-19 before being promoted to special teams coordinator from 2020-23. In 2023, the Patriots’ special teams unit ranked third in the NFL with a 26.2-yard kickoff return average, while their coverage team was sixth, allowing just 20.6 yards per return. Under Achord’s leadership in 2022, the unit led the NFL with 418 punt return yards and ranked third with 1,274 total return yards. That year, rookie Marcus Jones earned first-team All-Pro honors from The Associated Press as a punt returner, ranking second in total return yards (1,007), second in punt return average (10.7 yards), and first in punt return yards (362), including an 84-yard long. In 2020, the Patriots’ special teams unit achieved the No. 1 ranking in Rick Gosselin’s annual assessment of all 32 NFL teams. Additionally, in both 2020 and 2021, New England ranked fourth in opponent kickoff return starting field position. Gunner Olszewski also received first-team All-Pro recognition from the AP as a punt returner in 2020 after leading the league in punt return yards (346) and average (17.3 yards), highlighted by a 70-yard touchdown.
Before his NFL career, Achord spent five seasons (2013-17) at Southwest Mississippi Community College, where he held multiple roles including offensive, special teams, and recruiting coordinator, while also coaching quarterbacks, running backs, and tight ends. In 2012, he was an offensive graduate assistant, working with quarterbacks, at the University of Southern Mississippi. From 2010-11, he served as a special teams graduate assistant and worked with linebackers for the Golden Eagles. Achord was a four-year starter at free safety at Belhaven University, where he notably served as a team captain in both 2008 and 2009.