Will Matt LaFleur let Jordan Love cook? Why 2026 could be the QB's time to shine

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  Rob DemovskySep 1, 2026, 06:00 AM ET

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  Rob Demovsky is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Green Bay Packers. He has covered the Packers since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2013. Demovsky is a two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the NSSA.

"He's got to be the best I've been around in terms of protections and adjustments, and rarely does he get out-schemed."

-- Matt LaFleur, Aug. 10, 2026, on NFL Network

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers. Jared Goff. Matt Ryan. Between those quarterbacks, they have five NFL MVPs and three Super Bowl appearances.

Throw in Kirk Cousins, Robert Griffin III and Marcus Mariota, and you see a group of Matt LaFleur-coached QBs who have had more success than failure -- which is why on more than one occasion LaFleur was given the opportunity to recant his statement about Jordan Love being the best he has been around when it comes to protections and adjustments at the line of scrimmage.

Each time, whether it was in the moment on the NFL Network set during Packers training camp or in his next news conference, LaFleur held his ground.

If that's truly how LaFleur feels about his quarterback, then perhaps the 2026 season will prove transformative for the Packers' offense -- because in Love's three seasons as the starting quarterback, LaFleur has been about as run-heavy of a playcaller as there has been in the NFL.

LaFleur has called designed runs on 43.8% of his plays since the start of the 2023 season. Only two teams, the Baltimore Ravens (45.7%) and Philadelphia Eagles (44.8%), have been more run-heavy by design.

Put that up against LaFleur's four seasons with Rodgers, when the Packers ranked higher than 15th in designed run percentage only once (ninth in 2020), and it's fair to wonder whether LaFleur is really ready to turn Love loose in 2026.

The quarterback thinks so.

"I definitely believe Matt fully trusts me," Love said.

This summer, LaFleur let Love do something he had never done before: call the offensive plays for one of the backups in a preseason game. There was Love with the headset on and the call sheet in hand during the second half of the preseason finale against the Arizona Cardinals, telling Kyle McCord what to run.

"Just to hear his demeanor on the headset and how calm, cool and collected he was throughout the entire game, especially in those critical moments," LaFleur said. "It's not a surprise to me because that's what we see on the field too."

TRUST DOESN'T DEVELOP overnight. Sometimes, it doesn't develop in a season or two -- even for Rodgers.

While Rodgers sat for three years behind Brett Favre, it took another three for him to feel like he had earned coach Mike McCarthy's trust.

"Me and Mike got to that, but it wasn't early," Rodgers recalled recently. "It was years of working through things and having success.

"And I felt like by the third year, he trusted me enough -- because that was our fifth year together -- that if I said something, it wasn't just [that] I was trying to push back against them, or I was trying to do some sort of measuring. It was because I firmly believed that this is what was going to help us win or be the best on this play."

That doesn't mean it was always congenial.

Sometimes, Rodgers said, McCarthy would let things slide.

Other times, it would turn contentious.

Rodgers recalled times when McCarthy would call him into his office on a Monday morning with a list of 10 plays that Rodgers had changed in the previous game -- and for each and every one of them, McCarthy wanted to know why.

"We'd talk it out, and he'd see my side and I'd see his side, and we always kind of met back in the middle," Rodgers said. "I think that was the beauty in the success that we had, it was a lot of push and pull. He gave me the latitude. I proved that I deserve latitude and could make it work. And when I went too far, he would rein me back in."

It didn't take as long for LaFleur to trust Rodgers. He was a first-time head coach, and Rodgers had a pair of MVPs, a Super Bowl title and 14 years of starting experience to his credit. The 39-year-old coach was only four years older than his quarterback.

Even so, there was the early issue of whether LaFleur would allow Rodgers the freedom to change plays willy-nilly like he could under McCarthy. In fact, to audible or not to audible was the dominant story in the early months after LaFleur was hired in 2019.

Rodgers had a good year in 2019 with 4,002 yards, 26 touchdowns and four interceptions. He followed that up with MVP seasons in 2020 (4,299 yards, 48 TDs, five INTs) and 2021 (4,115 yards, 37 TDs, four INTs).

He credited the offseason of 2020, when COVID restrictions forced all meetings to go virtual, for helping he and LaFleur to connect on another level.

"I think the biggest jump for us was in the '20 offseason, when we had all those phone calls and Zoom calls," Rodgers said. "You start to take that ownership of the offense and tell them exactly what you want. As a young player, it's natural where you feel like I can't maybe put my stamp on this one or push too hard, there's still that balance of the authority figure and the peer relationship.

"I think that's the beauty in the league, is that you are peers. There's still that hierarchy, and you have to respect that, but the more you can use your voice to tell them exactly what you want when you want it, the smoother it ultimately goes."

Rodgers believes that Love, after three years as the starter and three straight playoff appearances (1-3 record), has reached that point.

"This is his fourth year starting now," Rodgers said. "I think with every year you get a little more confidence. Obviously your body of work is a chip on your shoulder to kind of use at any time, to say, 'Look, I've done this. I've made plays. I've won in the playoffs. I've played at a high level.' It just comes down to the communication part."

IT MAY BE a false -- or at least misguided -- premise that LaFleur hasn't turned Love loose yet.

Despite his run-heavy playcalls, LaFleur hasn't made Love into a dink-and-dunk quarterback. In fact, it's the opposite. When the Packers have passed, they've aired it out. Since 2023, Love has the third-highest average air yards per attempt (8.3) in the NFL, right behind the Baltimore Ravens' Lamar Jackson and Jacksonville Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence, both at 8.4.

And when the game is on the line, Love has delivered his share of comebacks. He has led eight fourth-quarter comebacks since becoming the starter, tied for most in the league during that span, according to ESPN Research.

If that's not evidence that Love is ready to take on more in the offense, then maybe this is: The only players with a better QBR than Love's mark of 67.1 among quarterbacks who have made at least 40 starts over the past three seasons are the Buffalo Bills' Josh Allen (70.3) and Jackson (68.5). Both Allen and Jackson have won MVPs in that time.

"There's not a place on the field that's a weakness for him," former quarterback and 2002 NFL MVP Rich Gannon said of Love. "I just think there's three or four plays typically that you're watching a Packers game, you go, 'What the hell is that? What happened there?' And that's really what he's got to get cleaned up.

"We're not talking about a guy that has eight or nine of them, but there's a couple, and he just has to eliminate some of the inconsistency."

To that end, LaFleur wanted Love to focus on one specific fundamental this offseason: footwork.

Love was raw coming out of Utah State in 2020, and not having a normal offseason before his rookie year because the pandemic slowed his development. In 2023 and 2024, his first two seasons as a starter, Love's accuracy was an issue.

Last season, Love posted his highest completion percentage (66.3) in any season as a starter, college or pro. LaFleur believes that number could go even higher.

"I think one of the things he's been really focused and conscious of throughout the course of the offseason and on his own in the summer is just trying to play with as much balance in the pocket as he can," LaFleur said, "knowing that there's going to be times you get moved off the spot.

"But can you maintain that balance? Because I think one thing you see from, I'd say a majority of quarterbacks in the league, when they are balanced in the pocket, they're going to be more consistent and more accurate over time."

WHEN THE PACKERS have asked more of Love, he has usually delivered. After his second season as the starter, LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst urged Love to become a more vocal leader.

Love accepted the challenge and was voted a captain before last season.

From leadership now comes ownership. Ownership of the offense, that is.

"That's where Jordan Love can really take the next step," said Gannon, who visited Packers training camp in August. "At the end of the day, it's on you. ... If he can become the CEO of that operation, taking more ownership and accountability and [making] sure that every play has an answer.

"I think he's at the point now where we're not at Level 1. When you're a freshman in college, you have 100 level classes. Now he should be at a 400 level where he's at. And when you look at how good Matt is as a play designer and schemer and playcalling, that's the next step to get to that level."

Statistically, Love's best stretch of football came at the end of his first season as Green Bay's starter. Over the final eight games of the regular season, Love completed more than 70% of his passes with 18 touchdowns and one interception.

During that stretch, when the Packers were 6-2 after a 3-6 start, LaFleur's designed run rate was 40.6% (which ranked 14th in the NFL)

Two weeks before Love went on that run, LaFleur urged Love to "shut his mind off and let it rip," while also acknowledging he needed to do the same as a playcaller.

Last season, the Packers ranked fourth in designed run percentage 44.2%, but that was with running back Josh Jacobs for all but two games last season. With Jacobs placed on the commissioner exempt list on Sunday after being charged with two misdemeanors last week, the Packers might have no choice but to rely more on the passing game.

On the third day of training camp this summer, LaFleur was in a playful mood to start his news conference. A day earlier, his younger son, Ty, was in the locker room pretending to be a reporter and asking players questions.

LaFleur wanted to know what kinds of questions his 13-year-old was asking.

A reporter jokingly said, "He was asking if you guys should run the ball more?"

LaFleur then asked, "Do you want us to run the ball more?"

The reporter responded by saying, "No ... are you going to let Jordan Love cook this year?"

LaFleur smiled and said, "Yeah, we're going to let him cook."