{"id":279009,"date":"2025-08-11T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T08:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/279009\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T08:00:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T08:00:16","slug":"matt-lafleur-says-1m-gamble-former-first-rounder-must-earn-staffs-trust-to-make-packers-roster-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/279009\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt LaFleur says $1M gamble, former first rounder must earn staff’s trust to make Packers roster"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt LaFleur says $1M gamble, former first rounder must earn staff’s trust to make Packers roster<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a><\/p>\n

The Green Bay Packers had a preseason opener they\u2019ll want to forget. Fortunately, one of the biggest benefits of the preseason is its ability to reveal what needs fixing \u2014 fast. Linebacker Isaiah Simmons has been working hard, giving himself a real opportunity to make the final roster.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cBut the Packers are giving Simmons a chance to focus on just one position at linebacker, and there’s a chance he could provide something meaningful in a specific subpackage role. Also, it’s clear he’s the preferred backup option at linebacker, so if nothing else, Simmons looks like a good bet to make the 53 at this point in camp,\u201d wrote Packers Wire\u2019s Zach Kruse.<\/p>\n

Throughout the summer, Simmons has been proving to his teammates that he belongs.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, he can run,\u201d Josh Jacobs said. \u201cHe can run. He\u2019s kind of a unicorn in that position. We can put him out on guys in the slot. He can cover guys. Really, man, I just can\u2019t wait to see him in pads. I want to see how physical he is. Obviously, I\u2019ve played against him a couple of times, so I know what player he is \u2014 but it\u2019s different when you see him like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Simmons didn\u2019t make the most of his opportunity in Saturday\u2019s game<\/a> \u2014 it was a bit of a reality check. Head coach Matt LaFleur\u2019s comments on his performance raise concerns about Simmons’ standing on the roster.<\/p>\n

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\u201cLaFleur said Isaiah Simmons ‘got some good work in yesterday.’ Played as much as he did because LaFleur said Simmons needs to prove coaches can trust him in Hafley’s system,\u201d reported The Athletic\u2019s Matt Schneidman.<\/a><\/p>\n

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So far in his NFL career, Simmons has struggled to make a consistent impact. If he doesn\u2019t earn the trust of the Packers\u2019 coaching staff, his tenure in Green Bay could end up like his previous two stops \u2014 short-lived. While Simmons remains hopeful, a lackluster performance and potential trust issues could make his path to the 53-man roster a steep one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt LaFleur says $1M gamble, former first rounder must earn staff’s trust to make Packers roster originally appeared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[7,41,345,2514,2513,4858,4129,6,428,17686,10957],"class_list":{"0":"post-279009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-green-bay","10":"tag-green-bay-packers","11":"tag-greenbay","12":"tag-greenbaypackers","13":"tag-isaiah-simmons","14":"tag-josh-jacobs","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-packers","17":"tag-preseason-opener","18":"tag-the-packers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115009082514025672","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}