Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, one of the best members of the Green Bay Packers’ beat, just wrote an update on where things stand between the Packers and head coach Matt LaFleur, as Green Bay attempts to get a deal done for LaFleur to be the coach of the Packers in 2026 and moving forward. As he put it, “negotiations are dragging.”
Per Silverstein’s sources, the issue “isn’t as much about money as it is length,” which, in my opinion, is a statement that has some merit to it, but
is still ultimately about money. Silverstein claims that LaFleur’s market is expected to be in the $14 million to $15 million range from Green Bay, but the team is hedging their bets, “offering him a one- or two-year extension.”
As I’ve written before, a source told me that LaFleur makes “less than double” the initial salary he made in Green Bay. When he signed on in 2019, I’m told, he made $5 million per year. Silverstein’s sources claim he currently makes between $8 million and $10 million on his current extension, which makes sense based on what was told to me.
This part is where I say it’s still about the money. Whether you have an agreed-upon per-year number or not, the industry standard is for coaching contracts to be guaranteed, outside of incentives (these are fairly limited and not the bulk of coaches’ pay). So even though it’s not about the cash flow, it is still about the money.
If LaFleur gets a new two-year extension (let’s call it $14.5 million per year to split Silverstein’s ranges), on top of the year he still has left (let’s call it $9 million to again split Silverstein’s ranges), that’s $38 million in guaranteed money. With John Harbaugh reportedly signing for a $100 million contract after hitting the market, you can see that there’s a bit of a gulf between these two offers — for coaches who would have been considered in the same tier of priority in this coaching market, had LaFleur become available when Harbaugh did.
On top of that, it’s important to keep in context the value that Chicago’s Ben Johnson and Jacksonville’s Liam Coen signed for, before ever being a head coach at the NFL level. Johnson signed a $13 million per year deal for five years ($65 million), and Coen signed a $12 million per year deal for five years ($60 million).
Sure, it’s not about cash flow, but it’s still about committed money. At least, that’s how I see it. Nothing prevents the Packers from signing LaFleur to a five-year extension and releasing him before those five years are done. They apparently aren’t offering that because the cost to fire, which is inherently a money decision.
Here’s a quote from the article:
“They’re still a little bit of a mom-and-pop organization,” the first agent said of the Packers not being proactive with signing LaFleur. “You don’t get to hedge your bets. Matt has some leverage. He’s going to want a deal where he can coach knowing he’s not going to get fired.”
Per Silverstein, Green Bay “stayed out of the Harbaugh sweepstakes even through back channels,” but there’s a belief that the team could pivot to hiring defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley to the head coach role at a rate of $7 million per season. For what it’s worth, first-time head coach deals in that range usually come on five-year deals, so that $35 million guaranteed would be around the same range of financial commitment as this supposed two-year extension offer (plus the 2026 season already on the books) for LaFleur. LaFleur’s first deal was a four-year deal with a fifth-year option for the team.
The Packers “would probably let him negotiate with other teams and ask for draft-pick compensation to allow him out of the final year of his deal,” Silverstein added about LaFleur in the context of a Hafley promotion. “At some point Hafley is going to be off the table though.”
So far, Hafley has interviewed or will interview with six of the eight open jobs in the NFL right now: Arizona, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Miami, Pittsburgh and Tennessee. The only jobs he isn’t getting a look at, for now, are Baltimore and Cleveland, but he also never interviewed for the New York Giants, who drew first blood in this coaching cycle by hiring Harbaugh.
Silverstein ended the piece with the following statement: “Right now, it looks like LaFleur has the upper hand and the Packers must decide if they’re all-in.”
