It was another to earn the trust of an independent-minded, future Hall of Fame quarterback who reputedly could be as cold as a Lambeau Field goal post in January. That was the furthest thing from his mind. The Packers Miss Super Bowl Thanks to Terrible 4th Down Decision - Insider Aaron Jones and A.J. Head coach Matt LaFleur of the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers #12 meet in the fourth quarter against the Washington Football Team in the game at Lambeau Field on October 24, 2021 in Green Bay . He was certain of that by the time he left campus that day in 2014. Arguably one of the best receivers of all time, especially when it comes to route running, Packers receiver Allen Lazard said of Adams. In the team's virtual meetings, there were far more. He has some really finely kept eyebrows.. Packers' Matt LaFleur Mocks Vikings Tradition Ahead of Opener - Heavy.com But they worked on it. (As I talked to Campbell in a Lambeau hallway, LaFleur happened to walk by, and when he heard Campbell saying nice things about him, he stuck his fingers in his ears and gave a loud la-la-la to drown out the compliments.). Be it right, wrong or indifferent, I look at it a little different from some people regarding the whole situation. It doesnt matter to your brain, doesnt matter to your body if you believe it, that becomes the reality. We just named a quarterback assistant, Connor Lewis. Despite all that was lost that day, more trust was won. video Total Packers with Matt. The most common answer is obvious. 1 seed in their respective conferences this year, but both teams were defeated at home in the divisional round. Tight end Jace Sternberger (2019 third-round pick) and wide receiver Amari Rodgers (2021) left the organization within two years. In 2013, he received the Bill Nunn Award from the Pro Football Writers of America for long and distinguished reporting. Dan Pompei is a senior writer for The Athletic who has been telling NFL stories for close to four decades. Our football philosophies kind of developed together.. Different late-season rest regiment, play-calling, practice tweaks, anything? Its not about me, its about everybody else. Theres a play called strike in the Packers playbook. Its pretty cool. But the team that plays the best in that three-hour window wins, he told me. Its not about credentials at that point. Follow Dan on Twitter @danpompei, After a bumpy start, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur and quarterback Aaron Rodgers have developed a strong working relationship. Its why he was a Packer in 2021. The Packers enter this season with the second-best odds to win the NFC behind only the Buccaneers. Last years third-round pick was UCLA offensive lineman Sean Rhyan, who played one special teams snap and no offensive snaps as a rookie and was suspended the last six games of the season for violating the NFLs policy on performance-enhancers. I wanted him to do what made him happy, because I think too many times we forget these players are people, first and foremost. The most recent tight end the Packers picked in the first round was Miamis Bubba Franks, who went 14th overall in 2000. In three seasons together, LaFleur and Rodgers have won 13 games three times and reached the NFC championship game twice. LaFleur's. Now hes all swaggy. By submitting your email, you agree to our, whose variations have revolutionized a handful of teams. He mentions Tom Clementswho just returned as the Packers quarterbacks coach and who coached him earlier in his careerand former quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt, now the offensive coordinator in Cleveland, as people whove given him extremely granular tasks to improve on each day. As LaFleur transitions from the 2021 season to the beyond, there are wounds to heal, transitions to navigate and redemption to be won. Now, with the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft on Thursday the Packers could use the 13th pick (the reported compensation by Adam Schefter for the Aaron Rodgers trade) on another edge rusher or, at the very least, figure to pick one during Day 2. Theres almost a rom-com-y feel to how Rodgers and LaFleur talk about following each others careers long before they joined up. I really like it now, Rodgers said. Aaron Rodgers was a couple of thousand miles from Green Bay, and as far as the Packers knew, his mind might have been further. Glenn Erby. Hiring Clements was a bow to Rodgers, but like a lot of what LaFleur has done, it was more than that. LaFleur has not indicated, at any point, that he wants acknowledgment for what the Packers have achieved with him at the helm. A lot of people said, Oh a 5-foot-10 quarterback cant play college ball, so I got used to drowning stuff out. LaFleur tells the story of the time, famous in his family, when his grandmother answered the phone after his grandfathera Kalamazoo, Michigan, high school coachlost a game. LaFleur was hoping for a deeper connection. That move could lead to the exit of free agent Mason Crosby, who has a franchise-record 1,918 career points over 17 seasons. When LaFleur was in Los Angeles for the NFL Honors, he met Clements, who lives in the area. LaFleur draws a line from those experiences to now, when he has to drown out noise on a weekly basis. The Packers are picking 15th overall after going 8-9 last season, missing the playoffs and ending a string of three straight NFC North titles. When the team hosted kids and their families from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the coach noticed Rodgers did more than provide autographs like he was signing checks to pay bills. How Matt LaFleur will get Jordan Love ready for Packers' starting job Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, president Mark Murphy and director of football operations Russ Ball also were involved in the discussions. The good news is that the offense is built for just that. That exchange of ideas, LaFleur said, is what hes after. I want them to feel part of a team. Best coach in the league, the man says to me. A Rodgers trade could bring them more picks. Is this where that bald-headed son of a bitch Bob Barringer lives? the caller demanded to know. Matt LaFleur said he has entertained the idea of Nathaniel Hackett returning to the Packers' staff. The interview was four hours and it felt like 15 minutes, Murphy said. But privately, he extended a hand. Thats not, by nature, the system we started on, McDaniel said. authenticate users, apply security measures, and prevent spam and abuse, and, display personalised ads and content based on interest profiles, measure the effectiveness of personalised ads and content, and, develop and improve our products and services. Trust from the locker room will be crucial as he tries to fill the crater in his offense left by the trade of Adams, whose desire was to play for the Raiders. He has chilled to the point that he is comfortable dealing with failures. The coach-quarterback relationship ultimately helped LaFleur build trust with his entire team. Holmgren is in the Packers Hall of Fame and soon could be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Dillon. When LaFleur worked for Dan Quinn on the Falcons in 2015 and 16, Quinn had three rules. This is not just a fun anecdote, though: This is where Matt LaFleur first learned football. Tight end Marcedes Lewis said if he didnt have LaFleur as his coach, he might not be in the leagueand not necessarily because LaFleur uses his skill set perfectly (though he does, letting Lewis be a dominant blocker and catch passes off those blocks). I think most coaches, a lot of coaches tend to stay away from the truth and I think Matt has figured out the way to do it is to go straight at it, Saleh said. If Rodgers was ticked off at LaFleur, hed get frustrated and stew. This is their job and I expect them to come to work ready to play. Ultimately, it was his decision.. We got to see that early on from Matty.. Theres a lot of trust built up at this point between Matt and our players to protect them and put their best interest at heart and ultimately get the team thats going to be fresher whenever we play, says Darryl Franklin, LaFleurs chief of staff. Also at the wedding was Packers coach Matt LaFleur, who had the opportunity at the reception to lead Rodgers to the bar, offer him something strong and straight up, and make a pitch for Rodgers to come home with him. But ahead of an all-important season, the fourth-year Packers coach knows he still has questions to answerand a big opportunity to do just that. In their second season together, Rodgers won the third of his four NFL MVPs. They selected Michigan outside linebacker Rashan Gary with the No. LaFleur could not prevent the departure of the player he has called footballs best wide receiver. And so does Kyle Shanahan, who LaFleur worked for in Houston, Washington, and Atlantathough Shanahan calls it drift. It can be, LaFleur said, an uncomfortable play for the quarterback: a quick-hitting, five-step pass (or six steps if youre moving to the left) from under center. LaFleurs retorts usually arent for public consumption. (Larry Radloff / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press). Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur: 'I want us to take action' Aaron audibles a lot. LaFleur was the Titans offensive coordinator by then, but Rodgers recalled how much he loved those concepts when LaFleurs staff first came in. LaFleur reiterated his hope that he'd get to continue working with Rodgers this season while offering no news on the quarterback's status. Packers' Matt LaFleur offers another sign that Aaron Rodgers is headed All Rights Reserved. Matt LaFleur Fully Supporting Jordan Love As Franchise Quarterback "I don't really anticipate a whole . Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. The credentials, or the journey to get the credentials, though, are important. So hes like, Whatever, Im not gonna concern myself with the trivial nature of getting mad. He just wants to know the answer.. What are you just going to bang your head against the wall? Its about whether youre willing to put in the grind and work your tail off to accomplish what they need.. Without it, nothing. A group of young receiversled by fourth-round pick Romeo Doubs or second-round pick Christian Watson, who has been banged upwill have opportunities to show something this year. His ability to throw on the move. The 2023 NFL draft is a wrap, as the rich continue to get richer in Philadelphia. And so the toxins in the relationship between Rodgers and the Packers began to pass. You can change your choices at any time by clicking on the 'Privacy dashboard' links on our sites and apps. Theres nothing he cannot do. One of the most obvious and clichd observations about pro football is also the most true: The head-coach-quarterback relationship is the most important part of the franchise. Serving mainly as Rodgers' backup for the past two seasons, Love has had some chances to showcase what Green Bay fans can expect from him after logging three total touchdowns and 606 yards while completing 60.2 percent of his passes. 12 pick in 2019. who played one special teams snap and no offensive snaps as a rookie, was suspended the last six games of the season. The Packers took Christian Watson in the second round and Romeo Doubs in the fourth last year, but theyre the only Green Bay wideouts currently under contract who had at least 100 yards receiving last season. Dillon give the Packers one of the NFLs top running back tandems. As a leader, you have to own everything, he explains. The Green Bay Packers announced running back Kylin Hill and punter Amari Rodgers, both 2021 draft picks, were released this week following Sunday's overtime victory over the Cowboys. FIRST ALERT WEATHER: Wintry mix lingers around The depth of this draft class at receiver and particularly at tight end could push the Packers toward using the 15th overall pick to address other needs, such as adding a safety or a pass rusher. Players feed off their coaches. Something went wrong. That is special, really special.. (McVay noted that the teams two-back sets are impressive. But they face two major questions: How can they account for their lack of playoff success over the past three years, and how will they attempt to replace a superstar wideout? McVay said he looks for a handful of things in an assistant: character, capacity to learn, communication skills, and knowledge of the game from an all-22 perspectivemeaning every position. The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported. He guesses that if he called him 20 minutes before a Packers game and hes got a problem, LaFleur might skip the pregame speech. We have a lot of conversations during the weekthats why I never want to miss a meeting. Instead of having the entire team stay at a hotel the night before the game, which is customary for NFL teams, LaFleur allowed veterans to stay home. Like I told him, the beauty of this game is winning is a hell of a lot of fun, but its about the relationships you make. Assuming the Packers stay at 15, this would be just their second top-15 overall pick in the past 14 drafts. Rodgers is a rep guy who likes to practice a concept over and over to see if he feels comfortable. Go to where you feel you can get a big pass play. You dont always see the superstars do that, LaFleur says. The three rules are very easy to abide by, in our opinion. As LaFleur and I talk, we walk down Oneida Street in Green Bay and a stunned man stops pushing a stroller and waits for the coach to walk past. Whether its real or not doesnt matter. McDaniel said that with everyone in their 20s or early 30s, with no kids, coaches worked 20-hour days just to get Kyle Shanahans workplace affection. On the day I was at practice, a reporter asked LaFleur whether he was worried about Rodgers being suspended for admitting to using ayahuasca on a podcast. In the hands of Aaron Rodgers, it is apocalyptic for NFL defenses. Motion, fakes. He is, entering his fourth year, the longest-tenured head coach in his division, no doubt a byproduct of his rivals inability to reliably beat him. He didnt care how it affected him, he just wanted to do what he thought was right., In the beginning, there was Bill Walsh College Football. The West Coast offense, what he was used to, is very guy for a guy when it comes to protection. Eberflus, 52, and LaFleur first faced off in 2017, when LaFleur ran the Rams' offense and Eberflus was the Cowboys' linebackers coach and passing-defense coordinator. The Rams won that game 35-30. Hed rather use his cadence at the line to get defenses to show him hints at what they are doing. They ask you to do a lot of things with your back to the defense. They have this really cool working relationship thats two competitors who can really find a common ground to get things done. Not saying theyre gonna learn anything, but I didnt take advantage of that time., I didnt learn ball ball until I got to the National Football League, he said. That was the backdrop to the March wedding. Nobody wants any of these guys to be miserable when theyre coming to work. And you have let the ball rip as soon as you plant your back foot, giving the quarterback just a split second to read the defense. The way he does it is organic and yet purposeful. Highly possible, Rodgers said with a sly grin, one that youve probably seen hundreds of times on crisp autumn afternoons while hes throwing some overwhelmed NFC defense in a trash can. There is something to accepting responsibility, and I think there is a trickle-down effect. Congratulations, LaFleur. But we were getting a lot of positive cases. The week after the Saturday Christmas Day game, the Packers had an extra practice scheduled. But if there is one thing that Love has learned from flying under Rodgers' wing, it is that he has made strides towards becoming a better on-field leader.