The Green Bay Packers are entering a completely different era and everyone knows it. It’s totally, fine, too. The franchise is entering a phase in which questions need answers after 15 seasons of nothing but the latter.
The NFL is all about finding a Hall of Fame-type quarterback and the teams that do get lucky enough to roster one are going to do everything they can to reap the benefits, just as the Packers did with both Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre for nearly 30-years.
The good news, obviously, is the team has a different-than-usual first-year starter in Jordan Love at quarterback.
Sure, this is first year as “the guy”, but at the same time, he’s led the offseason workouts -outside mandatory minicamp and training camp- as QB1. That’s put him in a familiar place and so far, things are going well.
“It helps a lot, just having been through it a couple of times,” Love told reporters Tuesday. “Knowing how practice goes, the operation of practice, and then obviously, just knowing the playbook – I feel comfortable with that… “… It’s easy to pick up on things faster, and it’s easier for me to be able to help the young guys come along and tell them exactly what needs to be done.”
That’s obviously great, but at the same time, no one wants Love to get complacent, so to speak. So, Matt LaFleur is changing things up a bit by inserting “call-up” periods to keep everyone on their toes.
“We’re just going to keep on throwing stuff at them and try to really challenge them,” LaFleur said earlier in the week.
“I think one thing that we did, that we haven’t done in years past, is we’re having more “call-up” periods; which, I’ll tell you after a few days how I feel like that’s going. I think that is a challenging thing, though, for young players is to have unscripted periods, really in every phase.”
The “call-up” periods represent game-like scenarios that really allow the coaches to see how much the players have retained and it also gives the players a break from the typical practice routine.
In other words: Every player gets a quick taste of NFL life on the practice field. “The “call-up” periods are great just because, I mean, that’s how it is in the game. And that’s the most game-like reps we get,” said Love.
“Especially for the young guys, you know, you can see the night before kind of what plays are on the script and you memorize those for the “call-up” periods. You got to really hone in to what play’s being called and just lock in and play.” LaFleur has been around since 2019. Defensive coordinator Joe Barry has been with the team since 2020.
Rich Bisaccia, the special teams coordinator, enters his second year and is coming off a very successful first year in Green Bay.
When you add in the fact that a lot of the current stars, veterans, and playmakers have been in the same system for multiple years.
It’s clear that the Packers can mix things up like this in order to get a better evaluation of where things stand in terms of both player progress and team ability. That’s the edge a team like the Packers needs, right now. They have the NFL’s second-youngest roster, so, while they need to be deliberate in their process, they also need to quickly find the answers to their questions. LaFleur’s approach should do just that.
