Green Bay - It is nearing decision time for Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy.
The direction his team will take in the coming years could depend on whom he chooses to be his next defensive coordinator, a choice that probably isn't as clear as he had hoped.
On Friday, McCarthy spent the day with longtime defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, according to a spokesman at agent Marvin Demoff's office. Williams, lately of the Jacksonville Jaguars but now a free agent in search of a new start, interviewed Thursday in New Orleans before meeting with McCarthy at the Packers' offices.
The interview came a day after McCarthy met with former San Francisco 49ers head coach and past coaching associate Mike Nolan.
Sources said McCarthy wanted to interview the top available coordinators. Now that he has done so, he has the option of offering one of the two a job or waiting to see if an assistant from a playoff team becomes available after this weekend.
The assistant most coveted is Philadelphia secondary coach Sean McDermott, whose team plays Sunday against the New York Giants. He will not become available for interview until the Eagles are out of the playoffs.
McCarthy has to decide whether he wants to hire someone with whom he has no past history (Williams) or someone whom he knows quite well (Nolan). The Saints got first shot at Williams and might have made an offer right away.
But Williams, 50, wanted to find out what the Packers have to offer.
In Green Bay, he would be given almost full autonomy with the defense, not to mention a strong secondary that would allow him to play some of the pressure packages that he enjoys using. Both the Saints and the Packers have high-scoring offenses that would ease the pressure of having to come in as a savior.
By most accounts, Williams did not have full autonomy in Jacksonville under coach Jack Del Rio, whose experience is on defense. Williams' unit did not play very well, but in four seasons in Washington he had much more success.
A big part of McCarthy's criteria, according to sources, is that his coordinator be able to adapt to the talent the team has. He is not locked into running a 3-4 or a 4-3 scheme. It is more important for him to find someone who can be flexible with defensive schemes.
The Nolan interview probably wasnt near as in depth as the one with Williams because the two coached together for a year in San Francisco. Still, there are things McCarthy has to know about with Nolan, such as how Nolan would use some of the in-house talent and which assistant coaches he would recommend hiring.
Nolan, who McCarthy worked under for a year in San Francisco, has been thought to be the leading candidate, but sources said McCarthy was intrigued with Williams and wanted to find out whether he would be a good fit with the Packers. Both are former head coaches who probably haven't given up on obtaining another shot at the helm.
Money could be an issue, considering Williams was the highest-paid coordinator in the league when he was with Washington. Nolan still has a year left on his contract with San Francisco and the Packers can hire him knowing the 49ers will have to supplement his pay so that it's equal with what he would have received this year if he were still head coach.
So far, no other team has publicly expressed its interest in Nolan, but that might be because everyone anticipates him getting the job with the Packers. He might be drawing interest behind the scenes, and once teams with vacant head coaching positions start filling those spots, both he and Williams could draw much more interest.
There have been rumors that Houston was interested in Williams, but so far nothing has materialized.