Aaron Rodgers' relationship with Mike McCarthy became a talking point during the end of their 13-year run together as stories from former players filtered out about Rodgers scoffing at some of McCarthy's calls and changing some plays.
The dichotomy led to questions about whether the All-World pigskin thrower takes to coaching well, or whether he'd prefer to be the supreme voice in the offensive room.
The Packers' new quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy left no doubt he believes Rodgers wants to be pushed.
"Absolutely, I have no question about that," Getsy said Monday, via ESPN's Rob Demovsky. "I think he's as big of a competitor as I've ever been around. He has that desire to win more than anybody I've been around. I think whatever you want to call coaching, I think it's delivering the message, being consistent and holding people accountable to that message, and he wants that as much as anybody."
Getsy previously spent four seasons on the Packers staff (2014-2017) as an offensive quality control assistant and a receivers coach. After one season as Mississippi State's offensive coordinator, he returned to Green Bay to work with Rodgers.
New coach Matt LaFleur said Monday adding a coach familiar with the 35-year-old Rodgers wasn't a prerequisite to the QB-coach position, but noted he spoke with Rodgers about Getsy.
"It didn't have to be a guy that necessarily worked with Aaron," LaFleur said. "Certainly we're going to find the best quarterback coach that's out there. Some things that I really did like about Luke was the fact that he played quarterback in college. Certainly I reached out not only to Aaron, but a couple other guys with him being in the building before, just to find out what they thought of him as a man and as a coach and everybody gave him a thumbs up."
With LaFleur calling plays, the first-time coach knows he'll have to spend plenty of time working hand-in-hand with Rodgers.
"We've got three quarterback guys that are going to be hitting him from all angles," LaFleur said. "No, I'm going to do part. I know that I need to be in that room, especially as much as I possibly can because I am going to be the play-caller. I think that relationship between the play-caller and the quarterback is absolutely critical. So I will be in there as much as I can. I don't foresee ever missing a quarterback meeting."
The Packers hired the young LaFleur in an effort to push Rodgers from his comfort zone and establish a more creative offense than the one employed by McCarthy. The trio of LaFleur, OC Nathaniel Hackett and Getsy plan to do just that.
