5 potential replacements for Mike McCarthy as Packers head coach

4. Matt Campbell

Among the college coaches who may make the jump to the NFL, Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley gets most of the buzz. But Campbell, now headed to a second straight bowl game at Iowa State and with upsets over Riley’s Sooners in 2017 and then top-10 ranked West Virginia this year, is getting some buzz of his own as a candidate for a bigger college job or eventually the NFL.

Campbell has an offensive acumen, going back to his time as offensive coordinator and then head coach at Toledo from 2010-15, and it’s worth wondering what he could do with NFL-caliber talent. If he brings some creativity with him, and can surround himself with good assistant coaches that have some NFL experience, the leap to the pros may not actually be huge for Campbell.

As Rodgers increase his number of passive aggressive verbal shots and at McCarthy over the last few years, to say nothing of bad body language which also got more frequent, it’s worth wondering what he’ll do if things go poorly with a head coach who’s within his first year or two out of the college ranks. That alone may turn someone like Campbell away from the Packers, and toward the Browns as an example if there’s any interest coming from there. But Green Bay should be open to all options.