Packers should seek some input from Aaron Rodgers on new head coach
As the Green Bay Packers start a search for a new head coach, input from Aaron Rodgers should be sought.
Sunday loss to the Arizona Cardinals, which dropped them to 4-7-1 on the season, brought the firing of Mike McCarthy and gave the Green Bay Packers a head start on the search for a new head coach.
Aaron Rodgers, now 35 years old, will have the second head coach in his career as Green Bay’s starter in 2019.
Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, who spent three-plus seasons (2012-2015) as head coach of the Miami Dolphins, will get a chance to earn consideration for the permanent job in Green Bay over the final four games this season as interim head coach.
Speaking more broadly on the search for McCarthy’s replacement on Monday, Packers’ CEO Mark Murphy pointed (however obviously) to the importance of finding the right head coach.
With how clearly the relationship between McCarthy and Rodgers dissolved over the last few years and reached a critical peak this year, might that search involve input from the future Hall of Fame quarterback?
Murphy tried to downplay that idea on Monday.
"“Aaron is free to provide input but he won’t be part of the process,”"
There is a line players should not cross, or be invited to cross, when it comes to management decisions. On that note, Rodgers will obviously not be directly calling, heavily vetting or sitting down for interviews with head coaching candidates.
But he is “free to provide input” and Murphy seemed to suggest that input won’t be more directly solicited by he or general manager Brian Gutekunst.
With Rodgers on the precipice of the twilight of his career with only one Super Bowl ring in hand, and his current status as the highest-paid player in NFL history, he knows his legacy is on the line.
The head coach-quarterback relationship is a critically important one, even if said head coach has roots on the defensive side of the ball.
And the Packers have direct, recent experience with a head coach and quarterback who were not clicking on the level they needed to be.
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It’s now known to the public, and surely to him before it was made public, that Rodgers is free to offer his thoughts on who the next Packers’ head coach should be. Having that freedom is obvious, but his ideas should also be wanted and clearly asked for.
Otherwise, the relationship between Rodgers and the new head coach is doomed to fail in the same fashion McCarthy’s did.