GREEN BAY – Two key thoughts emerged from Head Coach Mike McCarthy's initial discussion of the changes he made to his coaching staff for 2016.
The Packers' top receivers wanted Luke Getsy to be their position coach, and McCarthy is interested in the different ideas his new hires will bring in the coming season.
McCarthy spoke on camera with Packers.com analyst Larry McCarren about the finalization of his coaching staff on Wednesday evening.
One of the most notable changes is the promotion of Getsy from offensive quality control coach to the wide receivers position.
The Packers didn't have an exclusive receivers coach in 2015, as Alex Van Pelt handled both the quarterbacks and receivers, and the receivers faced a lot of criticism for their struggles against man-to-man press coverage. Now the positions have been split again, as they were in McCarthy's first nine seasons, with Van Pelt coaching exclusively the QBs.
"We had a plan last year as far as how we delegated responsibility, and we definitely did not hit the target," McCarthy said. "We had dropoff in offense. We've had time to evaluate it.
"Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, all expressed a desire for Luke to get the job."
The other promotion went to David Raih, from coaching administrator to assistant offensive line coach. Like Getsy with the receivers, Raih has spent time working with that position group in practice the last two years.
Hired in 2014, Getsy and Raih made strong early impressions on McCarthy, who recalled telling his wife after he interviewed them on back-to-back days that he needed to hire them both. They haven't disappointed, as evidenced by the latest moves.
"David brings tremendous energy (and) passion to the game of football," McCarthy said. "He has really grinded his way through the coaching profession. Anytime you see that in a young coach, it's refreshing, and it brings a ton of new energy into that offensive line room."
As for the new hires on offense, new tight ends coach Brian Angelichio comes from Cleveland and running backs coach Ben Sirmans from St. Louis, where they coached their current positions.
After the season ended, McCarthy expressed that tight end Richard Rodgers needs to make another "jump" in his level of play, and running back Eddie Lacy must improve his conditioning. The connections to those players will be "very important" for their new coaches, while any "fresh thought" or "different viewpoint" would be welcomed.
"Anytime you're able to go outside your existing coaching staff, it brings new ideas and brings a different attitude, things like that," McCarthy said. "I think it's very healthy for us."
The lone change on defense is the hiring of Ejiro Evero for quality control. Evero gained experience on both sides of the ball with San Francisco, and it sounds as though he's already diving into the scheme evaluation that goes on at this time of year.
"Some of the things we're doing defensively, some adjustments that we're going to make that we're getting ready for when our players are coming back, 'EJ' will play a big role in that," McCarthy said.
