Packers assistants weigh in on offense
GREEN BAY − The Green Bay Packers didn’t see anything that told them that third-round draft pick MarShawn Lloyd couldn’t hold onto the ball better than he did in college, where he had eight fumbles in three seasons.
But for the rookie tailback to be trusted, he’s going to have to buy into everything running backs coach Ben Sirmans teaches him because Sirmans won’t play someone who fumbles too much.
“You feel like you have methods that you have, different training tools you use in drill work that you want to implement that should alleviate, or will cut off those things from happening,” Sirmans said. “A lot of it will just be being conscious of the ball when you have it, and the way we practice, not only just doing ball-security drills but the way we practice with our defense constantly going after the football, he’ll have to be conscious of it.
“It’s something I think that he’ll be capable of controlling through training.”
Clements didn’t have a hard decision to return
Late last season, Tom Clements gave no indication whether he was leaning toward returning for another year as the Packers quarterbacks coach or retiring from a remarkable career.
It turned out not to be a difficult call once the offseason began.
“The way we ended,” Clements said, “it really wasn’t that tough of a process to decide to come back. I think we’re poised to be a good team. Obviously, we have to work at it. Every year is a new year, you don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’s a lot easier compared to last year because we had a lot of guys
with no experience whatsoever. A lot of rookies. Jordan (Love), it was his first year as a starter. So he was seeing things for the first time, but obviously as the year went along, we started to develop, and we were pretty good by the end of the year.
“We know we can be pretty good. Now you just have to work to get to that same spot. It is a process. It’s not easy, but I think we have the guys that can do it.”
Clements said he’s at the point in his career where his future will be determined “year to year.” For now, he relishes the idea of continuing to build on Love’s ascension as a franchise starter.
“I think it excites the players, it excites the coaching staff,” Clements said. “Because we were rolling at the end of the year, playing with a lot of confidence. Guys were doing what they had learned from our issues early in the year, and they corrected them. Once you get going, and losing can become a habit, but winning certainly becomes a habit. Their confidence grew. They realized they can do it against that type of competition in the NFL. So I think going into this season, that will be their mindset.”
Love focused on taking next step in second season
Love has spent the early portion of this offseason program looking at film from last season with Clements and identifying areas to improve.
“It’s just more fundamental things,” Clements said. “Footwork and how he moves in the pocket. We’re working on the drills, and we’re throwing a lot of routes on air. Because you can’t have defenders out there at this point. It’s just presence in the pocket, when to move, when not to move, things like that.”
Love is set to become one of the league’s top-paid quarterbacks this season. Clements said the pending payday hasn’t changed Love behind the scenes. He’s noticed Love becoming more of a leader, but no less of a worker.
And the talent, Clements said, still shines.
The next step is honing the position at a high, cerebral level. Clements said he noticed Love taking a big step with that late last season, one he wants to continue in 2024.
“Early in the season,” Clements said, “when Jordan scrambled, I’d say 95% of the time, he ran the ball. Second half of the year, that maybe flipped. Maybe not 95%, but a larger percentage he was moving around and looking to throw the ball downfield, which is what you want to do. Because you can get a lot of big plays in the scramble phase of the game. So rather than just taking off and running, he’s looking to make a big play, and good things can happen.”
Love not the only QB looking to make big jump
As good as Love was the second half of last season, coach Matt LaFleur needs his starting quarterback to take his game to another level. The same can be said of second-year quarterback Sean Clifford.
The 2023 fifth-round draft pick made the 53-man roster as Love’s backup based on his ability to move the ball in practice and preseason games, but because he didn’t get much playing time after camp, the Packers mostly had to rely on scout-team work in practice to evaluate his progress.
He did complete the only pass he threw for a 37-yard gain in mop-up work against Minnesota in Week 17, but he’s going to have to continue to show growth in practice this year because he has competition in 2024 seventh-round pick Michael Pratt of Tulane.
“He definitely did grow,” Clements said. “He’s a gamer. Once the season started and he was running the scout team and became more familiar with our offense. And running opposing team’s offenses, you usually have a lot of similar plays.
“He ran the scout team very well and he started to make plays throughout the year. So, he developed throughout the year, which is what you’d like to see. He’s doing a great job in this offseason. I think he’ll make a big jump from year one to year two.”
Rookie offensive linemen will be thrown in right away
Currently the veterans are limited to doing individual drills, but starting next week, the offseason program allows for some team-style drills to be conducted. It also happens to be when the rookies return from a week off following their minicamp.
The intention is to create opportunity at every position, so the young players will have to learn the offense and the new blocking techniques on the run. And they’ll probably have to do it playing several positions.
“We’re going to cross-train them all,” offensive line coach Luke Butkus said of his group.
It means when the rookies return, they’re going to have to make the most of the short time they get to be on the field during OTAs.
“Next week will be really an eye-opening experience for some of them to see the speed of these guys coming off the ball, these vets that have been here for weeks or years now,” Butkus said. “But just keep practicing. How do you get better? Just keep practicing.”