I hadn't heard about this until the chilly handshake.



THREAD 1) On Wednesday, Packers coach Matt LaFleur said he holds no ill will toward 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, his longtime colleague & friend, in the wake of the Niners' offseason pursuit of Aaron Rodgers. Shanahan also downplayed any tension. The two teams play Sunday night...

2) But the Rodgers situation caused a lot of drama between LaFleur, Shanahan and their mutual friends and coaching colleagues last spring, and one story in particular--which took place on the first night of the draft--underscores that strain...

3) Minutes before the start of the 2021 draft, 49ers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel was having a FaceTime conversation in his office with two former SF assistants: Jets HC Robert Saleh & Jets OC Mike LaFleur (Matt's younger brother), who were together in Florham Park, NJ...

4) McDaniel's office door was open, and some other Niners coaches walked into the room. Playful banter was exchanged by both sides. Then Shanahan entered McDaniel's office and joined the conversation.

5) A couple of hours earlier, the NFL world had been rocked by reports of Aaron Rodgers' desire to leave Green Bay--and a report that the 49ers had called the Packers (Shanahan, to LaFleur) to inquire about a trade. Now the Niners were getting ready to pick a QB third overall...

6) The Jets, with the No. 2 pick, were expected to take BYU QB Zach Wilson. Shanahan joked to Saleh and (Mike) LaFleur: "I hope you guys don't take a different QB and cross us up. We haven't looked hard enough at Wilson."...

7) "What do you mean? You've already got your quarterback," Mike LaFleur replied to Shanahan. "Aaron Rodgers." Shanahan tried to brush it off as a joke, saying, "Hey, tell your brother to call me back. He hasn't returned my calls." LaFleur's response: "Can you blame him?"...

8) At that point, according to several people familiar with the call, Shanahan got visibly upset and hastily left the room. In his eyes, he had merely done due diligence on behalf of his franchise. But it was clear to all that Matt LaFleur viewed it differently...

9) The fact that Rodgers and Niners GM John Lynch share an agent, David Dunn, contributed to the perception that there had been a coordinated effort to get Rodgers from the Packers to the Niners. And to Mike LaFleur, blood is clearly thicker than water...

10) As Sunday night's game approaches, it's heartening that Matt LaFleur and Shanahan are publicly downplaying any tension. They're both accomplished coaches and have a lot of history, & the NFL is a stressful business. And Rodgers, for now, remains property of the Packers. (END)

---

Interesting. I didn’t know there was bad blood there. Glad we got the best of them though and the way shanahan acted at the end of the game shows me a lot about his sportsmanship.

---

That's a very interesting story, but it also sounds like they're making a mountain out of a molehill.

I mean if the 49ers thought they were going to get Rodgers, they would have kept their three first round draft picks as those are more valuable than one, unless you absolutely love a guy, and Gute already had a Love guy in the wings.

I haven't seen the icey hand shake but LaFleur seemed to chalk it up to Shanahan being a fierce competitor and last second leads shifting sides.

You have to think Shanahan was pissed as he was probably thinking like me that they should be able to out muscle the defense like they did in the NFC Championship game two years ago. And everything was going their way until their QB failed to successfully complete an intentional grounding by throwing it backwards...

He's probably thinking of benching his QB... and pissed they lost when they thought they just won it seconds earlier.

---

I like hearing about behind the scenes stories. They add depth to teams and players that can be rather on dimensional especially with all the canned sound bites.

As for the icy handshake, that's mainly post game pity on Shanahan's part.

---