McKenzie Firing Jackson Could Lead To A Packers Exodus
The former director of football operations for the Packers could end up taking quite a few Packers coaches with him in his new post as general manager of the Raiders.
By PackerAaron
Former Packers director of football operations Reggie McKenzie wasted no time in making sure he was starting with a clean slate yesterday by making his first major decision as general manager of the Oakland Raiders the firing of head coach Hue Jackson.
This was absolutely the right move, both for McKenzie and for the Raiders organization. Some in the national media have painted it as a continuation of the long-standing Raiders dysfunction that has gripped the franchise since it lost to Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl.
Those takes are shortsighted at best.
McKenzie has waited patiently, first working under Ron Wolf, Mike Sherman and finally Ted Thompson. He watched as Thompson tried to make things work with a coach that he inherited, and how neither man was ever able to truly trust the other. He learned from both Wolf and Thompson the need to make extremely difficult decisions, no matter how unpopular they may be, for the sake of getting something right.
What is right in this instance is for McKenzie to be able to pick his own coach, which of course could end up costing the Packers in more ways than one.
Initial reports point to McKenzie wanting to bring assistant head coach Winston Moss to Oakland to be his head coach. Safeties coach Darren Perry's name has been brought up as another possible candidate, as has Joe Philbin's.
You can bet on a couple of things.
- McKenzie's head coach will most likely come from the Packers
- Whoever that coach ends up being will try to bring at least one if not more coaches from the current staff with him.
Here's my completely-out-of-thin-air prediction for how things will play out.
McKenzie will bring in many candidates over the course of the next few weeks while waiting for the Packers season to end. Then, the good lord willing, during the bye week prior to Super Bowl week, Moss will be brought in to interview. Sometime shortly after the Super Bowl, McKenzie announces Winston Moss as the new head coach of the Oakland Raiders. Moss, in turn, hires Tom Clements as his offensive coordinator and Darren Perry as his defensive coordinator.
Again, this is just me throwing things against the wall. It will obviously actually play out differently than what I've laid out above. But the chances the Packers could be in for a bit of a talent drain from the coaching ranks is quite good.
Or, McKenzie could hire Jon Gruden tomorrow.
Whatever happens, it will be very interesting to see how McKenzie's moves in Oakland end up effecting the Packers.
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Comments (27)
January 11, 2012 at 09:23 am
That seems like the worst case scenario... while I see 1 or 2 packer coaches and even players (FA) leave I hope they have stronger ties with coaches from former schools or NFL teams that they can pick from.
One things for sure. We cant count on Oakland wasting picks anymore.
January 11, 2012 at 09:29 am
Have to agree with you. Moss has been talked about as a head coach for several years now, and this seems to be the most likely case he would leave. Losing Clements would seem to be the biggest loss to me.
January 11, 2012 at 10:03 am
Although the Packers can't stop the Raiders from interviewing Moss for head coach, can't they deny interviews for their assistants (i.e. Clements and Perry)? I was under the impression that the NFL considers all assistant coaching jobs on the same level, so that a QB coach to Offensive Coordinator isn't a "promotion"? Anyone know differently?
PackerAaron
January 11, 2012 at 10:13 am
They can indeed. I would be very surprised, however, if McCarthy did so. He has blocked Clements from interviewing before, but that was for a job with the Bears, a division rival. I tend to believe him when he talks about wanting his guys to succeed even if that means losing them.
January 11, 2012 at 10:04 am
" He watched as Thompson tried to make things work with a coach that he inherited, and how neither man was ever able to truly trust the other."
If TT and Sherman were unable to build trust each other I can't imagine anyone being able to build trust with Hue Jackson.
January 11, 2012 at 11:45 am
I remember Sherman making a comment about Thompson being a man he could work with. Not the smartest thing to say, gave me the impression that Sherman thought he was in charge and Thompson was just his boy doing contracts. Similar to Jackson's comments, Mckenzie obviously learned from that experience and dumped Jackson now.
January 11, 2012 at 10:12 am
Why does the NFL allow coach raiding before the SB? It is certainly disruptive to the team.
January 11, 2012 at 10:32 am
Yeah, history shows it's inevitable that the coaching staff (and this is one of the best I've ever seen anywhere) will be sought after and leave.
McKenzie is doing the right thing. Some media types have blasted him, but he would've never gotten things done with Hue Jackson. Terrific offensive coordinator, but he's an excuse-maker, and it reflects on the discipline of the team.
He doesn't have much to work with, since the previous regime has made sure that each and every year they mortgaged the future. They'll need to be patient and let things develop.
I have no doubts that next season articles will surface saying how much of a mistake was to fire Hue. Remember all the "TT was wrong, Favre was right" articles?
January 11, 2012 at 01:22 pm
Can you provide an example of Hue being an excuse maker? I'm not disagreeing, I just did not pay enough attention to him to pick up on this.
January 11, 2012 at 02:36 pm
Jackson said this after the loss in week 16:
“I’m pissed at my team. At some point in time, as a group of men, you go into the game and you can say whatever you want about the coaches, you win the game. … I’ve been taking it all year for this football team. Not anymore.”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-silver_hue_jackson_raiders_fire...
The move he made to trade for Carson Palmer showed McKenzie all he needed to know about Jackson. He made it to save his own job, the future of the Raiders be damned. And then he says this:
“When I think back on it, I think I’m being blamed, and have been blamed, for [all of that],” Jackson said. “What gets me is, I know [Bengals owner] Mike Brown and I know Carson Palmer, but I didn’t make the trade. That decision came from above. It involved draft picks and money. But it wasn’t my call."
Yes, he did not approve the trade, Mark Davis did. All he did was take advantage of a headless organization by orchestrating a trade for his ex-player and pushing it to happen.
The only owner the Raiders ever had had just passed away. The new owner had never been in such position in his life, and now, 10 days after the passing of his father, he single handedly had to decide the future of the franchise.
Mark may have signed the deal, but it's criminal for Jackson to even imply he didn't have a major part in it.
That, to me, is an excuse-maker. At least.
January 14, 2012 at 03:31 pm
Ah ok! Thank you for this!
January 11, 2012 at 11:20 am
I can see McKenzie putting one of their running backs on the trade block immediately to start stockpiling picks.
January 11, 2012 at 11:21 am
Sure looks like this will be Moss's time. I can see Perry as DC, but still think Philbin will get HC in Miami. I heard an interview on sports radio here. The guy being interviewed was from Miami, don't remember his name. He said the Dolphins would like Fischer but he believes he will take the Rams job. He also said that he was told Philbin nailed it in his interview with the Dolphins.
January 11, 2012 at 11:39 am
With McKenzie going to the Raiders, will that open up possible trades between the Packers and Oakland? I ask this because this happened between New England and KC when Scott Pioli went to KC.
January 11, 2012 at 11:51 am
I would quess this is a strong possiblilty, but as to Flynn, Mckenzie's hands are tied thanks to Jackson's moves. What was it a first round draft pick for Palmer. I think the best scenerio is Philbin to Miami and him bringing someone who is starting caliber and familar with his system.
January 11, 2012 at 12:00 pm
It is quite possible that Green bay will be in the market for a new OC, ILB Coach, Secondary coach, and QB coach and possible WR coach if EB leaves. This is in addition to the possible losess of front office and scouting people. I have no problem with any of this as long as the people are leaving for a step up. This is one of the casulties of a sucessful program
January 11, 2012 at 01:16 pm
I think this is definitely possible, but isn't that three huge moves in having someone who has never been a head coach become a head coach, and two people who have never been offensive and defensive coordinators doing that job?
January 11, 2012 at 11:11 pm
Good point.
January 11, 2012 at 02:18 pm
Sounds like a pretty good prediction to me. Maybe Edgar Bennett moves up a notch! Too bad they won't take Slocum.
January 12, 2012 at 07:17 am
Wouldn't that be nice to make Slocum part of a package deal?
January 12, 2012 at 11:05 am
;)
January 12, 2012 at 02:21 pm
Good one...! When I saw the blog I wondered how many comments it would take to get to "Take Slocum...please"!
January 11, 2012 at 02:44 pm
Looks like there's going to be a lot of job openings for me to look into in GB. I think I would interview well, especially after I reveal my secret play to MM; "Hey everyone, go deep!"
January 11, 2012 at 05:05 pm
I hope he doesn't shock everyone by picking Capers as the new Raiders head coach.
January 11, 2012 at 10:58 pm
How ironic is it that the team thats raiding us is appropriately named the Raiders?
Hell, I was suprised the team didn't get raided last offseason after the SB.
The three guys I would hate to lose are Joe Whitt Jr., Kevin Greene and Tom Clements. If we could keep them in house somehow I would be happy.
January 12, 2012 at 03:05 am
One thing that's weirding me out about this whole ordeal is all the defense of Hue Jackson he's getting. It just... seems strange. Mike Silver even released some story about how he had to get rid of Hue Jackson because Hue observed Mark being treated poorly by Al. That is an actual story from Mike Silver of Yahoo!, a guy who regularly puts out solid things. It's possible there's truth to it but it just seems like a stupid dynamic.
We saw here in GB how poorly coached the team under Jackson was. Players quit on Hue, and the team was obviously unfocused the entire second half of the season. But Hue Jackson should be protected for whatever reason. I don't know what the hell it is but, he's getting protected as if he deserves the ability to publicly clamor for more power in spite of not being a very good coach.
PackerAaron
January 12, 2012 at 07:35 am
<em>The thing that’s weirding me out about this whole ordeal is all the defense of Hue Jackson he’s getting. </em>
Hue has made lots of friends in the media. That's what you're seeing.