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Mike LaFleur has been touted as a future head coach. Little wonder, given his close connections and familiarity with Kyle Shanahan and one of the NFL’s most intriguing coaching trees.
The New York Jets offensive coordinator revealed some of the lessons he has learned from the people he knows best in the NFL – his older brother Matt, Shanahan, Robert Saleh and Mike McDaniel – four head coaches at different stages of their careers.
Matt LaFleur has coached the Green Bay Packers for the past three seasons. His regular season record of 40-9 is the best-ever for a head coach in their first three years in the NFL.
New York Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur revealed some of the lessons he has learned
Both brothers worked in Atlanta under offensive genius Shanahan in 2015 as the Falcons reached the Super Bowl. Matt was quarterbacks coach and the younger sibling an offensive assistant, as was new Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel.
Speaking about his brother, LaFleur told Sportsmail via Zoom: ‘I’ve never been around anyone – especially that 2015-16 year but obviously talking with him every day. There’s not a worker like him that I’ve ever been around. It’s like there’s 25 hours in the day. And I mean that it’s just he has no stop. It’s just go, go, go.
‘When he does get a summer break he gets to be around his family and his kids and all that and that probably is his time to breathe. But when he’s in the building, I’ve never seen a worker like him and I think the results have shown with that.’
His brother Matt LaFleur has coached the Green Bay Packers for the past three seasons
Robert Saleh took Mike LaFleur with him from the San Francisco 49ers to the Jets in 2021. Saleh was the best man at LaFleur Snr.’s wedding and has known the younger brother since his formative days.
‘I believe it was my junior year of high school. My brother and him were graduate assistants at Central Michigan together and they lived Mount Pleasant, which is not a very big town at all. And they lived about a mile-and-a-half down the road. They are GA’s, not making any money obviously, so they didn’t have cable or any of that and they wanted to eat all my parents’ food.
‘So they just all of a sudden started coming over all the time. At the time I was with my girlfriend, who is now my wife, so we’ve known him for a good part of 20 years.’
‘I never worked with him until 2017. My brother and him are obviously best friends – they communicated a lot. Saleh and I didn’t communicate a ton but we obviously worked together for those four years in San Francisco. And it was such a cool time.
‘It’s documented how well his defenses did, but just the leadership that he provided for his defense and the whole team. You could just tell it was a matter of time before he was going to become a head coach and I just thought it was a perfect scenario. When he asked me to come to the Jets it was just a no-brainer.’
‘When I think of Saleh it’s just how efficient of a worker and a speaker he is. His message never changes. And that’s big. These players, when they leave the building, when they’re on social media – as you’re trying to get them not to be, it is what it is and you might as well embrace that stuff.
Both brothers worked in Atlanta under offensive genius Kyle Shanahan (left) in 2015
Robert Saleh took Mike LaFleur with him from the San Francisco 49ers to the Jets in 2021
‘And Saleh’s got a consistent clear message that never really never changed. In San Francisco, even in our first few years when we didn’t have the win loss record that we wanted, it didn’t change. He adapted to whatever he had to adapt to with the players to get the most success out of them. But his message and the person he is never changed.’
LaFleur was handed his first role in the NFL in 2014 by Shanahan in Cleveland. He followed him to Atlanta a year later and latterly San Francisco in 2016 before the move to NYC.
‘With Kyle – that one really could go on forever because being on the offensive side of the ball and being with them since 14, but also knowing him since 2008 and learning so much from him even when I wasn’t in the building.
His attention to detail and his urgency are through the roof. This league does not wait for anyone as we know. They don’t really care how young of a football team we are. They don’t care that our quarterback is going into a second year with a young squad. It doesn’t matter, the results are going to speak for themselves and that’s what this league is all about.
LaFleur was full of praise for new Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel ahead of season
‘And I took that right away from Kyle – that there is no year two. If you get to it, great, but you got to be good every single day, every single Sunday. You’ve got to be able to show up because this league is not going to wait for anyone.’
And after LaFleur followed Saleh to the Jets last year, Shanahan moved long-time cohort McDaniel from run game coordinator to offensive coordinator in San Francisco.
After a year in the post, McDaniel begins his first season in Miami as head coach.
‘I put him in that same boat as my brother in terms of the work,’ LaFleur said.
‘I mean he was the earliest one in the building every single every single day in San Francisco. He’s just such a great mind. That’s well documented. His personality is very unique. And I guess for lack of a better term cool.
‘But what people don’t know about Mike is he’s a phenomenal human being. He is a soldier. He is he is going to have your back. He’s going to have Kyle Shanahan’s back. He’s going to have the Miami Dolphins’ back at all times. And he’s just he’s such a good team guy. A great guy and I wish him so much success – except for obviously the two games that we’re gonna be meeting up with him!’