Matt LaFleur and Brian Gutekunst reportedly get extensions, but plenty more question loom over the Packers
The one big question facing the Green Bay Packers this offseason got answered, but that doesn't mean we're done wondering about what's next in Titletown.
Good morning!
Matt LaFleur will reportedly return to the Green Bay Packers on what has been reported as a “real commitment,” rather than a prove-it deal. While we don’t have all the details at this moment, the only thing that truly matters is that Green Bay has its head coach for the foreseeable future.
Why did the Packers decide to stay the course? What did we learn about the changes that are and aren’t coming? And where does Green Bay go if Jeff Hafley gets poached? We dig into all of it in today’s Free Monday newsletter.
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Matt LaFleur is reportedly staying, and it was never much of a question
Peter Bukowski: The surprise isn’t the report that the Packers will run it back for 2026 and beyond, but rather that new president Ed Policy never truly considered this season to be disqualifying for the current braintrust. The Athletic reported Policy “didn’t spend much time considering” moving on from LaFleur, which raises the question, “What would it have taken?”
The Packers spit the bit to end the 2025 season, losing four straight regular season games (even if they didn’t try to win in Week 18), then collapsed in historic, disgusting, embarrassing fashion, giving up 25 fourth-quarter points to their rival, the Chicago Bears.
That’s not to say LaFleur deserved to be fired. Nearly the entire roster turned over in the post-Aaron Rodgers era, a credit to both LaFleur and Brian Gutekunst, who rebuilt the personnel into immediate playoff contenders with the youngest team in the league for three consecutive seasons.
The advantage LaFleur confers to the offense, putting up elite efficiency every season Jordan Love has been under center, can’t be readily found around the NFL. LaFleur holds significantly better standing around the league than he does in his own fanbase.
He received a vociferous defense from his players, including a particularly convincing case from the team’s best player, Micah Parsons.
“At one point, players have to have accountability. That’s something that I’m challenging us, and as players, that we need to take,” Parsons said.
“The change is the players. Us players are the ones that’s playing the game … You can’t coach effort. And that’s the mentality that I want the guys to embrace.”
Parsons added that LaFleur was one of the best coaches and people he’s been around in the NFL, and was one of the reasons he wanted to come to Green Bay. To a man, the guys in the locker room got behind LaFleur, and that no doubt impacted the team’s decision to move forward to compete in this window with a player like Parsons and a quarterback like Love.
LaFleur has Love on a vertiginous trajectory at quarterback (he was the best quarterback in this playoffs to date), and we’ve seen coaches like Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay improve as game managers. His ability to scheme up an efficient offense is rare and was unlikely to be matched anywhere on the market. In a three-year window to win with Love and Parsons, it didn’t make sense to change course one year in.
This extension keeps LaFleur off the hot seat in 2026, but at the very least, he enters the year much like the rest of Wisconsin right now: with the seat warmers cranked up.
Nothing will change about the power structure
PB: Multiple reports suggest the power structure in Green Bay will move forward unchanged, which means LaFleur will report to Policy, while Gutekunst and Russ Ball will stay in their silos, likewise reporting to the president. Some media hints suggested Policy would consider reinstating the GM with full power over the head coach, but Policy apparently believed making a change to the power structure would cause more problems than it would create solutions.
LaFleur and Gutekunst have worked well in their tenure together, securing big-name free agents the coaches wanted, and hitting on players ideal for both offensive and defensive systems in place.
This also suggests LaFleur returns without any ultimatums to make sweeping changes. So far, there have been no reports of coach firings, though those conversations could be ongoing this week, particularly as Jeff Hafley prepares his departure. For example, if Hafley wants to bring offensive line coach Luke Butkus or offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich with him wherever he goes, there’s no need for LaFleur to embarrass those guys with firings, even if he wanted to.
It’s possible, even likely, that this was part of the negotiation from LaFleur and Gutekunst’s side. The GM presumably wants to be able to have direct control over the coach, while the coach would want to be able to go to the president with any disagreements around personnel decisions with the GM.
But it also means LaFleur didn’t gain any new power, like the ability to have final say on the 53-man roster, at least based on what has already been reported.
What’s happening with Hafley?
PB: He may be a Miami Dolphins by the time you read this. He’s considered the frontrunner to replace Mike McDaniel under new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan, late of the Packers front office. If he doesn’t get that job, he’s seen a strong candidate for a handful of others where he already has second interviews lined up.
Don’t expect the Dolphins to let him out of the building (and don’t be surprised to see Malik Willis join him in South Beach.
We will have plenty of reporting in the coming days about the future of the defensive coordinator position if and when Hafley gets his deserved opportunity. Internal candidates could change depending on who Hafley takes with him wherever he’s headed, including passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley and defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington, each of whom would likely get interviews for the big job.
A quick look at external candidates brings in coaches like former Packers QC Christian Parker, Jim Leonhard (who was offered the job before Joe Barry got it), and old LaFleur friend Raheem Morris.
It was the right move bringing lefluer back! Also gute! This off-season is huge and who they hire at DC will be interesting!
I found the idea of La Fleur's job being on the line dependent on what was going to happen this year to be ridiculous for the following reasons:
1. He successfully was able to seamlessly work with a franchise QB and build a case for a new franchise QB. I don't know that this has ever been done before.
2. He (with the GM) implemented a roster rebuild without years of being in the depths of the NFL. He, with Gutekunst, was able to do this when they virtually also have been drafting from the last 10 positions in each round.
3. Gutekunst has done a remarkable replenishment of the players. Trading Adams and Rodgers. He has NOT hit on all of his draft picks. No GM does.
Gutekunst and La Fleur have done an exceptional job of refreshing the Packers. They may not be the best GM and Head Coach, but I would suspect each of them would be in the list for Top 5.
Firing La Fleur would have been stupid. Generally, the Packers don't do stupid things. He would have had over a dozen teams begging for his services and would have been hired at a much higher rate (the inflation of the going rate for coaches is probably what held up the signing).
The "Fire La Fleur" crowd is loud but they are: 1) Emotional and 2) Don't have the evaluation resources that the professional teams do. All Head Coaches make mistakes. Oftentimes these are much clearer in hindsight.
The Packers will continue to do their due diligence, self-scout and look for opportunities to improve the team. It will be a bit more difficult over the next two years with no first-round draft pick... but that's the hand that Gutekunst thought was worth it.
Time will Tell.