Ahead of the Green Bay Packers-San Francisco 49ers game this coming Sunday night, Packers coach Matt LaFleur was asked to address whether he’s upset with his longtime friend/Niners coach Kyle Shanahan over rumors that the Niners pursued disgruntled quarterback Aaron Rodgers during the offseason.
“Kyle’s a great friend of mine. … I haven’t talked to him in a while, [but] it’s just part of the business [and] you start kind of getting into your own routine,” LaFleur told ESPN. “But yeah, absolutely, I hold no ill will toward him.”
But while the Green Bay coach downplayed any issues, NFL reporter Mike Silver posted a dramatic 10-tweet thread alleging that some bad blood had indeed spilled between the two buddies. This became apparent ahead of the 2021 NFL Draft, Silver wrote, when Shanahan joined in on a conversation between 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, Jets head coach Robert Saleh and Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, who is the younger brother of the Packers head coach.
Shanahan reportedly joked about the possibility of the Jets surprising everyone by not taking quarterback Zach Wilson, and the Jets offensive coordinator replied with a joke about the Niners pursuing Rodgers. But when Shanahan tried to get serious, Silver added, things went a bit south.
Shanahan was just asked about the pursuit for Rodgers and he simply replied that the team did its due diligence in making a call, but ultimately things never went through. However, for what it’s worth, he wasn’t asked to address LaFleur’s comments or Silver’s retelling of the story. Shanahan worked with the Packers coach when the two were on Washington’s staff from 2010 to 2013.
Whether this results in a more contentious matchup on Sunday remains to be seen; there is some semi-recent precedent of a Niners coach getting a little feisty during the postgame handshake.
