interview since being fired by the team last December went live on Wednesday morning and it includes discussion of his relationship with quarterback Aaron Rodgers.That relationship was in the crosshairs at various points over McCarthy’s 13 years on the job. Rodgers was the starter for 11 of those seasons and it wasn’t unheard of for him to make public criticisms of the offense or to hear about complaints he made on the sideline about play calls during games.McCarthy told Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com that he was “not aware” of anything that went on during games and used the words “challenging Bart Starr Jersey , very rewarding and fun” to describe coaching Rodgers. McCarthy added that the challenging part of things was impossible to avoid given the length of time they spent together.“When I think about my relationship with Aaron, you’re talking about 13 years,” McCarthy said. “That’s a very long time. It’s been a privilege to watch him grow in so many different ways and see him do so many great things on the field and off. To think you can be in a relationship that long and not have any frustrations, that’s unrealistic.”McCarthy called it “a joy” to work with a quarterback as talented as Rodgers and said he feels he’s a better person and coach because of the time the two men spent together. He’ll need to wait a while before putting the better coach portion of that belief to the test, but we’ll get a look at how Rodgers deals with a new head coach much sooner. The Packers took a very aggressive approach to the start of free agency, shelling out $56 million in signing bonuses to add defensive end Za'Darius Smith, linebacker Preston Smith Ray Nitschke Color Rush Jersey , safety Adrian Amos, and offensive lineman Billy Turner. That’s a very different approach from General Manager Brian Gutekunst than the Packers’ front office took with the old regime led by Ted Thompson.But Gutekunst downplayed how big a change he has made to the Packers’ philosophy, saying Green Bay always wants to win.“Obviously, this is Green Bay, Wisconsin; we’re in a win-now mode all the time,” he said, via ESPN. “I thought we needed to add to our defense significantly https://www.thepackersfanshop.com/Reggie-White-Jersey , and I think these guys will. So, I don’t think it’s any different than it ever has been.”Teams always want to win, but they don’t always make the kinds of aggressive signings that Gutekunst made. Teams often build for the long run through the draft and prioritize that over free agency, and Gutekunst’s approach is very different than Thompson’s. Gutekunst downplayed talk that the Packers are running out of time to win with Aaron Rodgers, but he did say he’s working hard at improving quickly from last year’s 6-9-1 record, the Packers’ worst since Rodgers’ first year as the starting quarterback.“Obviously, you can’t kick the can down the road forever Aaron Rodgers Jersey , but at the same time I don’t think we really did that here. I think if you really look at it, we didn’t really jeopardize anything in the future,” he said.When the Packers gave Rodgers a huge contract extension last year, the idea was that they should be Super Bowl contenders over the life of that contract, which expires after the 2023 season. Gutekunst wants to make that happen quickly.