Rodgers Downplays Impact of Offseason Absence
GREEN BAY, Wis. – For Aaron Rodgers, there’s a light at the end of the offensive tunnel.
“I feel like the offense – especially in the last week or so – has been clicking closer to where I think we should be trending,” Rodgers said after Monday’s practice at Green Bay Packers training camp.
Would the offense be fully trending the right way had Rodgers been there to shepherd it along the path throughout the offseason program, including three weeks of voluntary OTA practices?
Rodgers laughed before answering.
“You know, not really,” he said. “Training camp is a long experience. There’s plenty of time for conversations, for practice, for a lot of the things that I expect them to do in the regular season.”
While Rodgers was off doing his own thing – and that thing helped him win back-to-back MVPs – rookie receivers Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs were catching passes from Jordan Love. It certainly wouldn’t have hurt their development to be catching passes from the starting quarterback, but there’s also another reality.
During the nine OTAs that Rodgers skipped, the base offense was being installed by coach Matt LaFleur. At that point, Watson and Doubs weren’t ready to handle all the line-of-scrimmage adjustments that are hallmarks of the Rodgers-led offense. Would Watson, for instance, been ready for a red-zone adjustment to a concept he’d just learned?
“I rely on the coaching staff to pass on the message as we’re learning the offense, and then I’m kind of the 202 professor,” Rodgers said. “They’ve got to get kind of the base concepts and when I come in, we have the offense outside of the paper offense.”
So, while Rodgers has spoken in frustration about the young receivers, going so far to say as players who aren’t doing the right thing won’t get on the field, his offseason absence probably wouldn’t have impacted how they’ve performed through the first 19 practice of training camp.
A former NFL general manager called Rodgers’ reasoning “comical.”
Rodgers does see progress, though time is running short, with about 10 practices to go until the Packers square off against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1.
“I feel like there’s been a few guys who’ve made a jump mentally as we’ve gotten into the second and third week of camp, Sammy (Watkins) being one of them,” Rodgers said. “I feel like he’s been playing faster and making more precise decisions. But, again, you’ve got to have realistic expectations for all our guys, not just the young players. Similar schedule last year, we came in and hit the ground running. Obviously, some different players this year.”
If Rodgers had his way, he might rather rely on veteran Allen Lazard, Randall Cobb and Watkins. But Rodgers is a realist. While he’s spoken of Lazard being a No. 1 receiver, the truth is the real upside in the group lies in Watson, the second-round pick with the freakish combination of size and speed, and Doubs, the fourth-round pick who routinely gets open but has dropped too many passes.
If the Packers are going to finally win another championship, the rookies are going to play a big role.
Through some of the frustration, Rodgers sees the possibilities as the light bulbs flicker on and their talent shines in the real offense.
“Yesterday, we did kind of a spur-of-the-moment adjustment and I told [Watson] what to do in the huddle, and it’s something he’s never done before and he went out and did it perfect,” Rodgers said. “It’s those little things like that that start to gain that trust and that confidence and gets you excited about things.
“Now, Doubs has done a lot of really nice things, but I think the standard for him is not going to be maybe the standard for a normal rookie we’ve had here in the past, especially in the past four or five years, because he’s going to be expected to play based on his performance so far in camp. So, we’ve got to hold him to a standard that I know he’s capable of reaching. But he cares about it, he’s a great kid.
“He’s made some instinctual plays that you just can’t really coach. He ran a little in and back out in the game and, at the top of the route, there’s a guy right there, and instead of kind of drifting on it and letting the guy make the play, he comes hard back to the ball, strong hands. You like seeing those plays, it gives you confidence that he’s capable of doing some things that might not be on the paper offense.”
