GREEN BAY Corey Linsley Jersey , Wis. — Aaron Rodgers considers himself and first-year Packers coach Matt LaFleur to be friends. He also knows building chemistry on the field will take a lot of time and patience.Packers CoveragePhotos of the Week: 7/21/19 – 7/27/19Packers rookie Gary’s biggest critic is himselfTop Tweets: Former Badger TJ Watt has impressive four-year transformationPHOTOS: 2019 Green Bay Packers training campPackers’ Rodgers, LaFleur ironing out offense, building chemistryPlayers to watch at Green Bay Packers 2019 training campLaFleur: Offense still a work in progress as Packers open campPackers release defensive tackle Mike DanielsGreen Bay Packers 2019 training camp primerPackers’ Rodgers not ranked as a top-5 quarterback in Madden 20“The on-the-field relationship is one that grows over time,” Rodgers said Thursday after Green Bay’s first practice of training camp. “He hasn’t called a play in to me in a game situation yet, so there’s a process of feeling comfortable with the way the play comes in. Him trusting me and me trusting him. But I feel great about the communication.”The two-time NFL MVP is entering his 15th season — 12th as a starter — and now has a rookie head coach who is just four years his senior. But Rodgers said he has enjoyed getting to know the 39-year-old LaFleur, who was hired in January after serving as Titans offensive coordinator last season.“He’s in every meeting,” Rodgers said of LaFleur. “We spend time one-on-one talking about stuff. He’s the main voice in the offensive room. He really appreciates open conversation and ideas and creativity. It’s been a great relationship and a great start to it. I look forward to that growing and getting into that rhythm with him as a play-caller.”LaFleur’s first season as a play-caller in the NFL was last season with Marcus Mariota. LaFleur guided Mariota to the highest completion percentage (68.9) of his young career. The previous season, LaFleur was the Rams offensive coordinator under head coach and offensive play-caller Sean McVay.Now Nick Perry Jersey , LaFleur must find a way to revive a storied franchise that has missed the playoffs the past two seasons and hasn’t fallen short three years in a row since the early 1990s. The real work is now truly underway.“You know, I think it’s early on, it’s Day 1,” LaFleur said. “It’s about us setting standards and just how we operate as a football team. I thought there was a lot of good things, and a lot of things we can work on. I think one of the things I hit on at the end was just urgency from drill. I felt like there was a little lag out there a little bit.”Rodgers felt it, too, and he was picked off by Blake Martinez during a red zone drill.“I felt we were maybe just a tad bit sluggish until the last period,” he said. “Coach actually mentioned maybe we should have the music up that loud the entire practice. I felt like it may have been a little sluggish. For some of us Bryan Bulaga Jersey , I can speak for myself, I was a little bit sore from the run test yesterday. But I’m old, so I’ve got a built-in excuse.”Much was made this summer about how much Rodgers will be allowed to audible in LaFleur’s offense. Both have mentioned it’s a matter of building trust in each other. Rodgers said that trust will come as he simply learns what LaFleur wants.“For me, I’m a visual learner,” he said. “I can figure it out on paper and I’m fine with that, but I like to see it as well. It helps me to kind of lock it into my brain. So the more questions I ask, the more film he shows, the better I feel about concepts Mason Crosby Jersey , the better he feels knowing that I’m confident in what we’re doing. That’s how the relationship goes.”Rodgers is under contract through 2023, which means he and LaFleur’s deals run concurrently (including LaFleur’s option year).Notes: Rookie S Darnell Savage did not practice Thursday as he continues to recover from getting his wisdom teeth removed. Raven Greene got reps with the first team in Savage’s absence. … CB Josh Jackson also did not participate as he nurses a foot injury. Jackson said after practice that he doesn’t expect to be out long. … RB Dexter Williams did not participate due to illness. GM Brian Gutekunst will have his work cut out for him to plug several roster holes in one offseason."Seeing the Green Bay Packers sliding towards mediocrity with Aaron Rodgers still under center was not a development anyone saw coming just two years ago.Yet here we are.The 7-9 campaign of 2017 can be tossed due to Rodgers missing most of the season with a broken collarbone, but somehow they finished even worse in 2018 with a 6-9-1 and Rodgers playing the entire season albeit with a bum knee the first few weeks.How did they get here? Well, former coach Mike McCarthy was unable to evolve his offense whilst taking advantage of one of the league’s most gifted passers. The team apparently agreed and McCarthy was shown his walking papers in December and replaced him with a young innovator in Matt LaFleur.Yet the coach can only cook with the ingredients he is given and going back as far as 2014, the cupboard has gotten increasingly bare and the blame lies not only with former general manager Ted Thompson but his successor Brian Gutekunst as well. There were either missed or botched free agent signings (Martellus Bennett, not re-signing Casey Hayward or just avoiding free agency completely) and misfires in the draft (missing on two cornerbacks in 2015 for Thompson or failing to address the pass rush in 2018 for Gutekunst). These mistakes have left Green Bay suddenly in the middle of the pack when they should still be a contender with Rodgers still at the controls.To fix these issues, it means Gutekunst is going to have to be aggressive in both free agency and the draft and also hit far more than he misses. Aside from the pass rush failure and overpaying Jimmy Graham, he didn’t do too shabby last spring. He’ll have to improve that if the Packers want to plug all the holes on the roster.You can read more on how Green Bay got to where it is now plus a post-mortem on the team’s 2018 linebackers in today’s cheese curds.Packers’ failed player transition plans exacerbating roster deficiencies—Packers WireYou never want to pay “stupid money” in free agency David Bakhtiari Jersey , and the Packers never have for the past decade plus. With roster holes getting more numerous however, the team may have no choice but to open its wallet even further.Packers grades: Look for an infusion of new blood at linebacker—PackersNews.comKyler Fackrell seems to have the most secure spot on the roster among linebackers and that sentence was unthinkable a year ago.Packers Unscripted: Offensive rundown (video)—Packers.comHere’s a nice breakdown of LaFleur’s new offensive staff and what they bring to the table.Packers punter JK Scott working to improve his ‘load capacity’ for second season—AL.comHopefully the Packers see as little of Scott as possible in 2019 due to them scoring a record amount of points, but when he is needed hopefully he improves from an inconsistent rookie season.Deer crash through lawmaker’s office, bar—UPIOh deer.
