In 2024, the Green Bay Packers will aim to secure their position as one of the league’s top teams. They are once again one of the NFL’s youngest teams, but they are stacked with talent, have a franchise quarterback on the roster, and are coming off a season in which they finished just three points short of the NFC Championship.
However, head coach Matt LaFleur opposes one rule change that the NFL is expected to introduce next season. Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is not a fan of a potential rule change in 2025. According to Ryan Wood from Packers News: LaFleur made it clear that he would not support a hypothetical NFLPA request to drastically change the league’s summer timetable. According to an NFL Network story, the players’ group is finalizing a proposal to end voluntary on-field work and begin training camp in mid-June to early July. The suggestion might establish 2025 as the prospective date for changing the offseason timetable.
“I am not in favor of that,” LaFleur stated. The NFL’s current offseason program consists of three stages that span nine weeks. The final stage consists of planned team activities, during which teams can practice on their own or attend one mandated minicamp. The plan then allows for a six-week vacation between minicamp and training camp, which begins in late July.
The NFLPA’s proposal would minimize the gap between minicamp and training camp while simultaneously providing players with a longer break between the end of one season and the beginning of the next. It would force teams to condense their preparation rather than spread it out over the spring. The NFL experienced a similar timetable in 2020, when COVID-19 postponed all spring practice. LaFleur said he’d adapt his offseason routine if the adjustments were made, but he’d rather keep the present program in place.
“I go back to the COVID year,” LaFleur explained. “I do not think that was good for anyone. There isn’t much time to spend with these individuals anyhow, and I believe that cramming everything in at the start of training camp is especially terrible for a lot of undrafted players. Because you simply don’t have the time to devote to the process and study the playbook. So, personally, I don’t think it’s good for the game.
A major off-season change would affect every roster in the league. Currently, the collectively bargained offseason fitness regimen is divided into three phases: meetings (Phase One), individual drills on the field (Phase Two), and organized team activities. Phase Three permits teams to hold a mandated minicamp for veterans. Most teams run their offseason programs from mid-April until mid-June. Training camps begin in mid-to-late July, following a generally six-week summer break.
According to Pelissero, the NFLPA has conferred with medical and performance specialists to limit injuries and increase recovery time for players. It would still be possible to perform virtual classroom work in the spring, but no practices would take place until camp. Changing the NFL’s offseason might help break up the calendar, allowing players to have a longer ramp-up phase before the season begins and a longer respite after a lengthy season. Under the current framework, several athletes get soft-tissue injuries during training camps, which could help to prevent these problems. This would have been their goal otherwise.
