PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL (WTAQ) – Green Bay Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur held his media session Wednesday morning on the final day of the NFL Owners Meeting in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
He fielded a lot of questions about the star player that returned and the one that departed.
LaFleur said he learned Aaron Rodgers would come back for his 18th season while in an offensive meeting at Lambeau Field. He got a text with the news, and bolted out of the room to re-read it just to make sure he read in right. He did and it was a much more enjoyable day than when he found out Davante Adams was getting shipped to the Las Vegas Raiders for a pair of draft choices and 20 million dollars in franchise tag, salary cap savings. That was one more difficult decision that had to be made in running a pro football team with LaFleur adding much of the impetus for the All Pro receiver’s departure came from Adams himself. Now that it’s over and done with, LaFleur said, “we can’t go back, we have to move forward.”
How they move forward with a 4 time NFL MVP at the helm with what will certainly be an overhauled collection of receivers will play out in the coming weeks. LaFleur said the team is a long way away from opening the season and a lot will happen between now and then. There are still several veteran receivers on the free agent market and of course the draft, now a month away, will afford the Packers to replenish the corps of pass catchers.
“We need a legit guy that can take the top off the coverage”, LaFleur told the early morning gathering. Much like Marquez Valdes-Scantling did during his four years with Green Bay before he took his wares to the Kansas City Chiefs. Equanimeous St. Brown also departed for the Chicago Bears leaving the Packers with Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and last year’s draft pick Amari Rodgers on the depth chart for now.
LaFleur said whoever comes in will have to get acclimated with Rodgers quickly during off-season work and through training camp. He said the roster is still strong with the majority of defensive players back and on offense, it all starts with the quarterback and the team is obviously in good hands there. Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon offer a strong tandem in the backfield and the hope is tight end Robert Tonyan will recover from his ACL tear last fall and give the passing game another option.
Up front, the right tackle position will have a new starter with Billy Turner released in a salary cap move. At left tackle, David Bakhtiari should be back at full strength after ACL surgery limited him to a brief appearance late in the regular season. LaFleur joked the All Pro looked pretty good dancing at his wedding earlier this spring and he can’t wait to see him on the grass during organized team activities.
As for the new approach on Special Teams, LaFleur said new coordinator Rich Bisaccia will make a big difference, not only with his unit but perhaps the entire team. He asked reporters if any had met the veteran coach yet and when told no, LaFleur said, “Buckle up baby, buckle up, he is a fiery dude now.”
As for the business from the owners, they approved a rule change for overtimes in post-season games only. Beginning this year, both teams will have an opportunity to possess the ball in overtime. There was an uproar from fans and several teams last January when the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in a wild, 42-36 overtime playoff game at Arrowhead Stadium. After a back and forth four quarters, Kansas City won the toss and drove for the game ending touchdown, denying Josh Allen and high octane Bills offense from ever taking a snap. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell talked about the rule change during his Wednesday press conference saying the analytics prompted the change. Since the last two overtime rules were tweaked in 2010 and 2012, there have been a dozen overtime playoff games. Seven of them ended on the first possession. A couple involved the Packers, losing the 2014 NFC title game in overtime to Seattle and the following year, giving up a touchdown on the opening series to the Cardinals in Arizona. The overtime rules will stay the same for regular season play.
One other note, while not confirmed yet by the Packers, there are reports that two of the most well know professional soccer clubs in the world will get together for a friendly. Manchester City of the English Premier League and Bayern Munich of Germany’s Budesliga are apparently in line to play an exhibition match on the tundra at Lambeau Field this summer just before the Packers will open training camp. It would be the latest in a series of special events hosted at the stadium that have included Billy Joel and Paul McCartney concerts, a Wisconsin-LSU college football game and even a wintertime college hockey game.
