Green Bay Packers: Ranking the 5 best moves of the 2019 offseason
By Joe Kipp
5. Hiring head coach Matt LaFleur
Moving on from Mike McCarthy was a difficult, but necessary decision for Packers president/CEO Mark Murphy. Following a catastrophic loss to the Arizona Cardinals at Lambeau Field in Week 13 of last season, McCarthy was relieved of his duties before he even had a chance to leave the stadium. The Packers went on to miss the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
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A little over a month later, former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur was hired to be Green Bay’s new head coach. He signed a four-year contract.
LaFleur’s opening press conference was shaky and he appeared nervous, but in the coming months, he’s proven to be up to the challenge of being an NFL head coach. The Packers finished up mandatory minicamp last week and will begin training camp on July 25. So far, the players seem to be impressed with LaFleur.
However, there’s been some perceived qualms from Aaron Rodgers about his new coach, specifically regarding the freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage.
"“Aaron and I have had some good talks, and we’re going to have to talk a lot more — and one thing we have to work through is the audible thing,” LaFleur told NFL.com’s Mike Silver."
LaFleur later admitted that Rodgers is a much different quarterback than he’s ever worked with, so balancing his quarterback’s freedom may be a challenge. It’ll be interesting to see the dynamic of their relationship as the 2019 season plays out.