It’s time to forget all about the Mike McCarthy offense. Even if there are going to be similarities with Matt LaFleur Za’Darius Smith Jersey , what the Packers want out of a slot receiver will look very different."No position is more easily identifiable by its stereotypes than slot receivers. They’re usually “quicker than fast,” “gritty,” and many of the most famous ones of recent vintage happen to be white. If you’re a white receiver who runs 4.6 or worse and stand under six feet tall, you’re a slot receiver, even when you’re not. Emphasis on the last part for Matt LaFleur. What we’re used to seeing in Green Bay from the slot, with Randall Cobb terrorizing opposing defenses in his prime, will leave with Mike McCarthy. That’s not what LaFleur will ask his slot receivers to do, which means the next “slot” guy could already be on the team. While it’s true the Packers don’t have a short-area quickness threat outside Davante Adams, that’s no big deal for LaFleur. Last season, Tajae Sharpe led the Titans in slot snaps, lining up there nearly 50% of the time. Corey Davis came in second and saw the most targets from the slot. Davis, a bigger bodied receiver and Tennessee’s theoretical No. 1 pass catcher, isn’t a prototypical slot player. Either is Sharpe, at 6’2 201, but that’s not exactly essential for Matt LaFleur. In 2017, Cooper Kupp played 58.7% of his snaps from the slot, by far the most on the Rams. In fact, he played nearly twice as often from the slot as anyone else. He may be white, but Kupp is a sturdy 6’2 208 pound receiver. He does have short area quickness, but he doesn’t live on Wes Welker option routes five yards down the field. The other two top slot targets were Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods, not “traditional” slot targets. In fact, this serves to emphasize how much LaFleur likes to put his top targets in the slot to create space for them to operate. That trend goes back to 2016 with Kyle Shanahan when Mohamed Sanu led the team with a similar 59% slot snap rate. Second on that team? Julio Jones. Expect Davante Adams to get plenty of looks in the slot, certainly more than he saw for the Packers under Mike McCarthy. Not only does it free him up from press coverage (not that he needs the help) but out of bunch formations for example, it’s much harder to key in on Adams with coverage. With an unproven group of receivers, unburdening Adams unlocks opportunities for him that also make the lives of his fellow pass catchers much easier. Like with few things in life, size truly doesn’t matter. LaFleur emphasized that when describing what he looks for in a slot. “I think a slot, especially with what we want to do, has to have some good instincts, and really you want a smart player that you can call choice routes with and it takes smart players to do that. The guys that I’ve been around that have been capable of doing that were like Cooper Kupp was really good at that (in Los Angeles) Billy Turner Jersey , Mohamed Sanu was really good at that.” So many routes from the slot in the offense require going over the middle of the field or working underneath coverage. Having a feel for finding soft spots in zones, or using your body to create a lane become crucial, above the traditional tropes for the position. Short-area quickness helps in route running, making it a trait one might prize in any receiver. But Sanu, for example, thrives going over the middle and working through traffic. He’s impossibly reliable even if he’s not dynamic. The same can be said for Kupp. Play design gives them a chance to get open. They use their savvy to maximize those opportunities. LaFleur will also use Adams in the slot down the field, on a double-moves and shot plays and could use a running back or a tight end outside of him to move defenders around on the field. Given how infrequently LaFleur likes to play with 3+ receivers (less than half the time), the best opportunities for slot shots will be that roughly 40% of the time when they’re playing with just one tight end. In the short-term, that means Jimmy Graham will get opportunities in the slot as well and Geronimo Allison has that reliability factor that could make him an appealing early option in the slot. Not having to alter the true “type” of receiver they’re looking for makes finding a potential replacement in the draft easier. They don’t have to pick a player who can only play in the slot, as would be the case with many of the traditional archetype players. Draft the 6’2 228-pound N’Keal Harry who lacks polish with his routes. Putting him in the slot gives him a head start at creating space. He’s an experienced, heady player who can make difficult catches in traffic and create after the fact. Then there’s Parris Campbell who made a living at Ohio State on underneath option routes and finding vacated zones to make himself available. At 6’0 205, he’s big enough to shake off tacklers, but with 4.3 speed, has the jets to run away from them. Give him a chance to run crossing routes, digs, and options out of the slot and he could be a nightmare for opposing defenses. Ole Miss star A.J. Brown gets overshadowed by the freak athleticism of DK Metcalf, but excelled from the slot in Oxford. His athletic testing suggests a more polished route runner than we saw in college and he’s a big (6’0 226) physical receiver who certainly can handle the dirty work of playing in this slot offense. It’s not crazy to suggest the best slot option in the draft is a tight end either, with T.J. Hockenson, Noah Fant, Irv Smith Jr. and others appealing to the Packers. If the Packers double up at tight end, they could draft a more traditional tight end who can block, alongside someone like Fant to create a diverse, nightmarish duo for years to come. We’ve seen what a good tight end can do in this offense, which creates opportunities for the tight end as well as any scheme in the league. Given how infrequently the team will be in spread personnel with three or more receivers, the idea this team even needs a slot receiver should be called into question. What they need is more talent generally. Luckily, this offense doesn’t require a niche slot player. Drafting a traditional receiver could simply mean more time for Adams in the slot, where he was always destined to up his usage. As Tex Western pointed out yesterday, Equanimeous St. Brown and Marquez Valdes-Scantling each have a chance to earn that spot, and J’Mon Moore may be the best suited of the three 2018 receiver picks to play the slot. Don’t worry about finding a slot type; worry about finding an instinctive Adrian Amos Jersey , reliable player with talent, who can play inside or outside. That versatility makes LaFleur’s offense really go. Throw out the archetypes around the league, ones emphasized by years of Mike McCarthy’s offense. This is a new Packers offense and with it, comes a new type of slot receiver. Between the guys already on the team and those available in the draft, Brian Gutekunst will have plenty of options to provide LaFleur with a guy he can maximize. Then, it will be up to the coaches and Aaron Rodgers to go out and do just that. In order for the Green Bay Packers to get back to where they want to be, contending for titles, this team has to finish what it started when it hired Matt LaFleur. He’s in Green Bay for myriad reasons, but the most fundamental is simple: fix the offense. There may be no more elemental task facing any team in the league right now, as elite offense has been the best way to contend for a title. Four of the top five offenses by DVOA will play Sunday and we’re just a year removed from a quarterback throwing for 500 yards in a Super Bowl while still catching the L. Brian Gutekunst and Mark Murphy started the offensive revamp. They have to push it forward this offseason by refocusing on surrounding Aaron Rodgers with talent at every level, to make his life easier. While we often think about making the game easier for young quarterbacks, players still learning how to process information and make decisions, effective offenses often simplify things for the quarterback no matter his age. Josh McDaniels gives Tom Brady more wide-open throws than any quarterback in the league. Sean Payton finds ways to give Brees simple looks and short throws for run-after-catch opportunities. Sean McVay utilizes formational and space advantages to get defenders out of position and open up lanes for Jared Goff, and perhaps no coach in the league has made life easier on his quarterback this season through scheme than Andy Reid with Patrick Mahomes. So, when Matt LaFleur gives a quote like, “I think anytime you can take as much off the quarterback as possible that only helps them out in the long run,” he’s thinking this same way. Just because an offense where the quarterback has to make everything hum can and has worked for the Packers doesn’t mean it’s the optimal way to run an offense. That starts, as LaFleur’s offensive system does, with running the ball. Featuring Mark Ingram and drafting Alvin Kamara inexorably altered the path of late-career Brees. The run game spurred the Patriots to a blowout win against arguably a more talented Chargers team. And McVay coaxed a historic run performance out of the Rams against the Cowboys last weekend, an underrated facet of the LA offense the entire McVay run. They start with the run game. The Packers already have a potential star running back in Aaron Jones and a more-than-capable second back with Jamaal Williams. What the team lacks is a true pass-catching back who can split out wide and catch passes, or create explosive plays in the screen game. Ironically, that guy was on the team, but he plays for the Ravens now. Finding a complementary piece for Jones and Williams should be on the radar for Brian Gutekunst this offseason, though it’s not necessarily a priority. Bringing in LaFleur is the biggest step the Packers took in refocusing the ground game because his offense is predicated on running the ball. That sets up play action and everything flows from there. There will be jet motion to move the eyes of linebackers, so even if there is no run fake, they’re already out of sorts when the ball is snapped. In terms of personnel though, there are clear priorities for the Packers front office as they look to free agency and the draft. The biggest hole on the team comes at right guard, where the Packers simply don’t appear to have even a baseline NFL starter. Lucas Patrick should be given the opportunity to compete, but everyone else should be shown the door. Green Bay doesn’t have to spend major money to upgrade the position either Jimmy Graham Jersey , which says more about the quality of the players they have than the relative bargains potentially on the market. That said, James Carpenter or LaFleur’s former starting right guard Quinton Spain wouldn’t cost much and would immediately represent upgrades. While Packers fans clamor for a Bryan Bulaga replacement (for ... reasons) it’s the guard spot that desperately must be addressed. If that can be done in free agency—and it can be—the draft opens up even more for the Packers. Priority No. 2 is find a pass catcher. Probably two. A run-after-catch threat who can play the slot to replace Cobb comes at a relatively lower cost than the ridiculous receiver prices we saw during a free agent bender NFL teams went on paying for receivers last offseason. Golden Tate or Jamison Crowder won’t come with serious pricetags and while they aren’t field-tilters, they would fit well into how LaFleur wants to give his receivers space to run and create after the catch on screens and underneath crossing routes. Guys who can get open quickly and run with it can kill in this offense. There will be some players who fit that bill in the draft, guys like Marquise “Hollywood” Brown for one, but those players will take more time to get acclimated. That doesn’t mean the Packers should stay away from those options. If the opportunity is there to get an explosive talent like Brown, the Packers shouldn’t hesitate. But if there’s one position where Green Bay ought to have its eye on for the draft, it’s tight end. George Kittle just set a single-season receiving record for a tight end in a Kyle Shanahan offense and if the Packers have guys they trust at tight end, it can be an enormous weapon the way this offense is designed. Luckily for them, the top of this draft in particular will be loaded with top tight end prospects and the Packers should be in position to snag at least one. Let’s say they find a top pass rusher at 12 and let’s call him Jachai Polite. If Green Bay has already addressed the guard position in free agency, they can take a swing with Hollywood at 32 and hope one of the Smiths (Alabama’s Irv or Stanford’s Kaden) falls to 44. Suddenly, this offense is flush with talented playmakers at every level, a solidified offensive line, and a blue chip talent to add on defense.This is the way the Packers ought to be building a team. One need only watch the games this Sunday to see how important this type of quarterback-centric team building is. In fact, the Patriots just went through this, taking a guard and running back with their pair of first-round picks in 2018. Give the quarterback every chance to succeed by surrounding him with talent. For too many years, Ted Thompson focused solely on fixing the defense, something he was never able to accomplish due to a handful of big draft misses and the continued reliance on an outdated system with its equally anachronistic coach. Letting Josh Sitton and TJ Lang go might have been a fine decision had there also been even a baseline effort made to replace them with quality players. Green Bay got lucky with Lane Taylor. Despite the clearly diminishing talents of Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson, Thompson thought it sufficient to let Trevor Davis and Geronimo Allison be the next guys up with Davante Adams. And it was three straight offseasons for this front office, between Thompson and Gutekunst, taking a swing with an aging, expensive tight end rather than finding a younger, more athletic option in the draft. The front office must continue what it started with Matt LaFleur and spend the offseason retooling the players on this offense for once. That doesn’t mean don’t add defensive talent. They can and must. But this team lost its way as one built around its quarterback. This offense was at its apex with it had a bevy of offensive skill players, not just a big three with Rodgers, Adams and Jones.Aaron Rodgers has made it look easy for a decade, while making life easier for the players and coaches around him. It’s time to repay the favor.