The Green Bay Packers will go through some wholesale changes in the front office this offseason. The team reportedly forced out longtime general manager Ted Thompson from that role and will be looking to hire an in-house replacement. Green Bay also fired defensive coordinator Dom Capers following a disastrous 7-9 season.
But it appears that head coach Mike McCarthy’s job is safe. According to multiple media reports, the Packers actually handed McCarthy a one-year extension during the season.
Packers should have stability at head coach since they had already extended Mike McCarthy's contract during the season, per a source. He's now under contract through the 2019 season. https://t.co/bsA01ozLmV
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) January 2, 2018
This means that McCarthy will not head into the 2018 season as a lame-duck head coach. Prior to this extension, his deal was set to expire following next season. That’s obviously no longer the case.
Green Bay missed the playoffs in 2017 for only the third time in McCarthy’s 12 seasons as its head coach. The primary issue here was the broken collarbone former MVP Aaron Rodgers suffered. Though, there’s also been questions regarding McCarthy’s in-game coaching and what seems to be a questionable draft philosophy.
Apparently, the powers to be in Green Bay don’t think McCarthy is a huge part of the problem. Whether that means he’ll be coaching through this extension remains to be seen.