Contract talks seem to be stalling. Could the Green Bay Packers trade Matt LaFleur in a move rarely seen in the NFL?
Trades happen all the time in the NFL. Heck, the Green Bay Packers were the beneficiary of arguably one of the biggest trades of the past decade when they traded with the Dallas Cowboys for one Micah Parsons.
Pure player swaps are a bit more rare, but player for draft picks happen all the time. You even have combo packages like what the Packers sent to Dallas. They traded two first round picks plus defensive tackle Kenny Clark for Parsons.
Trading a coach, though? That's rare, but it's something that has come up as it relates to Matt LaFleur and his future with the Packers.
He has just one year left on his deal and we know team president Ed Policy doesn't believe in "lame duck" years. The two sides were supposed to be talking a contract extension as recently as this past Monday, but now a few days have gone on and there have been zero updates.
On Wednesday morning, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter said that things were up in the air
"There is no deal right now, and it's a negotiation," Schefter said on "Jen, Gabe and Chewy" on ESPN Milwaukee (h/t PackersWire). "When there is a no negotiation and there's no deal, there could be a breakthrough any moment. And I think both sides would like to make that happen. But it's now 7:37 Central Time on Wednesday and they have been trying to do this for a little while. They still have not gotten it figured out. And the longer it lingers out there, the more you wonder where it's going to go and how it's going to result. Right now, how I would interpret it right now is it's up in the air."
Schefter also suggested that if extensions talks aren't working out, perhaps one of the head-coach needy teams out there would call Green Bay to discuss a trade.
That's something that Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk also suggested.
"While LaFleur would have to be willing to participate in the two-step process (new team makes a deal with the Packers, new team makes a deal with LaFleur), it may be his only alternative to accepting an extension he doesn’t like or coaching the final year of his current deal," Florio wrote.
Again, this is a rare deal in the NFL, but it has happened before. Notably, it has happened with the Packers, so there is historic precedent for trading a coach in Green Bay.
In 1999, the Packers traded Mike Holmgren, a Super Bowl-winning head coach, to the Seattle Seahawks for a second-round pick.
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Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre (4) and Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Holmgren walk off the field together after the victory of the Detroit Lions on Oct. 15, 1995 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. Gpg Historic Photos Vs Detroit Lions 10192022 0008
Other notable head coach trades include Bill Belichick being traded from the New York Jets to the New England Patriots in 2000, Jon Gruden being traded by the Oakland Raiders to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002, and Sean Payton being traded from the New Orleans Saints to the Denver Broncos in 2023.
It's clear these are rare events, but when they happen, they absolutely can change the fortune of both teams involved.
Could the Packers go this route if they can't come to an agreement with LaFleur? It's certainly possible, but keep in mind, that would also mean they'll find themselves in the market for a new head coach as well.