Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur said part of the team’s refinement process on offense this offseason will be simplifying the scheme’s terminology in an attempt to make life easier for younger players and increase the tempo overall.
“The more we can shrink the verbiage, the more it’ll allow our players to play faster – first of all, it will get us out of the huddle a little bit faster, and go out there and play a little faster,” LaFleur said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine.
LaFleur said many collegiate schemes rely on hand signals and little to no terminology when calling plays, increasing the learning curve for young players entering the system. In his first year in Green Bay, LaFleur had to scale back much of the offense’s up-tempo aspects as players adjusted to the new scheme and the massive amounts of new verbiage within it.
The goal now is to simplify and get everyone up to speed and comfortable during the offseason so everything within the scheme is second nature during the regular season, allowing more tempo in and out of the huddle and more opportunities to use tempo between plays.
Simplifying the system might be even more important this offseason as the Packers add new players on offense, particularly through the draft at the receiver position. Making the scheme easier to pick up in the early stages might be important for getting any sort of instant impact from a top pick at one of the skill positions on offense.
The changes might even help veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who eventually wore a playcall wristband to help shorten the relay time of calls between plays last season.
Both Rodgers and LaFleur commented on their desire to put in more up-tempo in 2020 during the immediate aftermath of the Packers’ loss to the 49ers in the NFC title game.
“We really haven’t gotten into the tempo stuff at all. Very little of that. I think that’s a product of personnel and the way installation went. The scheme is there,” Rodgers said at Levi’s Stadium.
The Packers laid the foundation of the scheme in 2019. Now, there’s an opportunity to refine and simplify, which should mean a faster Packers offense in 2020.