- Ooh, Whitlock, sounds like he's upset about it. Will the coaching shakeup work for Aaron? Do you--

- Look, they need a personnel shakeup. And Aaron Rodgers is being a little disingenuous here.

COLIN COWHERD: A little? [LAUGHS]

- I think Van Pelt-- no, Van Pelt made it very clear he was looking to go elsewhere. This isn't something where the Packers organization is trying to screw over Aaron Rodgers. Now, and he also needs to take a big picture approach.

Mike McCarthy, they gave him a bogus extension. He's got two years, but he basically has a one year deal. That's not a great place to be hiring assistant coaches from, when they know this may be your last shot. And so, this Cignetti guy that they got to come in replacing you, his resume's not the greatest. But the coach isn't in the best position to go out and get the best and brightest, because the organization's not that committed to Mike McCarthy.

So there's a lot to unpack here. I don't blame Aaron Rodgers for being disappointed about his supporting cast, personnel-wise, on the field. But as it relates to this, you know, coaching situation, I think he's been a little disingenuous.

- I'm a big fan of communication and continuity. I don't think Green Bay was great with either. But I've never thought McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers get along. They're different people. One's California cool, slender, dates actresses, the other guy looks like a Chicago cop.

JASON WHITLOCK: Yeah.

- He is a bottom guy, he's a bottom li-- he's a football guy. If he walked into your house and said, I got to work on your roof today, you'd be like, all right, Mr. McCarthy.

JASON WHITLOCK: [LAUGHS]

- He looks like a guy that does his own yard work.

JASON WHITLOCK: Yup.

- And Aaron Rodgers looks like a guy that works in a modeling agency that hires people to do his yard work. I think they have different personalities. I think Aaron can be a little passive aggressive. I think Mike's a bottom line, authentic, in your face guy.

So it's going to be a relationship, to me, that they've won a bunch of games, and they won a Super Bowl, it's never going to be perfect. And you just got to make it work. And it's never, to me, been Belichick-Brady or Payton-Brees. It's never felt like that to me. That's just my interpretation.

- I think you still have to communicate with the quarterback. And when you're making a coaching change, especially at the quarterback coaching position, because that's the guy that you really get to know with the tenure that you have, and the time that you have with him. In Atlanta, we had two coaching changes, full staff changes.

COLIN COWHERD: Yep.

- Came and inquired with me about, you know, keeping the quarterback coach. You know, I was able to talk them into keeping him, but they did consult with me. And I really appreciated that, because that's the-- that's the guy, that's the liaison between the quarterback and the offensive coordinator. And Coach, you know that, so the bond is different. And you have to be really careful with that, because you can ruin some relationships doing it.

COLIN COWHERD: Yeah.

- There's no question. And I think that Green Bay probably would have liked to have kept Van Pelt. But you know, in his mind, he was ready to be a coordinator. And here's Joe comes in and gets the coordinator's job. He didn't get that job, but I'm sure he talked to him about it.

- Joe Philbin.

- Yes, Joe Philbin wanted it. He wanted that job. And so now he's going to be the quarterback coach for Joe Philbin, who he wanted that job. So the dynamics, it's a little rough and tough. And he didn't feel, probably, that his career was going to go any further. Which if I'm him, Alex, I'm at the-- I'm coaching Aaron Rodgers at the Green Bay Packers, I'm a ride that pony to the finish line.

- Of course.

- You know, but he didn't see it that way. I get that. But that has nothing to do. To me, that's a whole different-- like you said, it's a little disingenuous, because I don't believe it's Green Bay pushing him out the door. They just weren't ready for him to be a coordinator. I think he got upset about it and decided he's going to go someplace else.

- I'm going to defend Mike McCarthy, too, a little bit, just because, and I love Aaron Rodgers, but he's quirky. I mean--

COLIN COWHERD: Yeah, he is.

- --I'm not sure there's any head coach that's going to be BFF with Aaron Rodgers, not taking a shot at Aaron Rodgers. His falling out with his parents and his family, if he can do that, you can fall out with your head coach a lot easier.

[LAUGHTER]

And so I'll give Mike McCarthy credit. He's managed this relationship for a long time and done a pretty good job with it. So you know, if Aaron Rodgers isn't happy at the moment, it doesn't mean come July, when it's time to report to camp, he could be on board, depending on what they do with the personnel.

- Well, let's also look, star quarterbacks, Big Ben and Tom have had issues. Haley just got fired. Belichick, Brady, you know, read the ESPN article. Now you've got Aaron Rodgers and McCarthy. You know, I mean at some point, Pete Carroll wasn't sure he wanted to re-sign Russell Wilson. Kirk Cousins didn't like his staff.

Listen, this is tough. These quarterbacks, you got-- they're the highest paid guy in a salary cap league. And the coaches, there's a basic insecurity with coaches, because you're a-- you know, you're about an hour away and a bad call from getting canned. These are tough relationships.

MIKE MARTZ: The hardest relationship is the coordinator and that quarterback. If he's not a quarterback guy, it's very, very difficult. And that's why having that quarterback coach be a buffer and understand that's why it would have been valuable to keep him. So there's an interpretation that goes on between, you know, the coordinator and the game plan and how he gets put in with the quarterback. And it's got to go smooth. It can't have any glitches, and that's why that position is so important.

- I think Aaron Rodgers needs to be patient with this decision, too. Because they may be doing what's in the best interest for Aaron Rodgers and the team. Sometimes as players, we can't-- we don't see everything and we don't know everything. And that's why we have coaches around us that can make decisions for us.

- You know, it's funny, I defended Aaron on radio today. I'm like, you know, they didn't retain some of his own linemen. They didn't retain-- a couple of years ago, he just said, keep Jared Cook, the tight end, they didn't. They've let some good corners go.

But you know, to your point, I've had a brother-- his brother criticized him, a parent criticized him, Jermichael Finley criticized him, our friend Greg Jennings has. I do think it's fair to say Aaron can be prickly.

JASON WHITLOCK: He's tough, he's tough. Look, a lot of these coaches don't know what the hell they're doing.

[LAUGHTER]

I mean, just think it through.

- That's true.

- A lot of them, they don't know what they're doing. A guy had Kurt Warner sitting on the bench behind Trent Green.

[LAUGHTER]

They don't know what the hell they're doing.

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