Aaron Rodgers Already Has Problems With the New Packers Offense

Aaron Rodgers remains one of the most dangerous quarterbacks in the NFL. However, over the past couple of years, he also seems to have become one of the most toxic. His constantly butting heads with Mike McCarthy eventually got the former Green Bay Packers head coach fired. Rodgers has a reputation for being highly intelligent but also difficult to work with. Somebody who doesn't always accept instruction willingly.

That is why there was a significant degree of concern when the Packers hired Matt Lafleur as their new head coach. Not only is he on the younger side (39), he's also relatively inexperienced running his own system. He only coordinated the Tennessee Titans offense for one season. Now he's being tasked with taking over the career and legacy of a future Hall of Famer?

One can imagine that comes with a lot of pressure. It seems things have not gotten off to a good start. Not only did Lafleur tear his Achilles during a game of basketball this spring, but he's also already running into problems with Rodgers involving the new offense. Mike Silver of NFL.com explained.

"Aaron and I have had some good talks, and we're going to have to talk a lot more -- and one thing we have to work through is the audible thing," LaFleur explained. "We're running a system I first picked up while working with Kyle (Shanahan) in Houston a decade ago, and we've never really had a quarterback who's had complete freedom to change plays at the line, because that's not really the way the offense is set up.

But, I mean, this is Aaron Rodgers. He's had a lot of freedom to make those calls, and deservedly so. Now, how do we reconcile that, and get to a place where we put him in the best position to succeed?"

Aaron Rodgers has a choice to make regarding his new reality

One of the things that makes Rodgers so dangerous is his ability to improvise. What so often gets overlooked is how good he is at make adjustments at the line. Few defensive players have ever been able to match wits with him in terms of matching check for check. Rodgers always said Brian Urlacher was the one who always gave him the biggest problems.

Towards the end of his standoff with McCarthey, he was changing plays constantly. That didn't stop the offense from being productive, or at least himself anyway. It's hard to tell whether Rodgers has it in him to relinquish some of the freedoms of audibles in favor of trusting Lafleur's system. The Shanahan style of offense has a long track record of success and has carried Hall of Fame quarterbacks to late-career glory before.

John Elway had plenty of freedom during his long career in Denver but could never win a Super Bowl. Then Mike Shanahan took over with that offense and within four years he'd won two championships. Gary Kubiak, an understudy of Shanahan, used that system to help carry Peyton Manning across the finish line in 2015 for Denver. Kyle Shanahan got Matt Ryan to a Super Bowl and an MVP award in 2016.

The system works, provided the quarterback embraces it. Rodgers apparently isn't quite there yet. If he'll ever be.