GREEN BAY – Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy announced one change to his coaching staff for 2017 on Thursday.
Associate head coach/offense and longtime offensive assistant Tom Clements will "move on to other interests," McCarthy said in his season-ending news conference.
Clements has worked for McCarthy since the head coach arrived in Green Bay in 2006, serving as the quarterbacks coach (2006-11), offensive coordinator (2012-14), and in his current post the past two seasons.
Clements took over play-calling duties in 2015 when McCarthy shuffled the responsibilities on the offensive staff before reverting to the more standard structure late in the year. Clements' contract expired at the end of this past season. McCarthy did not announce a replacement.
"I'd like to take this moment to thank Tom for an incredible 11 years here, what we were able to accomplish here during that time, and really the impact he had not only with us as a coaching staff but with Aaron Rodgers and the quarterbacks," McCarthy said. "I know Aaron is very appreciative of what he's been able to establish with Tom both professionally and personally."
As for the rest of the coaching staff, McCarthy said he has not begun the formal evaluation process, but he did not give any indications other changes are forthcoming.
Evaluations will start after the Super Bowl when the coaches return from a week off.
"I feel really good about the coaching job our staff did," McCarthy said. "We'll go through the process like we always do. We have contracts to do and so forth."
The job included managing a number of significant injuries on both sides of the ball, and handling the schematic and game-planning changes that went along with them on a weekly basis.
McCarthy noted the constant adjusting worked out "better on offense than on defense," but he indicated that contrast was rooted more in the team's personnel than the coaching.
Asked directly about the future of defensive coordinator Dom Capers, McCarthy voiced his full support.
"This is no time for drama," McCarthy said. "Dom Capers is an outstanding football coach. That doesn't change. He had a tough challenge in front of him this year, and once again, that coaching staff dealt with a lot.
"Clearly, if you look at the way the team was motivated, the way they were prepared, the things we were able to do, the adjustments we made, is all part of it. A lot of good things came out of that."
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