The hiring of former NFL head coach and well-respected Dom Capers as defensive coordinator Jan. 19 created a domino effect for the Packers landing some other notable coaches for their defensive staff.

Although the club is refraining from announcing and introducing the new aides until McCarthy fills all open positions after his big coaching purge following last season, word traveled fast in league circles about these hires:

-Mike Trgovac, who chose not to return to the Carolina Panthers for a seventh season as their defensive coordinator, is back for a second go-around with the Packers as defensive line coach. He held that position for one season in 1999 under Ray Rhodes when McCarthy was Green Bay's quarterbacks coach.

-Kevin Greene, who flourished as a hybrid linebacker/end while playing for Capers with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Panthers in the 1990s in the 3-4 system Capers will be implementing in Green Bay, is getting his first full-time crack at coaching as outside linebackers coach. The high-spirited Greene worked as a volunteer assistant in training camps with several teams, including the Steelers, in recent years.

-Former longtime NFL safety Darren Perry, in essence, flip-flopped roles with deposed Packers defensive backs coach Lionel Washington. While Washington was hired to replace Perry as defensive backs coach with the Raiders, Perry is the Packers' safeties coach. Perry, like Greene, played for Capers with the Steelers and finished his playing career with the New Orleans Saints in 2000, when McCarthy was offensive coordinator and Packers assistant head coach/inside linebackers coach Winston Moss was linebackers coach.

McCarthy is expected to round out his coaching staff in the coming days. He could add another line coach to help Trgovac and will be hiring a strength and conditioning coordinator to replace Rock Gullickson, who was fired.

--Veteran right tackle Mark Tauscher underwent surgery in mid-January for the torn anterior-cruciate ligament in his left knee, an injury he sustained Dec. 7.

Tauscher, who is due to become an unrestricted free agent, will need at least six months of recovery. He will be a long shot to be ready for the start of training camp, whether he's re-signed by the Packers or lands with another team.

--Quarterback Aaron Rodgers reportedly won't need offseason surgery for the sprained throwing shoulder with which he played most of the season.

Rodgers had said after the season ended, as he prepared to go on a two-week vacation in Australia, that the shoulder felt fine and he wasn't anticipating having an operation.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I feel much better about being here this time than the last time I was here. I've always believed when you go into a stadium you carry with you the feeling you had the last time you were there, and it wasn't a very good feeling when I left here back in '96 and we lost the championship game and Green Bay went on and won the Super Bowl. Hopefully, we can get back there and have that same kind of feeling again." -- New Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers, recalling his last visit to Lambeau Field when he was head coach of the Carolina Panthers, who lost 30-13 to Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game during the 1996 season.