Packers: Matt LaFleur makes it clear he wants Aaron Rodgers back
While Aaron Rodgers’ future with the Green Bay Packers remains up in the air, the team continues to send the same message.
They want him back.
Head coach Matt LaFleur spoke to reporters immediately following the 2021 NFL Draft. Unsurprisingly, along with questions about the team’s draft picks, he was also asked about the Rodgers situation.
Like GM Brian Gutekunst and team president Mark Murphy when they’ve spoken to the media, LaFleur made it clear he wants Rodgers back.
“This guy is our quarterback man. He’s the leader of our team,” LaFleur said. “I want nothing more than to see him back in a Packer uniform.”
Despite LaFleur making it clear that he wants Rodgers back, he was then asked what happens if the reigning NFL MVP doesn’t want to return.
“Yeah, I know. I can’t even take my brain to that spot right now,” LaFleur said. “I just want to do everything in my power to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
It’s a tough spot for LaFleur and perhaps the biggest challenge he’s faced in his short head coaching career. He’s built a great relationship with Rodgers over the past two years, which is evident every time we see them on the sideline together.
It’s led to a ton of success on the football field with the Packers winning 26 out of a possible 32 regular season games, two playoff contests, and reaching the NFC Championship Game in both seasons.
Last year, the Packers’ offense featured four first-team All-Pros and six Pro Bowlers, while the group led the NFL in scoring. Rodgers won his third MVP.
But now, there is a very real possibility of Rodgers walking away.
LaFleur has to deal with the uncertainty of losing his all-world quarterback, who on Saturday he called “the greatest to ever do it”, while also trying to prepare his team for the upcoming season. And who knows when the Rodgers situation will end?
Since ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on the day of the draft that Rodgers wanted out, we’ve heard publicly from LaFleur and Gutekunst, while Murphy addressed the situation in his “Murphy Takes Five” column for Packers.com.
All three have said how they remain committed to Rodgers and want him back in 2021.
However, whether the three-time MVP will be the Packers’ starting quarterback in Week 1 remains a “beautiful mystery”.