Aaron Rodgers raised some eyebrows earlier in the week when a seemingly critical quote about his freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage.
New coach Matt LaFleur’s offensive system, by default, grants a quarterback less freedom to make adjustments at the line. That did not seem to go over well with Rodgers, who has made a living of doing such things over the course of his career.
"I don't think you want me to turn off 11 years. There's stuff that not many people in the league can do at the line. That's not a humble brag. That's just a fact." Rodgers to @MikeSilver on LaFleuer's system not having a ton of freedom at the LOS for the QB.
— Aaron Nagler (@AaronNagler) June 14, 2019
LaFleur told Michael Silver of NFL.com that he and Rodgers have had “good talks” about balancing Rodgers’ skills with his preferred offensive system, but they need to keep working on it.
“Aaron and I have had some good talks, and we’re going to have to talk a lot more — and one thing we have to work through is the audible thing,” LaFleur said. “We’re running a system I first picked up while working with Kyle (Shanahan) in Houston a decade ago, and we’ve never really had a quarterback who’s had complete freedom to change plays at the line, because that’s not really the way the offense is set up. But, I mean, this is Aaron Rodgers. He’s had a lot of freedom to make those calls, and deservedly so. Now, how do we reconcile that, and get to a place where we put him in the best position to succeed?”
There have been reports — denied by Rodgers — that he actively undermined his previous coach. True or not, it gives an added layer of intrigue to stories like this and whether Rodgers can work well with another coach who has his own offensive philosophy.
