Coach Crennel retires
Romeo Crennel has retired, ending a 39-year NFL coaching career highlighted by five Super Bowl titles.
Crennel spent the past eight seasons with the Houston Texans. He was the team’s defensive coordinator from 2014-16 and assistant head coach from 2017-19. In 2020 he was the associate head coach before becoming the interim head coach following coach Bill O’Brien’s firing after just four games.
Crennel, who will turn 75 on June 18, worked as Houston’s senior adviser for football performance last season.
He spent 11 years as a college coach before beginning his NFL career as an assistant with the New York Giants in 1981.
“Football has been my entire life and it’s been a dream come true to coach for 50 years,” Crennel said in a statement. “I'll miss everything about coaching and teaching, but the thing I'll miss the most is being around the guys every day. My goal was to put every player and coach in the best position to succeed and I consider every guy I coached or worked with a part of my family.”
Crennel reached the playoffs 17 times in his career, winning 13 division titles, six conference crowns and winning two Super Bowls with the Giants and three with the Patriots.
Crennel was the defensive coordinator for the Patriots from 2001-04. He was selected as the Pro Football Writers of America NFL Assistant Coach of the Year after the 2003 season when he headed a defense that allowed an NFL-low 14.9 points a game.
Crennel’s first head coaching job came with the Cleveland Browns, from 2005-08. His best season came with the Browns in 2007 when they went 10-6.
When Crennel was promoted to interim head coach with the Texans in 2020 at 73, he became the oldest person in NFL history to serve as a head coach in a game. It was a record previously held by former Hall of Famer
George Halas with the Chicago Bears.
Crennel went 4-8 that season.
Packers: Aaron Rodgers says he’s unsure how much longer he will keep playing football.
But he’s definitive about at least one element of his playing future: The fourtime MVP quarterback expects to retire with the Green Bay Packers.
That scenario seemed uncertain this time a year ago, when Rodgers skipped the Packers mandatory minicamp in a standoff with team officials. That relationship has since improved enough that Rodgers signed a contract extension with the Packers after producing his second straight MVP season.
Although his new deal runs through 2026, Rodgers said Tuesday at the Packers minicamp that he doesn’t know yet whether he will play beyond this upcoming season.
“The conversations I’ve had with [general manager] Brian [Gutekunst] have been very honest and direct, and that’s not going to change,” Rodgers said. “We'll sit down after the season, hopefully after a championship, and figure out what the next step is.”
Asked if he expects to finish his career with the Packers, Rodgers replied, “Yes. Definitely.”