RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesLast season ended in turmoil for the Green Bay Packers as they lost five straight games, including blowing a 21-3 halftime lead against their sworn nemesis in the playoffs. It’s the closest Matt LaFleur’s coaching seat has ever come to being lukewarm, but the Packers head coach remains one of the most feared offensive play callers in the NFL.
The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen had defensive coordinators and defensive coaches rank the top 10 offensive play callers in the NFL. LaFleur came in at No. 4, up two spots from 2025.
“I think he does a good job of tailoring their game plan,” said an AFC defensive coordinator. “It’s a great testament to his play-calling abilities with what he was able to do when Jordan Love was out, and Malik Willis is in and kind of tailoring the offense to the different skill sets that both of them had. You know, because they were doing some different things in the run game when Malik Willis was in versus Jordan Love. And even some of the pistol, you know, run game was different than kind of the under-center run game.”
Nguyen also noted Green Bay dealt with a bevy of injuries but still finished sixth in offensive DVOA and eighth in points per drive (2.36).
“You don’t have a Mike Evans,” another defensive coach said. “He’s out there using jet motion and scheming guys open with Jordan Love, who’s been developing over the past three years.”
His creativity and putting players in position to succeed are two of LaFleur’s greatest strengths. Love has blossomed into a quarterback that you can not only win with, but because of, while Malik Willis signed a three-year, $67.5 million contract to be the starter for the Miami Dolphins, a testament to LaFleur’s ability to develop the most important position in sports.
The Packers have won a ton of games under LaFleur, but haven’t hoisted the Lombardi Trophy since 2010. On Wednesday, they kicked off training camp with arguably the best group of weapons they’ve had around Love since he took over as the starter in 2023. Those pieces have the highly-touted play caller excited about what’s to come this season.
“I told the team yesterday this is as excited as I have ever been coaching this football team in my time here, and it’s because of the people we have in the room,” LaFleur said.
All eight defensive coaches ranked LaFleur in the top 10, and his lowest ranking was No. 9. Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers ranked as the best playcaller, with Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams coming in second. Both are former coaching teammates and friends of LaFleur. Ben Johnson, now the playcaller of the rival Bears, landed directly above LaFleur at No. 3.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Matt LaFleur ranked top 5 among NFL's top offensive play callers
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