Matt LaFleur confirms he’s a fantasy football manager’s nightmare

The 2023 season marked new beginnings for the Green Bay Packers. After 18 years, the Packers decided to move on from quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was inevitably traded to the New York Jets last offseason. Rodgers' fate was sealed when general manager Brian Gutekunst made the controversial decision to draft quarterback Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Entering the 2023 season, there was uncertainty surrounding Green Bay's offense for the first time since Rodgers unseated former quarterback Brett Favre in 2008. The Packers had moved on from their aging stars and replaced them with a host of young, unheralded players.

Green Bay managed to make the postseason last year and pulled off a shocking upset win over the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Wild Card Round. After exceeding expectations, the Packers are heading into the 2024 season with much more optimism surrounding the team.

Matt LaFleur says Packers offense won't feature a No. 1 target

Green Bay began their preseason slate with a 23-10 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday. The Packers fielded their starting offense to begin the game and the team opened the night with fireworks. On just the third offensive snap of the game, Love connected with wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks for a 65-yard touchdown down the right sideline. The play caused some murmurs regarding Wicks' role in the offense heading into the 2024 season.

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was asked about the wide receiver depth chart on Monday, but he immediately shot down the idea of having a top target in his offense.

"I want to vomit every time I hear No. 1 receiver," LaFleur said. "It drives me crazy. That's something you guys talk about. I think we've got a bunch of them. I think the beauty of them is they're capable of doing many things, which gives us a lot of versatility from an offensive perspective in terms of how we use these guys and deploy their talents. Especially those, I would say top-four guys, they're capable of being a No. 1 in some capacity. It's just how do we want to attack somebody? Where do we want to put those guys? Who's going to get the ball? I don't know. It could change on a week-to-week basis. We saw it last year."

In Love's first campaign as the Packers starting quarterback, the team found success by embracing diversity. Green Bay was the only team to have four wide receivers with over 400 receiving yards and four or more receiving touchdowns who were all under the age of 25, per CBS Sports.

Jayden Reed, a 2023 second-round pick, led the team with 64 receptions for 793 yards and 8 touchdowns. Romeo Doubs, a 2022 fourth-round pick, was second with 59 receptions for 674 yards and 8 touchdowns. Christian Watson, a 2022 second-round pick, and Wicks, a 2023 fifth-round pick, both amassed at least 400 receiving yards and four touchdowns despite starting in less than 10 games.

Still, LaFleur isn't a stranger to featured a clear No. 1 target in his offense, and the 2023 season was quite a departure from the team's offense under Rodgers. During the 2021 season, wide receiver Davante Adams had the second-most targets (169) and the second-highest target share (31.6 percent) among all wide receivers in the NFL. Adams was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders following that season, effectively ending Green Bay's run of three consecutive NFC Championship Game appearances.