LaFleur on if Rasul Douglas stepped over the line: ‘Absolutely not’

“I think most of the guys are all about the right stuff in that locker room. Rasul is certainly one of those guys.”

When teams go on a losing streak, frustrations — rightfully — start to pop up. Prior to his trade, cornerback Rasul Douglas was one of the team’s most vocal leaders on the Green Bay Packers, which wound up drawing attention to himself. For example, after the Packers dropped their fourth straight game last weekend, Douglas had the following to say, according to Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber:

“We’re saying sh** but until we actually do the sh**, it don’t really matter. I’m thinking about it like, bro, I’ve never been a loser in my life. These last two years have been f***ing loser. That sh** ain’t me. I don’t think that sh**’s us. We’ve got to do something, you know what I mean?”

Due to Douglas’ presence in the locker room, reporters had the opportunity to ask Packers head coach Matt LaFleur if Douglas’ comments were a factor in his eventual trade to the Buffalo Bills. Here’s how that exchange went:

Reporter: Rasul Douglas went from a pretty quiet guy when he first got here to a vocal leader on your team. He gave us some pretty frank answers about his disappointments in the last three or four weeks. You can see other players coming to him. Did he step over the line?

LaFleur: Absolutely not. I want to set that down right away. It has nothing to do [with it]. I think he’s been a positive impact in that locker room. So, absolutely not.

Reporter: What’s the guidelines you say to your team’s veterans when it comes to what they say in the meeting rooms or what they say to us?

LaFleur: No, I don’t sit there and micromanage what people say. Certainly, we have a message that I give to the team every day, every time we talk to them about the things that we need to a better job with. All that stuff, but these guys are going to say what they need to say, but I think most of the guys are all about the right stuff in that locker room. Rasul is certainly one of those guys.

For what it’s worth, general manager Brian Gutekunst also praised Douglas on his leadership in Green Bay during Gutekunst’s one and only in-season presser on Wednesday. By all accounts, the trade of Douglas seems to have been a business decision, rather than an attempt to shake up the locker room.