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Matt LaFleur has been head coach of the Green Bay Packers for six months and is yet to even coach a preseason game for the club, and yet, there has already been some drama between LaFleur and Aaron Rodgers.
Well, I use the term “drama” lightly, as really, all that has gone on is Rodgers publicly disagreeing with some of LaFleur's coaching methods, saying that LaFleur is not giving him enough freedom to run the offense.
While Rodgers has not actually taken any jabs at LaFleur and LaFleur seems to be just fine with Rodgers, it's Rodgers' somewhat checkered history in the locker room that makes this somewhat concerning.
Up until LaFleur, Rodgers had only had one head coach throughout his entire NFL career, and that coach was Mike McCarthy. Well, unless you count the four games Joe Philbin coached following McCarthy's dismissal this past season.
And it is public knowledge that Rodgers did not get along with McCarthy. Now, how much blame should be pinned on each party is debatable, as neither guy has the greatest reputation.
So, based on the fact that McCarthy has seemed to engage in some questionable behavior as a head coach and has rubbed other people the wrong way, it's tough to say how much Rodgers is accountable.
But, we can then take a look at the type of relationship Rodgers has had with some of his former teammates, and it's not great. Former wide receiver Greg Jennings and former tight end Jermichael Finley, in particular, have had some harsh words about Rodgers, and former defensive lineman Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila has questioned his coachability.
Of course, former Packers wide out Jordy Nelson said it's all nonsense, but generally, where there is a bunch of smoke, there is some sort of fire, and it's pretty much undisputed fact that Rodgers did not see eye-to-eye with McCarthy.
The fact that Rodgers is already taking some issue with LaFleur may speak to his ego, as it seems like that is the root cause here. LaFleur wants to run the offense he was coached to run, but Rodgers feels like he has too much experience to be told what to do (which kind of verifies Gbaja-Biamila's coachability stance on the quarterback).
And I'll say this: Rodgers already causing some issues, as small as they may be, literally during the same offseason that he was being ripped for his leadership capability and locker room presence is not a good look, and even if it isn't a huge deal at this stage, it is a bit worrisome, as we genuinely don't know what this could potentially morph into.
Do fans and the media tend to get a bit carried away with certain things? Absolutely, but in this instance, there is a frame of reference to base opinions on when it comes to Rodgers, and that is what everyone is doing.
Remember: the LaFleur hiring kind of came out of nowhere, as it is definitely unusual for a prestigious organization like the Packers to choose someone with very limited experience, and Rodgers did not exactly seem too thrilled about the move when it happened.
Rodgers is a veteran and a Super Bowl champion and is someone who is consistently mentioned as one of the best signal-callers to ever play the game, at least as far as pure passing ability goes. Based on that, you can see where his hubris comes from.
I'm not excusing it, because Rodgers should still find a way to be grounded, but when you constantly hear how great you are and then you have to answer to a rookie head coach who is barely old enough to be your older brother, it's probably not the easiest transition in the world.
But Rodgers apparently didn't enjoy listening to McCarthy, either, so maybe this is just a Rodgers problem?
Regardless, there is still plenty of time between now and Week 1, and it's entirely possible that the relationship between Rodgers and LaFleur will positively grow and will be just fine in 2019.
But we can't ignore the possibility that this can go south, and if that happens, we really need to have a serious discussion about Aaron Rodgers.
