Former Packers coach Mike McCarthy, fired in the middle of the 2018 season after a disastrous home loss to the Cardinals, will not be coaching during the 2019 season after the Jets job was filled on Wednesday night with the hiring of Adam Gase.
McCarthy told NFL Media's Tom Pelissero that he was going to take a year off and spend the time with his family, a decision he informed them of while sitting at the dinner table. It was a decision met with a lot of enthusiasm.
Additionally, McCarthy told Rob Demovsky of ESPN that he was "locked and loaded" for 2020.
McCarthy was considered a candidate for multiple jobs out on the open market, but recently made it clear the only job he was interested in taking would be the Jets job. McCarthy told Demovsky that "we looked at everything, and it was either New York or stay out" when it came to possible jobs.
Once Gase, who was fired by the Dolphins after the season, snared the job, it became clear that McCarthy wouldn't end up with one of the top jobs on the market. Only the Bengals and Dolphins remain and those were the two worst jobs out there on the open market. (Don't get mad. Now they're the two best.)
There's no chance he's taking one of those gigs -- McCarthy might not have ended his tenure well with Green Bay, but he's a Super Bowl winning coach who ripped off a long run of making the playoffs. This was a weird spot for him, because the Browns were one of the of the best jobs, and he probably wasn't landing that gig. The Browns just didn't feel like a fit and there might have been too much going on behind the scenes.
New York was the best landing spot for McCarthy, but it's possible that there were also concerns about how his offense would work with Darnold. In case you hadn't noticed, there's a huge emphasis these days on hiring young offensive minds.
Once upon a time, McCarthy was just that. Now he's the veteran coach who can be choosy. Gase had options too, but he's still a 40-year-old offensive guru who took Ryan Tannehill to the playoffs in his first season in Miami when there wasn't a ton of talent around him.
McCarthy gets to sit out a year, spend time with his family, recharge his batteries, fine tune his playbook and get ready for the inevitable six or seven jobs that open up next year. It's not the worst position to be in.