Aaron Rodgers unhappy with coaching change
The NFL offseason hasn’t even technically started yet and the Green Bay Packers quarterback is already unhappy with a coaching change.
The 2017 season was a difficult one for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He suffered a broken collarbone and missed eight weeks. When he was healthy enough to try and play, he got one game of action before the Packers were eliminated from playoff contention and shut Rodgers down for the year.
Green Bay decided to reassign general manager Ted Thompson within the organization after the season ended, and the changes didn’t stop there. On Jan. 3, the Packers fired quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt.
On Thursday, we learned that Rodgers was not pleased:
"“Well my quarterback coach didn’t get retained,” Rodgers said when asked for specifics. “I thought that was an interesting change, really without consulting me. There’s a close connection between quarterback and quarterback coach, and that was an interesting decision.”"
Obviously, it’s never a good thing to make the franchise quarterback angry.
Especially seeing as how Green Bay more or less fell apart without Rodgers in 2017, it should be especially motivated to keep him happy.
There are two sides to this story, however. Coach Mike McCarthy indicated that Van Pelt wanted to pursue an offensive coordinator job:
"“When you get to this point, frankly this decision was made last year,” McCarthy said last month of Van Pelt. “I don’t want to speak on Alex’s, his thoughts, but this is a moment he’s prepared himself for.”"
Green Bay has a history of blocking its assistant coaches from interviewing for other positions. Van Pelt knew that and decided to let his contract run out.
Even though Van Pelt ended up in the same position with a different team, he had the chance to be an offensive coordinator and rise up the coaching ladder. It’s hard to blame anyone for going after a promotion.
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It’s understandable for Rodgers to be annoyed that he wasn’t consulted about the change. However, this seems like a case where Van Pelt’s tenure had run its course in Green Bay. Rodgers is an all-time great, and he’ll be just fine with a new quarterbacks coach.