Mike LaFleur Talks Familiarity Between the Rams and Falcons

LaFleur, who was a former Falcons assistant before leaving with Kyle Shanahan when Shanahan became the San Francisco 49ers head coach, is set to return to the place he had his first paid NFL gig.

LaFleur detailed his extensive history with Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, having worked with him when both men were assistants with Atlanta and when both men were the offensive and defensive coordinators with the Rams in 2023.

Watch Mike LaFleur's Full Press Conference Below

The Xs and Os

LaFleur has been at the forefront of the NFL's latest offensive evolution, helping head coach Sean McVay establish a 13 personnel offense that utilizes the mismatches created by a heavy use of tight ends, creating multiple post-snap plays from the same pre-snap looks.

LaFleur spoke about how defenses have matched up to the personnel grouping, reverting back to some of thing things the Shanahan offense used during LaFleur's early career stints as a intern with the Cleveland Browns and his time in Atlanta.

"I guess you just had to grab more base defense [film] with 13-personnel," stated LaFleur. "It hasn't changed a ton. You have to sometimes guess what a defense is going to do because not a lot of people are running 13-personnel unless it's situational ball. If they are, you're only getting about four to six snaps a game. You still have to go, ‘Okay, they're going to be prepping for it so what's going to be different when they play us?’ You're playing that guessing game a little bit."

"It's been fun to dive back into it. It's more in the roots of when I first started in 2014. We weren't necessarily 13-personnel. We'd sprinkle it in, but typically we'd have a fullback in there so 22 and 21 [personnel]. You’re mainly going against base defense. It's been fun over the last eight weeks, or however long it’s been, to really dive back into that and try to put these guys in position to be successful.”