It appears that someone did not talk to Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers about the departure of his quarterbacks coach.
Rodgers went on ESPN Radio Thursday morning said that Alex Van Pelt not being retained as his position coach for 2018 was, as cited by ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, “an interesting change…really without consulting me.”
“There’s a close connection between the quarterback and his coach. That was an interesting change.”
However, head coach Mike McCarthy told WTMJ on January 4 that Van Pelt’s departure was more his choosing, and was a long-developing situation.
Alex Van Pelt was more a personal choice from a contractual standpoint. He desired to be a free agent after this season, so this is really a product of last year’s negotiation. He wants to look at other opportunities,” he told “Wisconsin’s Morning News.” (You can hear that audio in the Facebook Live video below after a short delay.
In the same interview Thursday, Rodgers called the Patriots (and not his own Packers) “the most well-coached team in the NFL.” He did say, however, that the Packers are not far away from being a Super Bowl team.
One of the Packers’ priorities is re-signing Aaron Rodgers to a contract extension, as he is a free agent after the 2019 season.
The market value for Rodgers is thought to have risen this week after both Washington’s signing of Alex Smith for $94 million over four years ($71 million guaranteed) and Fox Sports’ five-year TV contract which is estimated to give every team nearly $100 million, expanding every team’s salary cap.