GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Jordan Love will have to take the next step in his career as Green Bay Packers quarterback without his respected position coach Tom Clements. .

On the day the Packers announced the 71-year-old Clements' retirement, head coach Matt LaFleur said the next step in Love's evolution as a quarterback is taking on more vocal leadership with the team Role.

“I think the next step is just continuing to develop into a vocal leader,” LaFleur said of Love during Tuesday’s season wrap-up press conference.

Clements will go down in history as the only man to coach Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers and Love.

This was actually Clements' second or third retirement, depending on how he looked at it. He originally came to Green Bay in 2006 as Mike McCarthy's quarterbacks coach and left after the 2016 season. Clements would not be coaching for another two years until the Arizona Cardinals hired him to work with Kyler Murray, who was the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2019.

Clements also coached the Saints, Chiefs, Steelers and Bills.

Clements told ESPN in 2023 that if he retired after his first stint in Green Bay, he would be "retired, retired" after the 2020 season in Arizona. It wasn't until Luke Gacy left in 2022 to become the offensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears that Rodgers convinced him to return to Green Bay.

“Man, it’s been a cool journey with him the last three years,” LaFleur said of Clements. Clements has been a star quarterback in the Canadian Football League since his college career at Notre Dame.

"Talk about the development of Favre, Rodgers, and then Jordan Love. I mean, it's pretty cool. I know how much he meant to this organization -- his contributions -- we're definitely going to miss him. I can't say enough There’s just something great about him that I really appreciate.”

The Packers have several internal candidates to replace Clements, including assistant quarterbacks coach Connor Lewis and former NFL quarterback Sean Mannion, who joined the Packers as head coach last season. Offensive Assistant. Gacy also spent the final stretch of the season as a consultant with the Packers after being fired as the Raiders' offensive coordinator.

No matter who coaches Love next season, part of their job will be to help him take the next step in his career as a starter. LaFleur called Love "a player who continues to improve and gets better and better" and said he believes Love's leadership role will continue to grow.

“I think it’s just something that comes naturally to this position,” LaFleur said. "I think he's taken some steps to get there, but I think he can really ask for a lot because the locker room respects him. They respect him not just as a person but the job he puts in. He's a grinder .He's one of those guys that I think is one of his best qualities.

"They all respect him, but I think when things aren't quite right, I think he can express that as well. When people don't quite do what they're supposed to do, he's one of those people who talks to (them) about that. A little bit, I just think it makes more sense coming from your quarterback than it does from me or any of our other coaches."

In 2023, Love completed the starting season with outstanding performance and received a four-year contract extension worth $220 million. However, he missed two games due to a knee injury at the beginning of the season and was injured in the middle of the season. Another injury to the groin. He threw for 25 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in the regular season, but he had no interceptions in his past seven regular-season games until Sunday, when he threw three of them in a playoff loss to the Eagles.

The Packers finished an 11-win season with three straight losses, including the playoffs, during which the offense struggled.

"Do I think he can play better? Absolutely," LaFleur said. "Do I think I can help him get better? Absolutely. Do I think we can play better around him? Absolutely.

"I just think it's too much to put it on one guy. I really do. I think overall we have to do better, and I expect better. We've been there for most of the season. It was pretty high and then there was a dip. "I would say that's why it feels different than it did a year ago. "