Silver Minings: Would Aaron Rodgers clash with Josh McDaniels?

The biggest name associated with the Las Vegas Raiders’ quarterback search is easily Aaron Rodgers. It’s hard to beat the four-time MVP’s resume and several Raiders have vouched for him to take over, including superstar wide receiver and Rodgers’ former teammate, Davante Adams.

However, it will likely cost Las Vegas quite a few assets to trade for the Green Bay Packers quarterback, and there’s a question of if Rodgers will fit into the culture head coach Josh McDaniels is creating.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio joined Rich Eisen on the latter’s radio show and discussed where Rodgers will play next season. Florio and Eisen agreed that the QB likely wouldn’t want to play for the New York Jets, citing the confrontational media in New York and the team’s owner Woody Johnson’s connection to big pharma. Johnson is the heir to the Johnson & Johnson corporation, one of the three major companies to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

Eisen then brought up the Raiders as a potential landing spot for Rodgers, but Florio made a few strong points on why that relationship wouldn’t work, most notably the former MVP clashing with McDaniels’ coaching style.

“I don’t know that Josh McDaniels would be capable of adjusting his style to account for the ‘delicate genius’,” Florio said. “... You know, the first thing McDaniels would say to him, Rich? ‘Hey Aaron, ... you can’t go on The Pat McAfee show every Tuesday. ... You can’t go on there and answer questions about the things we’re doing here’. I mean, it’s ‘the Patriot way’.

“... Josh McDaniels knows what Tom Brady does what he tolerates by way of hard coaching, or at least did while he was with the Patriots until he had his lifetime limit of it. Aaron Rodgers has already had a lifetime limit to that. He doesn’t want to be called out in meetings. He doesn’t want video to be shown of his bad decision and how he freelanced.

“So again, they tell me Aaron Rodgers is really smart. If that’s the case, I don’t see him getting into the McDaniels system. I don’t see him leaving. ... At this point in his career, I think it’s play for the Packers or retire.”

Florio is right in that McDaniels has been building his version of “the Patriot way” with the Raiders. Just look at the coaching hires and the free agents he brought in last offseason. But the part about Rodgers not wanting to play in that type of environment is purely an assumption.

It’s certainly an assumption that can be justified, but Rodgers certainly isn’t one to follow conventional thinking. Who knows, maybe his darkness retreat could lead him to the black hole.

In other Raiders links:

• Raiders want to bring Denzel Perryman back: the team “would like him back, provided it makes sense financially,” per the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore.
• RIP Jim McMillin: “The Raiders Family mourns the passing of Jim McMillin, who played defensive back for the Silver and Black from 1963-64,” the team wrote. “The thoughts and prayers of the Raider Nation are with Jim’s wife, Phyllis, and the entire McMillin family at this time.”
• Broncos could target a Raider in free agency: offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor was named as a good fit for Denver by Predominantly Orange.
• Rock Ya-Sin deemed ‘underrated’: “Rock Ya-Sin is not going to force offenses to game-plan against him, but what we have seen over his four NFL seasons is that he can be a capable second or third cornerback on a lot of teams,” via Pro Football Focus.
• Frank Okam fired: the defensive line coach has been let go according to Bonsignore.