GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers didn’t seem to love the possibility of Packers tight ends coach Ben McAdoo becoming the team’s new quarterbacks coach earlier this week, but now that it’s all but official, perhaps the NFL’s Most Valuable Player will start to come around to the idea.
While Rodgers lobbied a bit for an experienced former NFL quarterback to get the job, that didn’t end up making a difference as McCarthy continued to promote from within his own coaching staff by naming McAdoo to the position.
"I hope I'm in the loop for (the decision on the next quarterbacks coach), because going into the my eighth season, it'll be interesting to see what direction (McCarthy) wants to go in,” Rodgers said Tuesday on his weekly radio show on 540 WAUK in Milwaukee. “If (McCarthy) wants to bring in a former quarterback with experience to kind of help me with the transition into the middle part of my career, me being more of an established player in the league now.
"I'm not sure what that dynamic would be with a coach who hasn't coached the position before, but Ben is a very talented coach. If they do make that decision, I'm sure (McAdoo) will make a smooth transition."
That wasn’t exactly a glowing endorsement from Rodgers.
But this was likely the Packers’ plan all along. After former offensive coordinator Joe Philbin became the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, McCarthy promoted quarterbacks coach Tom Clements to offensive coordinator. In the meantime, Philbin and the Dolphins tried to get an interview with McAdoo to become their offensive coordinator, but the Packers blocked that attempt and promoted McAdoo to quarterbacks coach.
Going from coaching tight ends to quarterbacks has been a great career move in the past in Green Bay. Most notably, current Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid made that jump in 1997 for the Packers before being hired by the Eagles two seasons later. Former Packers head coach and general manager Mike Sherman was Reid's replacement as Green Bay's tight ends coach.
McAdoo, who coached alongside McCarthy in 2004 with New Orleans and in 2005 with San Francisco before following him to Green Bay in 2006, is still only 34 years old, just six years older than Rodgers. McAdoo also never played in the NFL and has never been a quarterback.
Despite that, the Packers tight ends McAdoo coached in recent years believe he was the right guy for the job.
“We’d be in our tight ends meetings and he’d often times bring up some kind of pointers from the perspective of the quarterback to help us out with what the quarterback was reading or thinking on a particular play,” tight end Tom Crabtree said Thursday. “In that regard, it will be a pretty seamless transition for him. I think he’ll handle it great.
“As far as him not having any experience at the quarterback position, which is what some people might say, look at the staff he’s been on for years now with McCarthy, Philbin and Clements. It’s an unbelievable staff and some of the offensive minds and the quarterback minds in that room on a day-to-day basis. I’m sure he just soaked all that up and really over the years gained a wealth of knowledge of that position.
“I don’t think he’ll have any problems.”
Starting tight end Jermichael Finley also took to Twitter to give his approval of the move.
“Congrats to Coach McAdoo on being named the QB Coach, right coach for the position,” Finley tweeted.
Crabtree had selfishly hoped McAdoo would stay as the tight ends coach.
“It’s kind of a bittersweet deal for me and the rest of the tight ends because I think we were pretty spoiled to have him,” Crabtree said. “He was always able to help us improve every day. It was easy to get to work and have him coach us up every day.”
Now that the tight ends coaching spot is open in Green Bay, neither Crabtree nor Finley is sure who will be getting that job. But if McCarthy continues recent trends, expect him to promote a coach from within his own staff. A staff that, remarkably, has lost only one member despite back-to-back successful seasons that included a Super Bowl title and a 15-1 regular-season record.
Follow Paul Imig on Twitter.
