Rumor: Bucs OC Todd Monken Interviewing with Packers
The Packers will interview Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Todd Monken on Saturday night, according to ESPN reporter Jeremy Fowler.
Monken helped guide the Buccaneers to top 10 finishes in offense each of the last two seasons. They were third in the league in yards in 2018 thanks largely to a passing offense that led the league in total yardage. Even with Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick doing the passing for the Buccaneers, Tampa Bay still finished third in the league in passing touchdowns.
If there’s a single reason for the success of Monken’s offenses, it probably has to do with his extremely diverse coaching background. Monken has coached and had success at just about every level of the sport on both sides of the ball. He’s been a defensive backs coach, a wide receivers coach, a running backs coach, an offensive coordinator, a passing game coordinator, and a head coach. He’s worked everywhere from Division II schools to the SEC to the NFL. If you can do it as a football coach, Monken has done it.
This wide-ranging experience has produced an Air Raid-style offense optimized for the modern NFL. We’ve said it already, but if Koetter can put an offense on the field that can produce enormous chunk plays with Jameis Winston and Ryan Fitzpatrick under center, he can produce just about anywhere.
Monken’s results have led to attention from the Packers and a few other NFL teams with head coaching vacancies. The Bengals and Jets will speak with the 52-year old about their vacancies,
What this means for the Packers head coaching search
Monken’s candidacy is an encouraging sign for the Packers coaching search, even if he doesn’t get the ball.
If there’s a knock on the Packers organization, it’s the persistent feeling that things are governed by a “well, we’ve always done it this way, so why change” mentality. Reluctance to change led to an extra year or two of Ted Thompson, Dom Capers, and Mike McCarthy, and even it didn’t “waste” Aaron Rodgers, it certainly didn’t optimize the 2015-2018 seasons.
Many of the coaches the Packers have interviewed seem a lot like “we’ve always done it this way” candidates. Names like Jim Caldwell, Chuck Pagano, Mike Munchak and even (to a lesser extent) Pete Carmichael are very traditional and very conservative.
Monken, however, certainly isn’t. Like Josh McDaniels, Monken is a little out of character for the Packers. This shows at least a willingness to consider, if not hire, non-traditional candidates. Will they hire him? Who knows. But the fact that Mark Murphy and Brian Gutekunst are having a sit-down conversation with Monken is an encouraging development.
