When the Green Bay Packers selected tight end Luke Musgrave in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, they knew they were getting one of the most athletic and exciting young tight ends in the entire class. They also knew that they were getting an unfinished product. Musgrave played just two games of his final season at Oregon State due to injury, and needs to refine his skills at the position.
Still, that does not change the fact that he is a legitimate weapon in the passing game and could end up becoming one of the best receiving tight ends in the NFL. In order to get to that point, though, Musgrave needs to learn, and part of learning is making mistakes.
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Musgrave made a big mistake in Green Bay’s Week Five loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. In short, he ran a wrong route that led to a Jordan Love incompletion. Everyone watching knew it was a mistake because head coach Matt LaFleur met Musgrave at the sideline and screamed at him following the play.
Jason Wilde of madison.com interviewed Musgrave on Thursday ahead of the Packers’ Week Seven contest against the Denver Broncos. He asked the rookie tight end about the confrontation and Musgrave shrugged it off as part of the learning process.
Green Bay Packers Rookie Tight End Luke Musgrave Says He Deserved to Be Yelled at
In the past, Coach LaFleur has said that one of the challenges as a head coach is to figure out which style of correction each individual player responds to best. Some respond best when they are talked to individually and quietly correct. Others respond best if they are yelled at.
Musgrave is one of those that responds well to the latter form of correction, as he told Wilde:
“Like, my dad kind of built my (immunity to that). It’s great to be able to take criticism and not get flustered. It really doesn’t bother me. You can say, really, whatever you want to me and I don’t really mind. Honestly, I hated it going through high school, but it’s really turned out to be one of the biggest gifts he’s given me. Because I don’t really care.”
On LaFleur yelling at him on the sidelines in Week Five, Musgrave said:
“To be honest, that doesn’t really faze me at all. I don’t even really remember what he said. I mean, I ran the wrong route. It was, ‘OK, I ran the wrong route. Good. OK.’ I deserved to be chewed out, so I’ll take it.”
It is important to note that Musgrave is saying that he does not care about how LaFleur chose to correct him. He cares very much about making the mistake. Like everyone on the team, Musgrave wants to help the team win.
Green Bay Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur Thinks the World of Luke Musgrave
LaFleur spoke to the media following practice on Thursday. When he learned that his interaction with Musgrave had been caught on camera, he called it a “bad look” for him. He went onto say of Musgrave:
“I think he’s doing a great job. I think every day we go out on that field, there’s something that kind of clicks for him… These guys guys got to understand, especially in the passing game, you love it when guys go 100 miles per hour and that’s how Luke attacks everything. Everything is just full speed.
“But there’s also a feel to it in terms of when you can tempo down so you don’t run through zones so fast that you end up getting covered up.”
LaFleur said that he had Musgrave run that same route he ran wrong in Week Five during practice. He said Musgrave took the correction to heart and it looked a lot better. LaFleur also stated he would rather have a player that plays too fast that he needs to rein in than a player that needs more motivation to try harder.
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