Hi, everybody, Welcome to another edition of Packers Unscripted from Packers dot Com. I am Mike Spofford, joined as always by my trusted colleague Weston hod Kuwitz. Were coming to you from socially distant locations at lambeau Field and West At the beginning of this week, we heard from both head coach Matt Lafleur and general manager Brian Guda Counts.
They held their season ending news conferences, so we will will hit on some of the big topics from there, and the biggest one, quite frankly, is the lack of equivocation if I said that correctly, with how both the head coach and general manager feel about Aaron Rodgers as the starting quarterback of this team. They made a commitment to him verbally publicly on Monday, not just for one but for multiple years to come, and uh, they really
mince no words in that direction. Equivocation is a perfect word to use their Mike one, It's an excellent word. But too, You're exactly right. I mean, the Packers really made no bones about it. Aaron Rodgers is their quarterback for two thousand, twenty one and into the future. That is their expectation that is their plan. That is the
way they are operating into this offseason. And it is interesting and you find yourself kind of almost laughing a little bit that we're talking about a guy that in a few days time will become a three time NFL m v P, A guy that had one of the most statistically successful seasons in NFL history, with his one point five pass rating being second only to himself in two thousand and eleven, forty eight touchdown passes, a franchise record,
a seventy point seven completion percentage a franchise and personal best for him, Mike, there's no bones about it. When Aaron Rodgers has a season like this. The Green Bay Packers, when asked the question what's next, what is the future hold, Obviously the future is gonna be Aaron Rodgers. And you want to know one of the reasons why, I think you can say that so confidently, look at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this week. Tampa Bay Buccaneers weren't even a
playoff team last year. They add a forty two forty three year old Tom Brady this season. Now they're in
the Super Bowl. The quarterback position has advanced, it's evolved and I think you've seen with the way that Rogers has taken care of himself and the fact that he has been able to adapt his play style to being thirty seven years old, understanding what he can do and what he can't do from when he was twenty seven, Aaron Rodgers is still at the peak of his powers, and for the foreseeable future, he will be the quarterback
here in Green Bay. Yeah, so, everyone of course is asking, well, then, what was all the big hullabaloo and everything, And let's let's just we'll go back a little bit to the postgame news conference after the loss to Tampa Bay. I mean, one, it was extremely emotional time. Everything is very raw. At
that point. Aaron Rodgers head confessed, I believe on the radio show, the Pat mcafe's show, that he does that he had really just gotten done shedding some tears with teammates over over a really really disappointing, incredibly disappointing loss. I think a lot of what he said after the game when he said there are a lot of uncertain futures, myself included, I really think he just he wasn't going
to put himself above any of his teammates. That he knows there's uncertainty about Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams and these guys who are in the final years of their contracts, Corey Lindsley, you know, players like that, and he wasn't just gonna say, well, yeah, there's all sorts of uncertainty about them, but I know exactly what's going on with me right after, you know, this loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I really think that's all that he was saying.
And of course, you know those words because he is he is always very calculated. He doesn't just say things on a whim. But I do think in this particular case, the context of coming, you know, just coming off of that loss and everything that was wrapped up in it, and and the fact that the fact that Rogers Rogers was just not going to make any declarative statements in uh in a business as he likes to say, that has no absolutes. I think that's why this ended up
taking off the way in which it did. And then we didn't hear from Matt Luthleur Brian Goudakunst right away because they're they're dealing with some changes in the coaching staff and whatnot, which we're going to talk about here later in the show. So it was sort of the this week of speculation and everything all swirling around. You know, what's Rogers thinking or what's going to happen with Aaron Rodgers.
This franchise, this organization has no no hesitation, there's no question in their minds that this team and this franchise is moving forward for multiple years here with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback, and they're expecting to continue to contend and get back in the same position that they were with the hope that they're going to finish the deal one
of these times and get back to the Super Bowl. Yeah, when you're this close, when you've gone back to back NFC Championship games and you have the reigning m v P soon to be reigning MVP as your quarterback, that is obvious. Say the path that you want to snowbild Snowmobile down almost got it out the way I wanted it to. Uh, there were there were three things that came to a head last week, Mike that I think created this perfect storm. One, it was the NFC Championship Game.
Certainly a lot of eyeballs on it. However, many millions of people watched it, forty seven million, whatever the number was. But afterwards there's no super Bowl right away, there's a bye week. I think it was a slow week. I don't mean to like throw media under the bus. Understand, everybody's got a job to do. You and I have a job to do. But the fact of the matter was, I think it gave more people time to sort of just let it marinade and probably sat a little too long.
And that's the narrative. You've got too. You and I have said this. I know I've written this an insider inbox. When people talking absolutes, I am the number one advocate against absolutes because the problem is, in our society, everybody wants to guarantee if I get hired somewhere, I want to have a guarantee that I'm going to be there for the next twenty years. That would be a great
It doesn't work like that though. Always people want a declarative statement that, Okay, if we signed player X, that means we're winning the Super Bowl next year. There's no guarantees. And the problem is is we as a society, I think, as human beings, always want to gravitate we want to grip absolutes, and Aaron Rodgers is not going to offer you those. He doesn't paint himself into a box with his words because he knows how quickly things can change.
He's seen it here in Green Bay in recent years, and over the last thirteen years as a starting quarterback. The situation changes in the National Football League. The last time I checked, Curly Lambo still isn't playing the game today. It evolves. There's new players, there's new coaches and and Aaron Rodgers has been a part of one of the greatest runs in NFL history here, but he understands there's
gonna be an end game for him too. What he does know is what's staring him directly in the face, and it's the same process he goes through every year, talking with management, being able to step away from the game a little bit, clearing his head. You gotta also remember my third point to all this was, these guys just got done playing football in a practical, practically a vacuum for six months. We tested for the first time in COVID on July. Mike, today's February second. It's been
a long time. There's a lot of emotions that go into the season and then there was a lot of disappointment to after that game. So I think Aaron Rodgers really laid it all there. I'm glad he did the appearance with McAfee. I know he kind of seemed like he was kind of having fun with him there, that he wasn't kind of playing it off like he wasn't gonna do it. But at the end of the day, he expected to be back for next season, so no reason why he wouldn't be back, And Brian Goodakinsten Matt
Lafleur put their words behind that. Yeah, I think it's interesting when you when you the discussion that you bring up here with regard to the absolutes and guarantees and whatnot. What we're facing here is that everybody wanted to say last April, when the Packers drafted Jordan's Love in the first round and traded up to selected him, everybody wanted to say, well, that's a guarantee that Jordan's Love is
the next quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. I'm not saying, and I think you and I talked about this at the time, there isn't necessarily a guarantee of that either. Jordan's Love may never become the starting quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, and that may not be his fault whatsoever.
Go back to what Aaron Rodgers said when he first after the draft to face the media and was processing what he called the reality that he doesn't necessarily control whether or not he finishes his career in Green Bay and he was just being realistic about that. But what did he also say? That I can try to make it really really hard for them to get rid of me, you know, And he reiterated on the McAfee show that
his leverage is how he plays. The control that Aaron Rodgers has over the situation is if he continues to play at an m v P level, why would the Packers move on? They are not going to necessarily move on. He is going to do which he did this year
and I think he's going to do moving forward. He's going to make this decision about the future, about a potential future for Jordan's Love in Green Bay as difficult as possible on the decision makers with the Packers, because if he keeps playing like this, you would be foolish to move on from him. And if Jordan's Love never
becomes the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. From the front office's point of view, I think that's okay because that's gonna mean that Aaron Rodgers did everything that they were hoping that he would do. And then Jordan loves Future is the one that also has no guarantees and absolute and I am I making sense there you are, Mike, because the thing is is, Jordan's Love wasn't on a
one year contract. He's not going to become an unrestricted free agent this Obviously, this guy is tied to the Packers. He is contractually has an agreement with the Packers through two thousand and twenty four that could be extended into two thousand twenty five with the fifth year option. That's how this game works, or only three He's here for a while, is my point. And Brian good Con said
something very interested. It was the first time I think he's talked about this, was that if you look at the lineage of what they did with Ron Wolf and then it went into the Aaron Rodgers area, with the exception of maybe a few years there with Doug Peterson, although that's when they were sort of testing the waters
with Achille Smith. Then with Tim Couch, but for the most part throughout Rogers, throughout Forest tenure, they had an NFL starting caliber quarterback on the roster in addition to five. They did it with Mark Brunell. They did it with Matthew Hasselbeck. They did it uh with with being able to to you know, develop Aaron Brooks the way they did, and then he ended up back with Mike McCarthy in New Orleans. And they were so stocked at the position they let a guy named Kurt Warner walk and go
into m v PS for somebody else. Just no, it's true. And then when two thousand five came around, when I'm younger, when I'm a little west hod it it is like a long time between two thousand and two thousand five, but it was only the span of five years. They go and draft Aaron Rodgers and then he ends up
being the next guy. The success sort of far with Aaron Rodgers the way that the way that Goodkins laid this out, They're gonna keep looking for young quarterbacks because they don't want to be caught with their pants down here. And I wrote about this inn inbox. Mike, I don't even know if you've got a chance to read this yet. But people need to stop looking at the Jordan's Love pick like the Packers just set a first round draft pick on fire. He's an investment. He might end up
being an All Pro quarterback here, he might not. Either way, he's not going to diminish his value. There is still going to be a return that they could get, whether it's on the field or if it's for future draft capital. And as Brian Gooding has talked about, if it if the time comes and they want to go find somebody else and maybe take another guy, he put that precondition out there already because you need to have somebody else ready. And this will be the last point I make on this.
Some people talk about the Indianapolis thing being the right way to do it. Peyton Manning was the guy two thousand eleven, the neck injury happens, they go to and fourteen and then they get Andrew Luck. A lot of people lost their jobs, Mike in that one year gap between Manning to Luck. Yeah, the Colts were able to find another franchise quarterback who unfortunately his career was shortened by injuries. But the GM was out, the head coach
was out. That was an implosion of an organization. I think if we're really being honest with ourselves, we would agree that the Colts still haven't found their footing over
the last nine years. Yeah. Absolutely, And I think as we move forward here, if Rogers continues to play at this level with the mastery of Matt Lafleur's offense that he showed in the second season and in winning what I believe he's going to obviously win the m v P. When it's announced at the end of this week that we're gonna start to probably hear more comparisons to the
Jimmy Garoppolo situation with New England Patriots. And I like what you said about about the investment there, not only because yeah, there'll be a lot of uns certainty about Jordan's love's future. As I brought up before, there aren't gonna be any guarantees with his future one way or another.
But there was a year in there where the New England Patriots won a Super Bowl but Jimmy Garoppolo had to start four games because Tom Brady was suspended, and he chalked up some wins for the New England Patriots that set them on the path to what became a Super Bowl championship. Now, I don't expect Aaron Rodgers to get suspended anytime soon, but there is a chance obviously that he could get injured and miss some games. And maybe that's you know, Brian goodakun stand this Packers franchise.
They want to be ready for whatever whatever possibilities, whatever eventualities come about, and they don't want a season to be completely derailed because Aaron Rodgers might have to miss
two or three or five games. And that's that's where the that's where the investment right now appears to be in Jordan's love and they want to continue to develop him and they want the quarterback position to be to be stocked like it was in the Brett Farber Now, Brett Farve never missed a start, right, I mean he
started every game. Um, we've seen Aaron Rodgers missed some time with injuries, and the Packers don't want to get don't want to get caught where a limited term injury completely throws a season off the rails because they don't have a quarterback who can go out and win football games.
That's kind of where they're sitting right now. If you are a Packers fan who watched two thousand thirteen play out and think it's not a good plan to have a quarterback and waiting that that's the one, that's the one litmus test that you need to go back and think of. It didn't work out with b. J. Coleman and Graham Harrold, so they signed Seneca Wallace at the start of the season after Seneca had not played in
two thousand twelve. He ends up getting hurt. They do bring in Scott Tolzine, but he was signed at the last minute off of coming out of his time in San Diego, I believe, or maybe with the Fort Afferent Point San Francisco. They had to basically prey a that the Buffalo Bills cut Matt Flynn and he came on the market for him with a background of their offense to be able to keep the ship afloat enough so Rogers could come back for one of the most storied
moments in his time as a starting quarterback, Instill. The Packers win eight seven and one and ended up also getting dispatched from the playoffs. You gotta have a plan, and and this was the plan. You can agree with the first round pick. You cannot agree with them using a first round pick, but the Packers needed to find answers at that position. And I think, if we're really being honest with ourselves, Mike, for the first time and maybe the last fifteen sixteen years, the Packers have the
best succession policy in place. If somebody think would happen with Tim Boyle on this roster still who also could be a future asset and then having Jordan's love. Yeah, absolutely, uh quickly here West Serious x M NFL radio channel eighty eight is the only radio outlet dedicated to the National Football League seven days a week, three sixty five days a year. All Right, what we said we would move on to the issues with the code staff, so
we will do that. The Matt Lafleur has decided that there will be both a new defensive coordinator and a new special teams coordinator for for the Packers. Mike Petton is not being brought back to coordinate the defense, and Seawan Meninga also not brought back, and the decision on
special teams has already been made. Maurice Drayton, who was the assistant coach and actually interviewed for the coordinator position two years ago, and Matt Lafleur was first hired, uh la Fleur putting all of his confidence into Mo Drayton to get the Packers Special Teams back on track. Yeah, if we're talking about Rodgers and you know, kind of an emphatic answer that la Fleur and and good Aunts
gave towards his future. I don't think la Fleur could have really built up Murray Straiton any better than he did at his news conference on Monday. I mean, he really put him over as an excellent communicator, a guy with really high energy. Something I've heard around the building too. I've only interviewed Murray Straton once with was actually when he got hired from Indianapolis and eighteen. But he's a guy no around the building has commanded a lot of respect.
People really enjoy them. And certainly there is an enthusiasm and energy that that Matt Lafleur is expecting him to bring to the Special Teams unit. And I don't want to put words in Matt Lafleur's mouth. I don't want to, you know, say that you know, mistakes remain anything, but it did kind of sound like when he talked about interviewing Drayton a few years ago, he wished he would
have known what he knows now about the guy. You can just tell that that there's just something there that not necessarily that he didn't take that seriously last time he interviewed him, but there's just more information that told him not only is this guy the right fit for our special teams unit, but if we don't jump on it, he's probably gonna be organizing coordinating a special teams unit in the NFL somewhere else. He has a great resume. I think you look at his past history, it's fascinating.
I mean, he's coached everywhere around the world, let alone just the National Football League. But his big end was his time in Indianapolis. He interned there, he had it up, catching on as their assistant, had two really strong years. You can look at all the statistics that they had, and then he came over as the assistant to Ron Zook in two thousand and eighteen. So I know fans sometimes they have to fight this thing well they're just
promoting from within. But I really do believe like this is a positive new step for for Green Bay trying to get things set up right. And and also, let's be honest, Mike. With Drayton being able to be here the last couple of seasons, I think he has a really hands on thought. We haven't had a chance to talk to him yet, but I have to imagine he really has some for him to be able to impress the floor to get the job. You'd have to imagine that he has a note pad of of things they
need to do to get Special Teams back on track. Yeah, I mean, and I under I understand the skepticism and the questions from fans saying, hey, you know, the Special Teams had a lot of issues this past year. You decided to move on, But yet you're just promoting somebody who was an assistant coach and was and was part of those struggles. The way I look the way I look at it is this Matt, Matt Lafleur is well
aware of that. He's well aware that of of the outside perception and the fact that this could this could look like a risky decision that you're just promoting somebody
from within who was a part of the struggles. I think because he's making that decision, you have to look at it as that is an indication of how much confidence he has in Drayton that he can fix some things and that he can get things going back in the right direction, because the the easier thing to do, from a public perception standpoint would be to just get rid of everybody who is associated with the struggles and
completely start over. And the fact that Matt Lafleur is not doing that and he understands the public perception and the potential risk that goes along with that, I think that just speaks to to how how much you know the elevated level of confidence that he has in Drayton and that he wants to He wants to let this this experienced coach who hasn't been in a big position of authority before, to to spread his wings and to put his stamp on something. And that's the opportunity that
he's giving him. Now. It's a results based business, right, I mean, Maury Straiton is going to have to get a lot of things that went wrong last season squared around on the on the Packers special teams. He's gonna
be judged by those results. But but I do think Matt Lafleur's confidence in him speaks, uh speaks volumes because of the perception of what this decision is and sometimes I think too we being on the outside, we sometimes get a little too um bent out of shape about what the past year indicated as far as statistics and all these other things. When a new coaches is hired. I'll give you a great example of that. You look at Alex van Pelt, who is there as I believe
the quarterbacks coach in Cincinnati. They had a rough year a year ago, but yet he ends up getting promoted to an offensive coordinator position this past year with Cleveland, and then now here he is and the Browns are able to be back in the playoffs and everything like that. Sometimes that stuff just happens. You know, you have to be in the rights that suation, with the right players
in the right scheme. I I just you know, again, I've covered enough special teams over the years to realize when it's going well and when it's not going well, and there is talent there. I think you look at J. K. Scott and you see the leg talent that he has. Mason Crosby had another career season. I mean, there are things to build off of. But for me, I just
think it gets back down to the basics. I've been hitting this home all week long, getting your coverage units short up, figuring out what your approach and philosophy is going to be with the gunners. What are your jammers doing to give your returner on punts a little bit more time? Because yeah, punt returns weren't what they needed to be, But did the punt returner have all the opportunities to get the ball cleanly and step one two
yards up field? Those are all the things that dictate whether or not you can eventually get those explosive plays and everything else you're looking for. Yeah. Absolutely, well as far as defensive coordinator is concerned, Matt Lafleur is from what he said, certainly undergoing a very extensive search. It sounds like he's going to be interviewing a lot of different candidates. I don't think it's appropriate necessarily for us to talk about those candidates if the Packers you don't
want to talk about your application. Oh yeah, that's right. I slipped that in there internal while I was trying to take the weekend off. But uh um, But I think what I want to focus on here initially is is what Matt Lafleur said about this move at defensive coordinator and what he's looking for, because he absolutely did not talk about XS and os and scheme and this and that with regard to um his vision for the defense moving forward. He talked about He talked about a mentality.
He talked about a mindset. And he's not gonna get hung up on whether these different coordinator candidates if they want to focus on a three four or four three or or you know too you know um cover two, you know too deep safety. Look, I mean, he's not he's not going to get into that. It's it's it's
about a it's about a mentality. There's a there's a way that Matt Lafleur wants his defense to look out on the field in a way that he wants them to play, regardless of how they're doing the XS and ohs part of it, and he just he he wants to see that mentality not necessarily something that has to develop over the course of sixteen games. He wants to see it as as the mentality from day one of the season and then you go from there. That's the
impression I got from his comments. It's the way you coach it, the way you practice it, and ultimately what the team looks like when you step on the field. I mentioned this a few times, Mike. I think Mike Petton's tenure in Green Bay I view it as a success. I think that he he had an important role here.
Uh when you go back to the the off season, the winter of two thousand eighteen, that was the only thing that was really certain about the defense about the team was what the defense was and in what that vision was going to be. I do also believe that at this point this might be the right time for for Matt Lafleur to go this way. He's a guy now that has won twenty six regular season games in two seasons. He knows what it's like to be in
the head coaching seat. He understands all the decisions that have to get made beyond what the call is on first and ten from and for that reason, it probably was time for him to get his defensive coordinator, get a guy that that he either is familiar with or someone that impresses him. Give him the opportunity now to really complete the staff on his own way. And that's why this is going to be interesting, because you know, Mike McCarthy, when they made the move from Don Caper's
the Petton You kind of had an idea. Okay, this is what they're looking for, this is what the talent is. How are they going to be able to promote it? What is the next step going to be? I think in a lot of ways, Petton did improve where the Packers want to improve. They reduced the amount of explosive place. They were better in a lot of different areas, particularly the red zone. But now, how do you take a defense that finished top ten ninth overall, has been up
there and scoring. How can you take the things that Green Bay has been doing well in accentuate that become the dominant unit that they feel they can be because Mike the allent's there. When you look at sa Darius Smith back to back Pro Bowl seasons, I think Rashaan Gary is going to be a really special player in this league. They have to figure out some stuff with the inside linebackers. But Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage, they're right where the Packers need them to be. And I
don't even need to talk about JR. Alexander The guys probably, if not already there in the conversation for the best cornerback in the National Football League, and Kenny Clark's in the fold long term to recently signed a multi year contract, so he's gonna be around for a while as as one of those lynch pins in the middle, another pro
bowler that they have. So the talent is there. It's just trying to figure out, Okay, what is our what is our mindset going to be when we're on the field, And I think that's where whoever this individual is, however they carry themselves, and I'm sure everything that people will say about them, that they've worked with in their associates, it's gonna be interesting to hear all of it and and get a new feel for what this defense is gonna look like. Yeah. Absolutely, well, at some point in
the coming days here. We don't know if it will be in a couple of days, we don't know if it will be a week or more, But some time in the coming days there will be an announcement on a new defensive coordinator for the Packers, and it will be an interesting story to follow through the off season and into next season to see just what things look
like and how things potentially change with that. We're going to call it a rap on this edition of Packers on script and be sure to continue following all of our coverage of the team on packers dot com. For West, I'm Mike. Thanks for tuning in, everybody, See you next time.