He wears cleats to practice even though he won't take a snap. He runs stride for stride with the kick returners, yet he doesn't have a ball in his hands. He takes a knee to demonstrate how kickers want the ball angled, but he's not a holder. He's Cam Achord, and he's here to change everything you ever thought about the Green Bay Packers' special teams.

The 39-year-old Mississippian is part your father's football coach with a hands-on, foul-mouthed approach, and part Gen Z analytics savant. "He's one of a kind, there's no doubt about that," former New England Patriots special teams star Matthew Slater, who played for Achord from 2018 to 2023, told ESPN.

THE BROKEN NOSE story was largely unknown outside of the Patriots' inner circle before coach Matt La Fleur hired Achord in late February to replace Rich Bisaccia unexpectedly resigned. It happened in 2019, when Achord was a Patriots assistant special teams coach. One day in practice, Achord was putting Justin Bethel, Slater and the other gunners through a drill designed to help them beat a double team, otherwise known as a vice.

Since his arrival in Green Bay, every one of his sessions with the media has been part press conference, part educational opportunity. Few coaches can match Achord's words-per-minute rate. Throw in the Mississippi native's thick southern accent, and it's sometimes hard to keep up.