Tag: matt lafleur

NFC North roundtable: NFC North coach of the year

Our NFC North wire editors discussed who will be the coach of the year in the division.

The Chicago Bears are building around Justin Fields, the Detroit Lions are entering the season as betting favorites to win the division, the Green Bay Packers are transitioning from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love and the Minnesota Vikings are attempting to repeat as division champs for the first time since 2008-09.

There’s a lot going on in the NFC North this season.

In the latest of a series of posts previewing the division ahead of the 2023 season, Alyssa Barbieri of Bears Wire, Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire, Zach Kruse of Packers Wire and Tyler Forness of Vikings Wire answered the question: who will be the division’s coach of the year?

Why Packers RB Aaron Jones is one of Matt LaFleur’s ‘favorites’

Matt LaFleur on Packers RB Aaron Jones: “He’s definitely one of my favorites.” Here’s more on why the coach loves Jones as a player and man.

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Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur called Pro Bowl running back Aaron Jones one of his favorite all-time players.

“I can’t say enough great things about him,” LaFleur said Wednesday. “Just the man he is. The player he is. The son he is. The father he is. He’s definitely, I’ll throw it out there, one of my favorites.”

Jones, a 2017 fifth-round pick, returned to Green Bay on a restructured deal this offseason. He’ll enter his seventh season with the Packers in 2023.

The numbers show why his coach loves him so much as a player.

Since LaFleur took over in 2019, Jones has produced 4,108 rushing yards, 47 total touchdowns and 5,723 total yards. He ranks sixth in rushing yards, fourth in total touchdowns, sixth in total yards and ninth in total touches among all NFL players over the last four seasons. He was also a Pro Bowler in 2020 and has created at least 1,000 total yards in all four seasons since 2019.

The 28-year-old has also been the Packers’ Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee each of the last two seasons.

“What’s even more impressive is how he handles himself on a daily basis,” LaFleur said. “He’s such a great model for what you want your team to be about. He backs up anything he says with what he does. His actions are very, very powerful. He’s a great role model for all these younger players of what it truly means to be a pro. And just his approach and how he embraces all our players and tries to help them along the way.”

LaFleur echoed the sentiment of team president and CEO Mark Murphy, who called Jones an “amazing young man” and a “tremendous role model” after the Packers named Jones the team’s nominee for NFL Man of the Year in 2022.

The football side is a continuation of his excellence off the field. Jones is a slashing runner with incredible contact balance and creativity and the ability to catch the football from multiple alignments and do anything required in the LaFleur scheme. Now that Jordan Love is the starting quarterback, Jones could become the focal point of the entire Packers offense in 2023.

“He’s a pretty good player,” LaFleur said. “It is our job to get our best players the ball. I think Aaron has definitely proven himself over his career in the NFL that he can handle a lot of things, not only in the running game but the pass game as well. He does a great job in pass protection, route running, and has shown the ability to be a big-time playmaker.”

Jones ranks third in Packers history in career rushing yards. He’s currently one of only four players in team history to go over 5,000 rushing yards. Jones also ranks ninth among Packers players in total yards from scrimmage in a career, and he’s only 1,149 total yards away from passing Hall of Famer Don Hutson for fifth place all-time.

Packers seeing WR Romeo Doubs take ‘next step’ to start Year 2

Matt LaFleur on Romeo Doubs to start Year 2: “Rome has done a nice job of really making that next step…I think he’s shown a lot of progress.”

The Green Bay Packers believe they are witnessing the beginning of a second-year jump from wide receiver Romeo Doubs during the offseason workout program.

“Rome has done a nice job of really making that next step,” coach Matt LaFleur said after Tuesday’s practice. “Now he has to go out and do it in games, but what we’ve seen from him in practice…just how deliberate he is with what he’s trying to work on. He’s doing a great job of getting his feet in the ground, running violent routes, violent cuts. Being aggressive with his hands. I think he’s shown a lot of progress.”

Doubs, a fourth-round pick of the Packers last season, caught 42 passes for 425 yards and three touchdowns over 14 games as a rookie. He was excellent during training camp and productive to start the regular season, catching at least one pass of 20 or more yards or scoring a touchdown during each of his first five games.

As is the case with every rookie, the highs come with unavoidable lows.

Doubs rebounded from a tough stretch against the Jets and Commanders and caught four passes and a touchdown in primetime against the Bills, but an ankle injury suffered on an 18-yard catch early against the Detroit Lions in Week 9 stunted what he was building as a rookie.

Healthy and confident, Doubs said he was “playing faster” after a practice last week.

Part of taking the next step will be getting on the same page as Jordan Love, the Packers’ first-year starting quarterback. If OTAs are any indication, Love-to-Doubs will be a common connection come the regular season.

“Just the rapport that those two guys have shown throughout eight practices has been pretty solid,” LaFleur said.

LaFleur pointed to Doubs’ process and routine as big reasons why he’s primed to make a big jump.

“I always look back to the person,” LaFleur said. “There are sometimes you almost have to pull him back because he’s so invested into it and puts so much time into it, that sometimes you can almost wear yourself out. That’s one thing with him, you never have to worry about whether or not he’s working. When we get out of here, and the time he spends away from here, he’ll be very deliberate with what he does. So I expect him to be able to pick up right where he left off. He’s done some unbelievable things throughout the course of these OTAs, whether it’s with the route running or the catches. Just continue building on that rapport that he has with Jordan.”

Doubs made one of the splash plays of Tuesday’s practice when he hauled in a contested touchdown catch from Love on a fade route during a live team drill.

Intelligence and speed standing out as top traits for Packers rookie TE Luke Musgrave

Packers coach Matt LaFleur said rookie TE Luke Musgrave is “really, really intelligent,” and his speed is an “elite trait.”

The Green Bay Packers might be only two sessions into organized team acitivities, but coach Matt LaFleur can already tell that in rookie Luke Musgrave, he has a potentially extraordinary type of talent on board at the tight end position.

“He is different,” LaFleur said after Wednesday’s practice.

Musgrave was on the field and working during the voluntary session Wednesday. The rookie was on the receiving end of one of Jordan Love’s best plays of practice when he beat Tarvarius Moore for a big play in the middle of the field.

LaFleur pointed to Musgrave’s intelligence and speed as defining characteristics of the Packers’ second-round pick.

“He’s a really, really intelligent player,” LaFleur said. “If he makes a mistake, he hasn’t made many of the same mistakes twice because he’s super into it. Very intentional. Deliberate about his work. Invested. He continues to show progress every day.”

Musgrave is the son of a college quarterback and the nephew of Bill Musgrave, an NFL quarterback and long-time football coach. Quickly grasping concepts and responsibilities is vital for rookies, especially at a position like tight end where so much is asked as both a blocker in the run game and a receiver in the passing game. In fact, LaFleur said tight ends have the second most responsibility on the offense behind only quarterbacks.

Being able to run like Musgrave will help create opportunities in the passing game. In fact, he could be the tight end version of Christian Watson in 2023.

“Certainly, he does have an elite trait that he can flat fly. And he’s a big, long target,” LaFleur said. “We’re really excited about him and the progress he’s made up to this point, and we have to keep pushing him.”

Musgrave (6-6, 253) ran the 40-yard dash in 4.61 seconds at the combine, good for the fourth-best time among tight ends. He was also the seventh-fastest player overall and fastest tight end clocked by GPS at the Senior Bowl. Straight-line speed can be a game-breaking asset, especially for a tight end with the kind of length, short-area explosiveness and fluidity of body movements that Musgrave possesses.

Like all rookies, patience will be required, and the Packers are trying to find the right balance for developing a talented young player like Musgrave at a difficult and demanding position. But the right sets of traits are in place. Mixing obvious talent, football intelligence and elite speed can be a dangerous combination.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft can ease Jordan Love’s transition

New Packers tight ends Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft can ease Jordan Love’s NFL transition. Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar explain what the rookies can do.

Last season, per Sports Info Solutions, the Green Bay Packers ranked ninth in the NFL with 131 dropbacks with two tight ends on the field. They lost Robert Tonyan to the Bears in free agency, but made up for it in the draft with the second-round selection of Oregon State’s Luke Musgrave, and the third-round selection of South Dakota State’s Tucker Kraft. Last season, Jordan Love completed one pass to a tight end for four yards, so not a lot of guidance there. But how will Musgrave and Kraft make Love’s life easier as he takes over that passing game? 

Overall in 2022, the Packers ranked ninth in the league with 131 dropbacks with two tight ends, and mostly Aaron Rodgers completed 92 of 127 passes for 975 yards, 478 air yards, eight touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 108.9. So, it’s clear that Matt LaFleur wants the two-tight end concepts in his passing game, and that should help his young quarterback.

In this week’s episode of “The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” Greg (of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup) and Doug (of Touchdown Wire) discuss how Green Bay’s two new tight ends, and their interesting skill sets, should make things easier and more productive for Jordan Love.

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Robert Griffin’s reaction to Daniel Snyder selling the Commanders

Never forget, Dan Snyder was Griffin’s biggest fan and their relationship damaged the franchise

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Giddy, silly, youthful, frivolous, over the top.

Those all came to mind when watching in disbelief the way Robert Griffin III responded to the breaking news that Commanders owner Daniel Snyder and Josh Harris had reached an agreement in the sale and purchase of the Commanders.

Griffin was asked live on air, “As a person who was once the face of this franchise, what is your reaction to this news?” Griffin pumping his fists up and down raised his voice in glee, “Oh my gosh! Feels, Yes! Yes! Yes! Come on man!”

Just as soon as he had expressed himself in the outburst, he noticed he had gone over the top and did apologize. We will give him credit for that. He then countered, “Listen the fans (pause) I’m sorry, I’m sorry, let me calm down.”

“The fans have been waiting for this moment; it feels like a decade.”

To observe such a display by Griffin when knowing he himself in 2013 had ran to the owner and undermined the coaching staff which included Mike Shanahan, Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur, and Sean McVay?

Following a promising 10-6 2012 NFC East championship season, the 2013 team floundered miserably as Griffin touted himself a pocket passer, refusing to run the offense which would bring him the only success he would experience as an NFL quarterback.

Here was Griffin a decade later on ESPN distancing himself from the very owner who had been his biggest supporter at a time Griffin needed an owner to look him in the eye, telling him to work it out with his coach.

Robert got his way ten years ago, but he lost the team, and the organization lost 13 of 16 games. In one of worst seasons in modern Washington football history, Snyder took Griffin’s side and at the end of the season, both Shanahan’s and LaFleur ceased from being employed by the Redskins.

How does Griffin manage to forget it was Snyder who brought Griffin to Washington trading the 6th and 39th overall 2012 selections, the 22nd overall 2013 selection and the 2nd overall selection in the 2014 draft to the Rams for Griffin?

We can thank Robert for the 2012, 7-game winning streak to close the season, and we should. But after that, isn’t Robert still living in denial that he burned bridges here with the franchise and his teammates?

Now he conveniently piles on top of the disgraced owner because it is the popular stance to take, seeing Snyder was a very unsuccessful owner?

It was not a professional, mature moment for Griffin, nor an honest one.

Packers to open on the road for fifth-straight year to start Matt LaFleur era

The Packers will open on the road (in Chicago Week 1) for the fifth straight season under coach Matt LaFleur.

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Matt LaFleur doesn’t know what a Week 1 home game feels like as a head coach, and he won’t get his first taste in 2023. The Green Bay Packers are opening on the road — in Chicago this season — for the fifth-straight year since LaFleur was hired in 2019.

The 2023 season mirrors the opening of 2019, LaFleur’s first season when the Packers began the year with a win over the Bears at Soldier Field.

The Packers have opened seasons on the road against the Bears (2019), Minnesota Vikings (2020), New Orleans Saints (2021) and Vikings (2022) since hiring LaFleur. Green Bay is 2-2 in Week 1 games under LaFleur but have lost two straight by double-digits.

It’s clear LaFleur would prefer to have a season-opening home game.

“That’s something I thought was going to change,” LaFleur told Larry McCarren of Packers.com. “There’s nothing like having an opening day game at your home stadium with your crowd behind you, but, again, the schedule makers said that’s not the case, and we’ll be prepared to play against a Chicago Bears team that certainly looks, on paper, much improved. It’ll be a great challenge for us.”

The Packers actually go on the road in back-to-back games to start 2023. The home opener doesn’t arrive until the Saints come to Green Bay in Week 3.

The Packers haven’t played at home in Week 1 since coming from behind to beat the Bears in 2018. Per the team, the five-year streak of not playing at Lambeau Field in Week 1 is the longest in team history.

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Matt LaFleur: Packers need breakout second season from Devonte Wyatt

Can DL Devonte Wyatt be a breakout candidate in 2023? “Yeah, he’s going to need to. We’re going to need that from him,” Matt LaFleur said.

Gone are Dean Lowry and Jarran Reed, who played 1,187 snaps along the defensive line of the Green Bay Packers last season. Left behind is a giant roster hole that coach Matt LaFleur is hoping 2022 first-round pick Devonte Wyatt can help fill.

Asked if Wyatt is a breakout candidate in 2023, LaFleur said the Packers can’t afford for him not to be an impactful player in Year 2.

“Yeah, he’s going to need to. We’re going to need that from him,” LaFleur told Larry McCarren of the team’s official site from the NFL Annual Meetings. “I think he’s shown flashes.”

Wyatt, the 28th overall pick last year, played only 244 snaps over 16 games as a rookie. Part of his lack of opportunity was playing behind veterans like Lowry, Reed and Kenny Clark. Another part was the sometimes arduous process of learning how to play along the defensive line at the NFL level.

“It’s going to be a big year in terms of just the understanding of the game and reading keys. That helps you play the position a lot better,” LaFleur said.

Wyatt, who turned 25 years old on Friday, played at least 15 snaps in five of the Packers’ last seven games after playing just 81 total snaps in the first 10 weeks. He produced six pressures (1.5 sacks), four defensive stops and a forced fumble between Weeks 12-18.

LaFleur pointed to a better understanding of “tips and tells” from the opposing offensive line as a vital part of Wyatt’s development in Year 2. An interior defender can play faster and be more disruptive when the player quickly and accurately processes what they are seeing pre-snap and immediately post-snap. It’s on Wyatt to prove he’s up to the task, especially as a first-rounder who is playing such an important position along the line of scrimmage.

Unless the Packers make a splash addition between now and Week 1, Wyatt will be an expected starter who could play 30 or more snaps every week.

Can he take the second-year leap that so many talented young players enjoy in the NFL?

“He’s going to have to put a lot of time and effort and work in to make sure he’s up to the standard of a guy like Kenny Clark,” LaFleur said.

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Matt LaFleur on Packers WR Romeo Doubs: ‘He’s got some Davante Adams-type movement skills’

LaFleur on Doubs: “I want to temper this comparison, but he’s got some Davante Adams-type movement skills.”

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur usually stays even-keeled when talking about his team, but on Tuesday at the NFL Annual Meetings, he compared Romeo Doubs to one of the most prolific wide receivers in franchise history. Naturally, there was a caveat thrown in there.   

“I want to temper this comparison, but he’s got some Davante Adams-type movement skills,” LaFleur said to reporters in Phoenix.   

“Now, he’s got to learn how to use it and how to harness that, but he’s got that twitch that you’re looking for. I don’t think there’s a route that he won’t be able to run, we’re just going to have to give him enough reps where he can continue his progression.  

Obviously, Doubs has a long way to go to reach Adams’ legendary status. After spending eight seasons in Green Bay, Adams finished second in team history in receptions and touchdowns and fourth in receiving yards. Of course, it’s not fair to expect Doubs to produce anything remotely close to Adams, but there are similarities to how both players started their careers.  

As a rookie, Adams ended up with 38 catches for 446 yards and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Doubs had similar production in his first season, hauling in 42 passes for 425 yards and three touchdowns. Also, much like Adams struggled with drops early in his career, Doubs battled his own adversity last season when he missed four games with an ankle injury. LaFleur believes the injury hindered Doubs from returning to the level of play he saw earlier in the year.  

There were high expectations for Doubs entering 2022 after a strong showing in training camp. The fourth-round pick out of Nevada drew a lot of attention when it seemed like he made a head-turning play almost every practice.   

However, when the regular season eventually kicked in, Doubs realized how difficult it is to be consistent in the NFL.  

Fortunately, LaFleur has seen firsthand how serious Doubs is about getting better.  

“Just his routine, how committed he is. He’s one of the first guys in the building and one of the last to leave,” said LaFleur.   

Doubs’ work ethic certainly shows up in his route running. He joined the Packers as one of the more polished draft picks in recent memory, which drew praise from Aaron Rodgers.  

“Doubs is a very crisp route runner,” Rodgers said during the season. 

Adams has made a career out of making defensive backs look silly with his elite route running. Doubs isn’t quite there yet but could be following a similar path. 

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Packers open to using All-Pro returner Keisean Nixon on offense in 2023

Packers coach Matt LaFleur is open to using All-Pro returner Keisean Nixon on offense next season.

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur wants All-Pro kick returner Keisean Nixon to continue getting better in the return game and lock down a role as the slot cornerback, but he’s also open to using Nixon – who he called “a dynamic player” – on offense next season.

Might there be a package or two in the works for Nixon in 2023?

“I was joking with him, I said, ‘Hey, you never know, there might be some opportunities offensively.’ And I know he was fired up to hear that,” LaFleur said Tuesday at the NFL Annual Meetings in Phoenix. “If he can handle it, I’ve got no problem putting him in there in some situations on offense. But we got to make sure that we take care of that nickel spot first and foremost and continue to progress as a returner because he hasn’t done it very long.”

The Packers used a one-year deal to re-sign Nixon, who led the NFL in kickoff return yards and kickoff returns over 50 yards last season. His combination of straight-line speed, agility and vision made him the most dangerous kick returner in football over the final two months of the regular season.

It’s possible those same attributes could help LaFleur’s offense, possibly as a jet motion option or on other gadget-type plays. Getting the ball into his hands in easy ways and allowing Nixon to transform into a returner on offense could be one avenue for creating explosive plays or at least giving defenses more to think about in 2023.

First things first: Nixon needs to win the nickel spot. On Monday, general manager Brian Gutekunst said he’s expecting Nixon to get more opportunities to be on the field in the slot in 2023.

LaFleur also said Nixon needs a little more discipline as a returner, citing a few returns in the season finale against the Lions when he didn’t follow the return scheme.

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