The quarterback whisperer: Tom Clements' process rooted in fundamentals

This story originally appeared in the 2024 Packers Yearbook, which is available now and can be ordered online at this Packers Pro Shop link.

Tom Clements' breakdown of the position sounds so simple.

"Successful quarterbacks are able to process information quickly and make good decisions consistently," the Packers QB coach said. "If you can (do that), and you have physical ability and you're fundamentally sound, you have a chance to be successful."

There are several layers to those basic thoughts, but Clements certainly knows what success at quarterback looks like. He's in the unique position of having worked with three straight franchise QBs in Green Bay – Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers and now Jordan Love – in two different stints on the Packers' coaching staff. All of which came on top of a playing career that saw him lead Notre Dame to a national championship, finish fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting, and earn induction into the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame by quarterbacking two teams to Grey Cup titles and winning CFL Rookie of the Year and MVP awards.

But Clements isn't one to tout his own playing career or delve into how it impacts his coaching, other than to say, "I played the position, so I know what it's like, and I know the way I like to be coached." So, what are his secrets?

First and foremost, Clements is a stickler for fundamentals, and a key one is footwork. Building successful quarterback play starts, literally, from the ground up. Footwork drills are repeated, daily, over and over, for good reason.

"It's a timing-based game," Clements said. "The footwork, the drop and the route have to correspond. If everything's in an ideal situation, you're not getting a great rush, able to keep your feet underneath you and make the throw, great.

"But that doesn't happen a whole helluva lotta the time."

So the emphasis goes way beyond the drop-back. At any practice, the Packers' QBs are hopping back and forth over bags, sprinting left or right out of the pocket, and having to hit specific targets, either after resetting their feet, or on the run.

"We're trying to create drills that translate to the game," he said. "You do drills designed to simulate what might happen, not just drills to drill."

The four-time MVP career Rodgers enjoyed in Green Bay, and the rapid growth and progress Love is showing now, speak to the value of Clements' methods. The rest builds upon the foundation via experience and film study.

Having come to Green Bay with former head coach Mike McCarthy in 2006 for the final two years of Favre's tenure here, he always considered his work with Favre more of a "collaboration," offering suggestions that an established star, and son of a coach himself, would understandably take or leave.

In contrast, Clements started working with Rodgers in his second season (first as QB coach for six years, then offensive coordinator), and with Love in his third year in 2022 thanks to Rodgers quasi-coaxing him out of retirement to return to Green Bay after several years away. Rodgers has always spoken highly of the impact Clements had on him, particularly in McCarthy's "QB school," and Love is benefiting from a scaled-down version of that offseason structure now.

Love noted one of Clements' consistent practice-field messages to him is to "go game speed."

"When we're doing these drills going over bags, running around a cone, treat it like somebody's chasing you," Love said. "There's plenty of instances where that comes to life in the game."

Which then allows Clements to put together some of his favorite teaching tools for the film room – practice clips of a drill followed by mirrored game clips of the skill being executed precisely the same way.

"He tells you exactly what you need to know," Love said, appreciatively. "Sometimes it gets old, hearing the same thing over and over again. If you do it, good job. If you don't, this is what you need to do. He doesn't overcoach."

How much longer he plans to coach is uncertain. Head Coach Matt LaFleur understands it's a year-to-year proposition at this point but is "ecstatic" he's still around. For now Clements continues to enjoy the competitive nature of the sport, the people he's working with, the success of his pupils, and the pursuit of another Super Bowl.

"Each year is a new year, so you don't know what obstacles you're going to face, but based on how we played from mid-year on (in 2023), if we can get to that point again, we would have as good a chance as anyone," he said. "So that's obviously intriguing."

Love's development has plenty to do with that, and one area Clements believes will become part of his ascension – as it did with Rodgers – is improvisational ability. Making something out of nothing.

One late-season play, even though it occurred in a loss to Tampa Bay, showed a major step forward in that realm for Love when he escaped the pocket on third-and-long and fired a dart to the end-zone sideline to rookie receiver Jayden Reed, who deftly tapped his toes in bounds for a 17-yard TD.

"It's teaching tape for us now," Love said, "about how you move when it breaks down, the receivers, the timing of everything."

And it no doubt originated from a footwork drill.

"That's the type of play that can turn a game around," Clements said. "He showed he has the ability to be one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL. I think the sky's the limit for him, really."

Clements with the Packers
2006-11: QB coach
2012-14: Offensive coordinator
2015-16: Assoc. head coach/offense
2022-pres.: QB coach