THE GREEN BAY PACKERS’ NEW COACH MAKES A PROMISE TO THE CLUB

THE GREEN BAY PACKERS’ NEW COACH MAKES A PROMISE TO THE CLUB

Green Bay, Wisconsin (AP) – Matt LaFleur enters his fifth season as head coach of the Green Bay Packers feeling like he’s just getting started.

A four-time MVP quarterback trade has a way of accomplishing that.

“It honestly feels like Year 1,” LaFleur said Tuesday, the day before the Packers’ first training camp since Aaron Rodgers was traded to the New York Jets. “It feels like we’re right back where we started when I first got hired here.”

With Rodgers and other veterans gone, this is one of Green Bay’s most fascinating camps in recent memory.

Jordan Love, the Packers’ new first-team quarterback, has started just one game since being picked with the 26th overall choice in the 2020 draft out of Utah State. Many of his recipients are also inexperienced and young.

The biggest challenge entering into camp, according to LaFleur, is all the unknowns now that Rodgers has moved on.

“Every year has its own unique set of challenges,” said LaFleur, who coached the Packers to three consecutive 13-win seasons before falling to 8-9 last year. “How quickly we can acclimate these young players and get them ready to roll, as well as how we come together as a team,” he says. So there’s a lot of buzz today.”

There’s also a lot of young.

Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs, both rookies last season, are Green Bay’s top two returning wideouts. The Packers expanded Love’s options by picking Oregon State tight end Luke Musgrave, Michigan State wide receiver Jayden Reed, and South Dakota State tight end Tucker Kraft in the second and third rounds, respectively.

Following the retirement of Allen Lazard, who led Green Bay in all categories with 60 catches for 788 yards last season, the Packers skipped on bringing in a seasoned receiver. Lazard and Rodgers are currently Jets teammates.

“If the right player and the right price and all that kind of stuff comes along,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “However, the players we have in that group right now need to play.” They require the reps.”

This could lead to a change in how the Packers approach their preseason games.

The Packers haven’t played most of their starters in an exhibition game in the last two years. They already knew what they had and felt the reps the first-team guys had throughout training camp would suffice.

LaFleur said he hasn’t decided how he’ll deploy his starters in preseason games because this club is less seasoned in important areas.

“I think it’s going to be fluid in regard to that approach,” she said. “We’ll take it one day at a time and really want to get a sense of where we’re at.” And if we believe they need to play a little more in preseason, we will do so.”

Gutekunst expressed mixed feelings about employing Love in preseason games, and he noted it was true for all of Green Bay’s young players.

“It’s a little bit of that double-edged thing,” Gutekunst admitted. “You’d like to see him play a lot if you could promise me we’d protect him and keep him healthy.” I believe that will be something Matt does as he goes through it; it’s a gut feeling for what he believes he needs. I switch back and forth.”

Love and his receivers will already have opportunities to put their skills to the test before the season when the Packers do joint practices against two separate teams. They’ve arranged a joint practice with the Bengals in Cincinnati on Aug. 9 and two practices with the New England Patriots in Green Bay on Aug. 16-17.

That should give LaFleur’s staff a better understanding of what to anticipate from their youthful offense before the season opener against Chicago on Sept. 10.

“I think we’ve got a lot of talented players,” stated LaFleur. “And it’s everybody’s responsibility to get them to become the best version of themselves sooner than later.”