Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and the offensive position coaches met with the media Wednesday to break down the offense’s development in the second year of Head Coach Matt LaFleur’s scheme. 

For Hackett, the emphasis going into year two remains marrying plays together so formations give different looks and can confuse the defense. “It takes all 11 for every single play,” he said.

If you ask passing game coordinator Luke Getsy, quarterback Aaron Rodgers has benefitted from another offseason and training camp in LaFleur’s system. 

“He is locked in,” Getsy said of Rodgers in these first practices. “He’s in a good place. He’s in year two of the system and he knows what’s going on around him now. You take a year ago today, we were in a much different place. 

“Obviously the talent has always been there but now the understanding of what we’re trying to accomplish and what he’s trying to accomplish is all on the same page now.”

Beyond the quarterback position where an established starter is firmly in place, there’s plenty of competition across the offense, with players making impressions on the coaching staff early. 

One player in particular is Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who wide receivers coach Jason Vrable said was having his most impressive stretch of practice to date. 

“I think it’s just his confidence,” Vrable said. “It’s always been there, it’s just the confidence in this offense and system.” 

He added that there were plays last season where Valdes-Scantling and Rodgers just weren’t on the same page, whether Valdes-Scantling ran the wrong depth on a route or the ball was overthrown. 

“The last three days were the best practices I’ve seen out of him,” said Vrable. Last season, Valdes-Scantling played with confidence but maybe not a deep understanding of the offense. Going into 2020, he’s got both. 

The tight end unit also provides versatility for the offense, with veteran Marcedes Lewis, Robert Tonyan, Jace Sternberger, and rookie Josiah Deguara all bringing something different to the table. Position coach Justin Outten discussed Sternberger’s nontraditional body type for a tight end, but emphasized that there are plenty of ways to get him on the football field in LaFleur’s scheme. 

“It’s just the fit of this offense and what type of ways we can use him,” said Outten. “We’re going to try to use his strengths just like everybody in that room. We’re going to try to use their strengths to help this offense be special. He brings a different look and feel to that room just like Marcedes does, I mean every guy is a little bit different in that room.”

Beyond Sternberger, Outten called Lewis a “blessing” to have in the tight ends room and explained the versatility of Deguara’s game, before adding that Tonyan had “put himself in a good spot” heading into camp the way he’s bounced back from injury both mentally and physically. 

For the rest of the receiving core, Vrable expressed that he’s had confidence in the receiving core from the beginning, despite outside perceptions from the media and fans. 

“I saw their potential in preseason and training camp and then as the season went on, I think our quarterback and our coaching staff really got comfortable with them,” Vrable said of the more “unknown” players on the roster like Lazard and Kumerow going into last season. Now in 2020, those players will have additional opportunities to carve out roles for themselves on offense. 

Another player getting attention in camp thus far has been Jamaal Williams, who running backs coach Ben Sirmans said has completely elevated his game by working on his quickness and pass-catching all offseason. 

“Those things have shown up big time so far in camp,” said Sirmans. “I think that’s going to make him a bigger weapon in this offense.”

Beyond Williams, the running backs room is one of the most loaded positions on the roster with Aaron Jones, the league’s touchdown leader in 2019, and rookie second-round pick A.J. Dillon. 

“When you have at the very least three guys that you feel you can depend on, and that you can utilize in various ways...it is reassuring,” Sirmans said of the trio, adding that if something happens to one player, the team is confident in the depth at the position despite each player bringing a different skill set. “You won’t miss a beat and you can still be productive as an offense.”

Otten felt similarly about his tight ends room, adding that while the players might technically feel as though they’re competing against each other in camp for reps and playing time, his unit is actually close-knit.

“They’re competing but they’re really really close,” Outten said. “If you want to be the best at your position, out-work the guys that are on the other 31 teams.”

One recurring theme in the press conferences was that the rookies would have benefitted from preseason games. As much as the coaching staff can replicate live reps in practice it’s not the same as real NFL experience. 

“We try to make it as much like a game-like experience as we can,” said Hackett on the practices without preseason. 

“Practice preparation equals game reality.” said Vrable on finding consistency. He said that consistency has been an emphasis in practice since they don’t have preseason games to evaluate. 

For Dillon, Sirmans said he’s still adapting to the speed of the game in the NFL, and that most college running backs are used to breaking outside instead of finding running lanes up the middle. He called it unfortunate that Dillon doesn’t have a preseason game to practice that.

For first-round pick Jordan Love, Getsy explained that his job right now as a rookie is to continue his development in such an unprecedented offseason. 

“He’s getting better every single day,” Getsy said, adding that his confidence grows every day, too. He added that for the rookie, there’s a “bigger picture” beyond his completion percentage and hard stats while he’s learning the position at the NFL level. 

Along the offensive line, position coach Adam Stenavich explained that his job right now is get his trio of sixth-round draft picks familiar with one position at an NFL level. 

“I just basically want to get them comfortable in a role as far as whatever position they can play,” he said. “In order for them to be able to help us this year, they need to find a spot and see if they can excel in that and then once they do that we can move them around a little bit to different roles.”

There are only a few weeks left of practice for Green Bay to evaluate its players before the roster is cut down from 80 to the final 53, with 16 spots available on the expanded practice squad. Fans will get a glimpse into the second year of LaFleur’s offense in just over three weeks when the Packers head to Minneapolis to play the Vikings on Sept. 13th.