Packers making the best of unconventional offseason

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Without naming names, Rodgers said he found some pros around the Los Angeles area to throw to "a couple times a week" to keep his arm in shape.


"The biggest change has been, you know, feeling like a kid throwing the football at the park," said Rodgers during a conference call with Green Bay media Friday.


"You have to find different places to get some of these workouts in … to get our running in, our agility in with our group, and then finding places to throw the ball. We've got a couple good places now to throw it."


For the past three weeks, Rodgers has been part of the virtual offseason program the Packers' coaching staff has been conducting with players. It's enabled the strength-and-conditioning staff to touch base with the roster, while position coaches have addressed their players in individual meetings.


Head Coach Matt LaFleur marshaled in the offseason program with a Zoom meeting with close to 100 attendees last month. On other occasions, coaches have been pre-recording presentations on players' iPads to lay out the team's vision and expectations for the 2020 season.


LaFleur said the team has run part of the virtual program through its technical support staff and director of technology Mike Halbach, but also outsourced a portion through a contact of offensive coordinator Nathanial Hackett's.


On top of the usual X's and O's, the Packers' coaches have integrated their own personal comedic touch to the meetings. Rodgers specifically credited the ingenuity (and humor) of Hackett, offensive line coach Adam Stenavich and running backs coach Ben Sirmans during their presentations.


"Our coaches have done an unbelievable job of being creative, because the majority of our installs and whatnot have been more of those voice-over type installs and you want to keep the guys entertained," LaFleur said. "You spend a lot of time, you make these videos and they take a lot longer than they would normally."


The coaches have proceeded at a slower pace with virtual instructions and installs than they normally do with in-person individual player workouts and OTAs, but Rodgers feels that's been beneficial since there's been more emphasis on the details.


The time and effort LaFleur and the coaches have invested in reviewing the 2019 season have been apparent in one-on-one meetings Rodgers has had with the Packers' second-year head coach, Hackett and quarterbacks coach/passing-game coordinator Luke Getsy.