{"id":843975,"date":"2026-03-31T00:21:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T00:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/843975\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:21:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T00:21:51","slug":"matt-lafleur-admits-frustration-over-roles-hurt-packers-last-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/843975\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt LaFleur admits frustration over roles hurt Packers last season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5f\">Everything was placed under the microscope after the Green Bay Packers went into free fall and lost their final five games last season. That even <a href=\"https:\/\/lombardiave.com\/matt-lafleur-may-just-sealed-packers-fate-after-playoff-loss-for-ages\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">included Matt LaFleur&#8217;s job security<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5i\">LaFleur is back on a new deal, and he met with reporters at the NFL Annual Meeting on Monday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5l\">Somewhat surprisingly, LaFleur opened up about the frustrations some players had with their roles and the impact it had on the team.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">&#8220;If I&#8217;m being honest about it, I think there were some guys that were upset about roles last year. I think that took a toll on our football team,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByRyanWood\/status\/2038646756758687838\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">said LaFleur<\/a>, via Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">&#8220;You need guys that bring great energy every day. I think from a coaching standpoint, role clarity is key. So we&#8217;ve got to obviously do a better job communicating with our players, &#8216;Hey, here&#8217;s your role. And if you&#8217;re unhappy about your role, it&#8217;s on you to do something about that, to carve out a bigger role on this football team.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Matt LaFleur gets brutally honest about players&#8217; frustrations over roles last season<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\">LaFleur said he&#8217;s &#8220;sure&#8221; those frustrations played a part in the low grade he received from Packers players in the NFLPA&#8217;s annual player survey.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"60\">He, unsurprisingly, wouldn&#8217;t name individual players who shared those frustrations, but it has only fueled speculation among Packers fans.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">Was Quay Walker among them? He bolted in <a href=\"https:\/\/lombardiave.com\/green-bay-packers-free-agency-tracker-hub\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">free agency<\/a>, signing a massive $40.5 million contract with the Las Vegas Raiders. Shortly after, Walker <a href=\"https:\/\/atozsports.com\/nfl\/las-vegas-raiders-news\/lv-new-linebacker-quay-walker-disses-former-team-packers-using-him-wrong-way\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">said he believes<\/a> he will be &#8220;used the right way&#8221; in Las Vegas, a potential subtle shot at the Packers.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"66\">What about Colby Wooden, whom the Packers traded to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for linebacker Zaire Franklin?<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"69\">Wooden <a href=\"https:\/\/eu.indystar.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/colts\/2026\/03\/25\/colby-wooden-why-new-colts-dl-is-excited-about-opportunity-in-indianapolis\/89289214007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">said he &#8220;played out of position&#8221;<\/a> in Jeff Hafley&#8217;s defense last season, which required him to predominantly line up as the nose tackle.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">Romeo Doubs? In 2024, he <a href=\"https:\/\/lombardiave.com\/posts\/packers-suspend-romeo-doubs-messy-situation-uglier-01j9ey2waxq2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">received a one-game suspension<\/a> from the Packers &#8220;for conduct detrimental to the team,&#8221; with Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/sources-packers-romeo-doubs-skipped-practices-over-frustration-with-role\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">reporting<\/a> that Doubs had skipped practice because he was &#8220;upset with his opportunities in the passing game.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">Walker, Wooden, and Doubs were among the players to depart this offseason. Again, it&#8217;s unclear if LaFleur was referring to any of them.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6i\">Even more interesting is that LaFleur chose to bring it up publicly. He didn&#8217;t need to make those comments. It was an open and honest answer, and one that highlights just how much reflection LaFleur and his team require after such a disastrous end to last season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">Are the players &#8220;upset&#8221; about their roles still on the team? Your guess is as good as mine. But LaFleur&#8217;s comments offer some promise that the coaching staff is taking a true look in the mirror to identify where they must improve in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everything was placed under the microscope after the Green Bay Packers went into free fall and lost their&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":843976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2072],"tags":[7,41,345,2514,2513,6,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-843975","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-nfl","14":"tag-packers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116320937128725073","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843975","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=843975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}