Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has been around some of the NFL’s brightest minds in this modern era. Notable players that he has coached and/or work with include Donovan McNabb, Robert Griffin III, Kirk Cousins, Julio Jones, Matt Ryan, Derrick Henry, and Aaron Rodgers.
Those are some pretty high-profile players, each known not just for their abilities (past or present), but for their high football IQ’s. Which is why the comment that LaFleur made about Packers wide receiver Christian Watson today is such a powerful statement.
Green Bay Packers Wide Receiver Christian Watson Will Surprise Many People This Year
Monday marks the beginning of the second week of training camp, but also the first week that the players will be practicing in pads. As he does prior to every practice, LaFleur met with the media to answer questions. One asked him about how Watson looks and acts so different this year as opposed to last year, and what LaFleur thinks might be the cause of that change:
LIVE: Head Coach Matt LaFleur speaks with the media at #PackersCamp 🎙️ https://t.co/Mc793iN5fP
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) July 31, 2023
“Just seems like a much more confident player, and I think we saw that kind of take shape last year about halfway through the season. You have to remember, I think that anytime you’re a young player and miss all of training camp, essentially, it’s tough. That’s difficult.
“So just him being healthy. He had a really good offseason. Just his knowledge of ours offense. He is one of the most intelligent players that I have ever been around. Especially when you talk about the wide receiver position.
“The thing that is so unique about Christian is you can line him up at the Z, and the next play, you know someone might come out, tell him ‘you got to go play F’ or ‘you got to go play X.’ And he doesn’t blink. That’s tougher than most guys can do.”
As I’ve noted previously, despite not hitting his stride until midseason, Watson had the best year of any rookie wide receiver in the Aaron Rodgers Era. His slow start, as LaFleur noted, was because he missed almost all of training camp as he recovered from a procedure on his knee.
It took time for Watson to develop chemistry with Rodgers as the four-time MVP refused to work with any of his young wide receivers outside of training camp last season. It is different with Jordan Love.
Jordan Love and Christian Watson Have Been Working on Their Chemistry Since Last Season
In addition to working with Love during OTA’s and mini camp, as he did last year, Watson (and other Packers players) have been out to California to workout with Love and develop the chemistry that they need to make 2023 a successful season.
And remember, it is not just a recent occurrence for Watson, Love, and these younger players to work together outside of normal team activities. In an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show earlier this offseason, Watson said:
“Obviously 12 being the starting quarterback last year it would seem like we wouldn’t have got a lot of time with Jordan, but I spent a lot of time with Jordan Love actually. Whether it was meetings outside of practice to get that playbook down.
“Us younger guys had meetings with Jordan Love weekly going into the later weeks of the season and we had quite a bit of younger guy developmental stuff that we did early in the season so we got reps in with him. I think that relationship and that connection is strong already.”
This Packers team is young, but their core players are incredibly smart. That IQ is going to help them greatly as the offseason progresses and the season begins. They’re going to surprise a lot of people.
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