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How did Matt’s name land on your radar?
“In personnel we’re taught, from the time we’re young scouts, to always keep an eye out. And it’s obviously players, which is our job, but any young coaches, good coaches you see along the way, keep your list, keep your information, talk to different people about them. So Matt’s been someone who’s been on my radar for a while, and as we started our process, he was part of that wide net.”
Do you remember how his name first came up?
“Kyle Shanahan and those guys were in Atlanta [where LaFleur was QBs coach in 2015 and ‘16 under Shanahan as OC], we played them a few times and really struggled with them, really struggled with their scheme and how they did things. I always really liked the way they attacked us and the way they called the game. I was impressed with how they went about their offensive stuff. So all those guys that came from that system, you were kind of keeping an eye on.”
What jumped out during the interview?
“His vision—I thought he was really driven, and there was kind of a quiet confidence about him when he discussed those things. His vision and what he wanted to do with our football team was very much aligned with my vision for it. And it was pretty evident pretty quickly that we could work well together, and I thought he could work well with our players.”
Obviously, the relationship with the quarterback will be scrutinized. Was it important here?
“No doubt. I mean, it’s about the team, but Aaron [Rodgers] is a big part of our team. So that was certainly part of it, how he’s going to use Aaron. And how the partnership there with the offense was going to go. He’s a head coach, he’s responsible for all the decisions, he’s got to be the head coach first. But the relationship with our players and obviously Aaron is really important.”
You see the reaching for Sean McVay’s assistants. You got one, so is there any concern of an overreach there?
“I think it’s always been that way. I go back to when I first started in this league, everybody who coached in San Francisco got a head-coaching job. And then Green Bay was really good in the late ‘90s, and all the guys that came through Green Bay got head coaching jobs because of that success. That’s just kind of the way this league is and always has been. It was certainly the success of the places he’s been that contributed to us being interested in him, but he was obviously part of that too. So it was maybe a small part to get you interested, but then it really comes down to substance of the guy.”
“In personnel we’re taught, from the time we’re young scouts, to always keep an eye out. And it’s obviously players, which is our job, but any young coaches, good coaches you see along the way, keep your list, keep your information, talk to different people about them. So Matt’s been someone who’s been on my radar for a while, and as we started our process, he was part of that wide net.”
Do you remember how his name first came up?
“Kyle Shanahan and those guys were in Atlanta [where LaFleur was QBs coach in 2015 and ‘16 under Shanahan as OC], we played them a few times and really struggled with them, really struggled with their scheme and how they did things. I always really liked the way they attacked us and the way they called the game. I was impressed with how they went about their offensive stuff. So all those guys that came from that system, you were kind of keeping an eye on.”
What jumped out during the interview?
“His vision—I thought he was really driven, and there was kind of a quiet confidence about him when he discussed those things. His vision and what he wanted to do with our football team was very much aligned with my vision for it. And it was pretty evident pretty quickly that we could work well together, and I thought he could work well with our players.”
Obviously, the relationship with the quarterback will be scrutinized. Was it important here?
“No doubt. I mean, it’s about the team, but Aaron [Rodgers] is a big part of our team. So that was certainly part of it, how he’s going to use Aaron. And how the partnership there with the offense was going to go. He’s a head coach, he’s responsible for all the decisions, he’s got to be the head coach first. But the relationship with our players and obviously Aaron is really important.”
You see the reaching for Sean McVay’s assistants. You got one, so is there any concern of an overreach there?
“I think it’s always been that way. I go back to when I first started in this league, everybody who coached in San Francisco got a head-coaching job. And then Green Bay was really good in the late ‘90s, and all the guys that came through Green Bay got head coaching jobs because of that success. That’s just kind of the way this league is and always has been. It was certainly the success of the places he’s been that contributed to us being interested in him, but he was obviously part of that too. So it was maybe a small part to get you interested, but then it really comes down to substance of the guy.”


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