Green Bay Packer Head Coach Calls Out Their Former $69.12 Million QB Star Player  Due To…

It’s been an eventful offseason for the Green Bay Packers, who surpassed expectations last season by winning nine games and getting into the playoffs in Jordan Love’s first full year as Green Bay’s starting quarterback.

The Packers signed former Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs to a four-year deal in free agency after releasing long-time starting running back Aaron Jones, who declined to take a pay cut.

The decision to release Jones in the fashion they did, rubbed Packers fans and former players the wrong way.

Former Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews, who spent 10 years with the organization, voiced his opinion on X about Packers head coach Matt LaFleur who said he was shocked by the release of Jones and that he’s not involved in those types of conversations.

“With a rookie QB, young receiving corp and Watson injured, Jones WAS GBs offense,” he said. “He even took a pay cut to stay with the team in 2023! But I digress.”

It’s clear that Matthews isn’t happy about the team’s decision to let go of the veteran running back and was almost dumbfounded about the idea of LaFleur not having any say on personnel decisions.

It will be interesting to see how the 2024 season plays out for the Packers as they won’t sneak up on anybody. Last season, they caught teams by surprise as there wasn’t much to go off from Love. However, that will change as there will be pressure on the young quarterback and Jacobs to perform at a high level.

Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur didn’t expect to have Josh Jacobs as the Packers’ No. 1 running back in the 2024 season.

“It kind of caught me off guard, too, to be honest with you,” LaFleur said while attending the NFL’s annual meeting. “There were some other things in play, obviously, with Aaron Jones. I didn’t quite know how everything was going to go. It just happened really fast on that Monday when they were allowed to talk to those guys. It happened really fast, so I don’t know all the details of that.”

For the second year in a row, Green Bay tried to get Jones, the Packers’ leading rusher in five of the past six seasons, to take a pay cut. In 2023, Jones took a salary reduction from $16 million to $11 million. But this time around, the running back declined the team’s request.

That caused Green Bay general manager Brian Gutekunst to look for alternatives with NFL free agency starting. On March 11, the first day of the negotiating period, the Packers reached an agreement with Jacobs and released Jones.

“Not until we got down to a certain point with Aaron when we realized this might be more problematic than we thought did we turn our attention to really studying those guys and maybe seeing if that was going to be an opportunity or not,” Gutekunst said.

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Green Bay Packers: Matt LaFleur Reveals Toughest Player He’s Ever Coached…

The Green Bay Packers have had some tough players on their roster over the last few seasons, but head coach Matt LaFleur believes that one player has stood out over the rest as the toughest player he’s worked with.

ESPN’s Kevin Clark asked LaFleur who the “most [expletive]” player he’s ever coached was during a recent interview with the Packers head coach. It didn’t take long for LaFleur to answer with running back Aaron Jones.

It’s obvious how much respect Matt LaFleur has for Jones, who recently parted ways with the Green Bay Packers.

“It might be too soon but like, Aaron Jones is a…he’s a [expletive] football player,” LaFleur answered. “For a guy that’s 190 pounds, and just the beating that the runners take in general. I mean, it’s like a car crash every time they get tackled…But his ability to come back later in the year and what he was able to do. I would say that was pretty [expletive].”

LaFleur has coached plenty of Pro Bowlers and intimidating players on both sides of the ball. However, his answer is telling about the toughness that Jones possesses as a smaller running back.

LaFleur may think very highly of Jones, but the Packers decided to move on from their star running back this offseason.

Jones was released by the Packers in awkward fashion. Green Bay made one of the most surprising early signings of free agency by adding Josh Jacobs. The Packers gave him a four-year, $48 million deal, but the initial assumption was that Jones would stay to play alongside him.

Instead, the Green Bay Packers released Jones almost immediately after signing Jacobs. Jones seemed to take the release personally, signing a one-year deal with the rival Minnesota Vikings a day later.

The move came as a surprise to Packers fans. Jones had been one of the biggest bright spots on the team since being taken in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft. He left Green Bay third in all-time rushing behind Ahman Green and Jim Taylor. His career stats included 5,940 rushing yards and 63 total touchdowns in seven seasons.

Now, the Packers will be hoping that Jacobs can bring a similar spark to the offense. Unfortunately, he’ll have plenty of pressure to bring the same kind of off-field presence that Jones had to the fanbase.

LaFleur named Jones as the toughest player he’s ever coached. However, he has his own unique phrase to describe some of his other players not afraid of being physical.

In 2022, LaFleur described former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Allen Lazard as a “war daddy,” praising him for his toughness. He used the same phrase to describe rookie wideout Jayden Reed this past season, while also calling him a dog.

Matt LaFleur has always been a fan of physical and competitive wide receivers. He emphasizes blocking at the position, and has credited his time with Andre Johnson as a reason for that while he coached with the Houston Texans.

Losing a competitive and tough player like Jones will hurt the Green Bay Packers offense. However, LaFleur is hoping players like Reed can continue to bring that physical edge in 2024 and beyond.

The Packers had a promising season and exceeded expectations in 2023 with one of the youngest rosters in the NFL. Now, in Jordan Love’s second season as the team’s full-time starter, LaFleur and company won’t have the benefit of being one of the surprises in the NFL in 2024.

It’s clear they certainly have the talent to compete for a Super Bowl, but they will have to hope the offseason losses and new moves all mesh to produce results on the field.