When Aaron Rodgers left the Green Bay Packers for the New York Jets, it's hard to imagine he saw things going like this. But could a reunion with former Packers coach Mike McCarthy, like the one Rodgers is having now with Davante Adams, be something the quarterback is interested in?
After losing an entire season due to a torn Achilles tendon, Rodgers has remained on the field this year only for the Jets to lose game after game. New York has already fired its head coach, is currently 3-7, and has a slim chance to salvage the season with a playoff appearance.
If Rodgers decides to stick around the NFL and the Jets specifically next year, it's likely he will have a new head coach. Jets owner Woody Johnson fired Robert Saleh earlier in the season and named Jeff Ulbrich as interim coach. Despite the change, the results have remained the same, with New York losing all but one of the five games Ulbrich has coached.
Could Mike McCarthy, Aaron Rodgers reunite with Jets?
When the season ends, the Jets, unless Ulbrich can lead them to a playoff berth, will almost be looking for a new coach, and it seems as if McCarthy, currently the Dallas Cowboys head coach, will be looking for a new job as well. So could McCarthy to New York make sense? According to The Athletic's Dianna Russini, that's not out of the realm of possibility.
“I think that there will be some interested parties [in McCarthy],” Russini said on the ‘Scoop City' podcast with Chase Daniel. “I’ve seen some chatter about could Mike McCarthy go to New York? Would Aaron Rodgers want to go back with his former head coach at Green Bay and reconnect?
“Just for this exercise, put yourself in Aaron’s shoes; you just experienced a disastrous two years — forget the injury — from the firings to the ownership decisions, to just the dysfunction that is the New York Jets. You’re not really used to that. You were just in Green Bay where you’re beloved, you’re a hero, you’re worshiped, and you had success. It wasn’t perfect, but you had success. How quick are you to run back to what you know? This is already a quarterback who likes familiarity — look at who he’s brought to New York. Who is he most familiar with? Mike McCarthy!”
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McCarthy coached Rodgers in Green Bay from 2006 to 2018. During that time, McCarthy oversaw Rodgers' ascent from Brett Favre's backup to league MVP and Super Bowl champion. In his 13 seasons with the Packers, McCarthy went 125-77-2, won Super Bowl XLV, and reached the playoffs nine times.
A little more than a year after being fired by Green Bay, McCarthy became Jason Garrett's successor as the Cowboys' head coach. In his first season in Dallas, McCarthy won six games. In the following three seasons, though, Dallas won 12 games each year.
Unfortunately for McCarthy and the Cowboys, playoff success has continued to elude them. Dallas failed to make it to the NFC Championship in any of those three appearances, and with the team at 3-6 this year and without quarterback Dak Prescott for the rest of the season, it appears Dallas will miss the playoffs and McCarthy will once again be out of a job.
McCarthy signed a five-year contract with the Cowboys when he was hired in 2020, and it appears Jerry Jones, like he did with Garrett, will elect to let McCarthy's contract expire instead of firing him outright.
