Green Bay, Wisconsin Every day, he consumes the same food. Heisman Trophy, he almost won. He was a two-time Canadian Football League Grey Cup champion. Before being introduced to coaching by two legendary individuals, Lou Holtz and Mike Ditka, he spent four years practicing law. His humor is as parched as the Atacama Desert. His spouse works as an interior designer in Hollywood.
The quarterback Aaron Rodgers once quoted a made-up character in a beer commercial, saying, “He’s like the most interesting man in the world.” No, Tom Clements has never been in an advertisement.
or the most intriguing man on the coaching staff of the Green Bay Packers, at any rate.
Furthermore, Clements is unique in that he is the only person to have had direct coaching experience with Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love, and Brett Favre.
He is in his second term as the quarterbacks coach for the Packers at the age of 70. Although he returned last season at Rodgers’ request, it’s possible that his return helped set Love up for success.
Clements’ relationship with Packers quarterbacks runs like this: from 2008 to 2016, he served as either Aaron Rodgers’ coordinator or position coach. In 2022, he came out of retirement to work with Rodgers once again. Favre’s final two seasons in Green Bay were spent as his quarterbacks coach (2006–07). In 2023, he stayed on staff to assist Love in adjusting to her new role.
Clements laughed when asked what pulled him back to Green Bay in the spring, responding, “Delta.” similar to the airline.
When it became apparent that Rodgers would be dealt to the Jets this past offseason, several people, including Packers coach Matt LaFleur, wondered if Clements may leave town.
As Love’s improvements had the Packers (6-6) on a three-game winning streak entering their “Monday Night Football” game against the New York Giants (8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN), he chose to stay and work with him.
Clements responded in a deadpan manner once more when asked how long he saw himself continuing in this manner: “At least through the Giants game.”
LaFleur is hoping for a lot more time.
“In my opinion, he has the option to return if he so chooses,” LaFleur stated in a recent ESPN interview. “I wish he were back here. He is an amazing person. He is really knowledgeable. He works well in a team. All of the quarterbacks think well of him and like him. They think he improves them and helps them play the game better.”
With each of the three Packers quarterbacks, Clements had a different task. Clements became the first member of former Packers coach (now coach of the Dallas Cowboys) Mike McCarthy’s staff in 2006 after Favre threw 29 interceptions in a 4-12 season that ended Mike Sherman’s run as head coach.
Favre cut his number of interceptions to 18 in 2006 and 15 in 2007, the years the Packers made it to the NFC Championship Game, during the two seasons he was coaching under McCarthy and Clements. Clements made no attempt to alter Favre’s core principles. He was born with those.
In an ESPN interview, Clements stated, “Brett would listen.” “He would attempt to do it since he was a coach’s son. Great if it worked for him. It made sense that he would do things his way if it didn’t. It was just a matter of trying to support Brett’s Sunday performance.”
When it came to Rodgers and Love’s footwork, Clements practically started from scratch with them.
“I’ve always said if you watch a quarterback’s feet, you can make a good determination whether the throw’s going to be an accurate throw,” Clements stated. “Aaron was a stickler for detail. That worked out because he wanted to finish it the way we wanted.”
A change in the NFL’s offseason policies reduced Clements’ time with Love by limiting the amount of time he could spend working with the quarterbacks.
“Jordan’s footwork is really what we’ve worked on, and I think he’s bought into what we’re trying to accomplish, and he’s improved in that aspect,” Clements stated. “So we’re working on that, and he’s improved in that area a lot.”
Prior to last year, neither LaFleur nor Love had any personal acquaintance with Clements; nonetheless, they were both aware of him due to Rodgers’ frequent extols of him.
When Clements returned to the Packers the previous season, Rodgers remarked, “Tom just understands the little things in the position and, so, every drill is working on one specific thing.” “And it’s really how I was able to polish my fundamentals and learn how to throw in rhythm and throw on time and not make premeditated decisions — one of the quarterback mortal sins.”
After the 2021 season, when LaFleur had a vacancy on his staff, he wondered if Clements would be interested. After working with Kyler Murray during the first two seasons of the No. 1 pick, the Arizona Cardinals (2019–20), Clements took a two-year hiatus from coaching.