Aaron Rodgers said he gets what owner Jerry Jones sees in Mike McCarthy as the new face of the Dallas Cowboys, given the coach’s previous success in Green Bay.
Rodgers, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said that it’s easy to see why McCarthy, 56, was hired by Jones to take over the helm of the Cowboys after nine-plus seasons with Jason Garrett. McCarthy’s Packers teams twice eliminated the Cowboys in the playoffs — after the 2014 and 2016 seasons — and the team’s Super Bowl XLV triumph was at Cowboys Stadium.
“We’ve had a lot of success down there,” Rodgers said, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “And I think that was probably one of the reasons. We obviously won the Super Bowl there, but we won some big games down there over the years. So I’m not surprised that Jerry had an infatuation with Mike, because we’ve had some really good performances.”
Rodgers said he thought McCarthy might opt to go to a franchise where he’d have an opportunity to be the team’s general manager, but that won’t be the case in Dallas, where Jones holds that position, as well as the team president.
“But I’m happy for him,” Rodgers continued. “I sent him a text, and he sent me a text back.”
That’s an apparent shift in the acrimonious relationship Rodgers had with McCarthy during his 13-year tenure in Green Bay that ended in 2018 near the end of the team’s second straight losing season.
One unidentified teammate even said last year that the pair’s relationship was like a “large cancer in the locker room,” while former Packers running back Ryan Grant accused Rodgers of always having a “chip on his shoulder” regarding McCarthy.
While in Green Bay, the two-time MVP Rodgers and McCarthy made eight straight playoff appearances and compiled a record of 7-3 against the Cowboys, including two playoff wins. The team also won Super Bowl XLV at AT&T Stadium in February 2011.
The Packers and the Cowboys aren’t scheduled to meet in the regular season next season, but Rodgers seemed open to the possibility of joint preseason practices between the two storied franchises, PackersNews.com reports.
“That’d be awesome,” Rodgers said. “It’d be great to maybe spend a week out there, get out to California. I wouldn’t mind that. I don’t think it’s ever going to happen. They’d have to come to us, but I think we’re definitely in store for some more joint practices.”
