The future of Aaron Rodgers is once again up in the air with another NFL season on the horizon. The veteran quarterback had a fantastic season – in which he won his fourth MVP award – but is now considering his future in Green Bay.
This could certainly bring back a lot of recent memories for the Packers as Rodgers had also flirted with a move away from Lambeau Field last year. The expectation, however, is that it won’t be a months-long saga this time.
But many people can’t wait forRodgersto make a decision, as thefree agency gets underway on March 16. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur understands that but he’s not going to invade the quarterback’s space anyway.
Matt LaFleur will wait for Aaron Rodgers
“I told him, I don’t wanna be overbearing and tell him every day how much we love him and how much we want him back,” LaFleur saidat the NFL scouting combine, per ESPN. “So you just wanna be respectful of his space and allow him to think through everything clearly without being annoying, I guess.”
While Rodgers still thinks about his future, one of his first coaches in the league,Tom Clements, came out of retirement to become the Packers’ new quarterbacks coach. Thatinevitably raised speculation about a potential return from the 38-year-old but LaFleur can’t be sure that’s the case.
“Well, I don’t want to get into those conversations too much, but certainly when you have a player of that caliber, as important as he’s been to this organization, and then when he credits and gives somebody like that so much praise, to me you’d be foolish not to listen to that.So that’s why I wanted to go sit down with Tom, and he’s a very impressive guy.”
After all, it will be Rodgers who will let the world know whether he’s staying or not. That’s why LaFleur doesn’t want to put any pressure and let the quarterback decide what he considers best for his future.
“You always want to be respectful,” LaFleur said. “I know it’s a lot to take on, he’s got a lot to think about, and certainly I’m making sure that I’m consistently communicating with him but also want to be respectful of his time and the process that he has to go through.”
