Packers Morning Buzz: Would McDaniels' scheme work with Rodgers?

Welcome to your Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers from around the web and here at PackersNews.com.

The Packers have nine confirmed coaching candidates and still need to interview six of them. President/CEO Mark Murphy and general manager Brian Gutekunst will meet Friday with New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Patriots defensive play caller Brian Flores. On Saturday they will huddle with New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael and tight ends coach Dan Campbell.

They also plan to interview Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur and Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak. They have already met with interim head coach Joe Philbin and former head coaches Jim Caldwell and Chuck Pagano.

We'll start with Pete Dougherty's column on McDaniels being a potential boom-or-bust candidate, largely because of questions over how good of a fit he might be with Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Pete writes:

One NFL assistant coach I talked with this week debated with himself for a couple minutes, then predicted a Packers-McDaniels pairing would work out.

“Of all those names on the (Packers’) list, that’s a great choice,” he said. “But it’s going to come down to, is he going to interact well with Aaron? I’d think after being with Tom (Brady) — Tom’s not exactly the easiest guy to get along with, very strong willed — I wouldn’t foresee that as being a problem.”

An NFL source who worked with McDaniels in Denver was more skeptical, mainly because he thinks the change from a West Coast offensive system to McDaniels’ scheme would be more difficult for Rodgers than might be imagined. He pointed to Brett Favre’s so-so play in his one season with the New York Jets and the decline of Peyton Manning in Denver after the Broncos changed his system with new coach Gary Kubiak in 2015.

“I don’t see that working out too well myself,” the source said. “… Josh is not going to change what he does. To his credit he does it very well, but Josh only knows one system. Aaron Rodgers knows one system. And they don’t know the same system. So which one is going to budge?”

You can read the entire column here:

As expected, Pat Fitzgerald turned down the Packers' overtures and will remain at Northwestern:

Ryan Wood and Olivia Reiner give you the lowdown each of the Packers' candidates:

No surprise to hear that Aaron Rodgers changed Mike McCarthy play calls in the huddle:

Marcedes Lewis actually discussed the same play in a positive light during an October interview:

Once again, former Packers safety LeRoy Butler falls short of being named one of the 15 finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame:

Another day, another ranking of the eight NFL head-coach openings. This time, Green Bay comes out on top:

Tight end Jimmy Graham thanks Packers fans and looks to better days ahead:

Packers fans certainly can relate to this:

Final grades for Aaron Rodgers and other quarterbacks from Pro Football Focus:

The Packers threw more deep passes than any NFL team in 2018, without much success:

And finally .... there's still time to cast your vote for the Packers' next coach: