The Green Bay Packers were back on the practice field Friday morning and the practice was a bit on the shorter side, going one hour and 38 minutes as the team prepares to put the pads on for Saturday.
Here are my key observations and takeaways from what took place.
– Injury updates: Corey Ballentine (hamstring), Caleb Jones (hamstring), and Donovan Jennings (knee) were all back on the practice field for the first time this training camp. It looks like they are all being eased in–I did not see any of them going through the 11-on-11 portion.
– Josh Myers was not at practice for what Matt LaFleur called personal reasons. Robert Rochell was the only new addition to the injury report dealing with a calf.
– Without Myers, the starting offensive line consisted of Rasheed Walker at left tackle, followed by Sean Rhyan, Elgton Jenkins, Jordan Morgan, and mostly Kadeem Telfort, with Andre Dillard mixed in for one series. The second unit consisted of Telfort at left tackle, with Royce Newman at left guard, Jacob Monk at center, Lecitus Smith at right guard, and Travis Glover at right tackle.
– When it comes to getting Zach Tom back on the field for the 11-on-11 portion of practice, LaFleur said it is going to be a little bit yet:
“It’s going to be a while yet before we put him into those team situations,” said LaFleur before practice. “I would expect, if everything goes right, it won’t be till after Family Night.”
– The safety rotation continued as well, this time with Anthony Johnson seeing the starting snaps next to Xavier McKinney. Evan Williams was then the second safety rotated in for Johnson.
– At linebacker, Quay Walker and Isaiah McDuffie continue to the be the nickel options at the position. With the second linebacker unit, Ty’Ron Hopper was in the middle with Edgerrin Cooper and Eric Wilson on each side of him. There’s seemingly a play or two each practice where Hopper is making a play at the line of scrimmage.
– During the team portion, Kalen King saw snaps both on the boundary and in the nickel. As the old saying goes, the more you can do. For what it’s worth, when healthy, Ballentine had been the second team nickel cornerback throughout OTAs and minicamp.
– Tyler Davis has been on the practice field since Monday, but I thought he put together a really nice practice. He had two receptions and a key block on the edge to spring Emanuel Wilson for a big run. Davis saw some snaps in the H-back role as well. Before practice, LaFleur spoke very highly about Davis:
“T.D. is a guy that you talk about somebody that does everything the right way,” said LaFleur. “He is that guy from the moment it happened to throughout the process. I think it’s great for him to get back out there. I think, like anybody coming back from a significant injury, there’s gonna be some struggles along the way just whether it’s dealing with soreness – that’s to be expected – but I think in terms of his approach and the things that he can control, he is on top of everything.”
– It was another practice where the defense won the day, although only one interception was thrown and it came on a play that likely would have ended in a sack. The pass rush continues to get good push and there doesn’t seem to be many opportunities opening up in the passing game. As expected, without Jordan Love, things are disjointed and it feels nearly impossible to evaluate this unit. The offense is also without Zach Tom and Tucker Kraft.
– We’ve heard that this defensive front under Jeff Hafley is all about attacking and we saw that on display on one play in particular. It was a play-action but JJ Enagbare didn’t hesitate and continued to make a beeline to the quarterback, resulting in a ‘sack.”
– Today it was Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph’s turns to kick. Carlson would finish the day 5-of-6, missing from 50 yards off the left upright. It did feel like he had to deal with some wind on that one. Overall, Carlson has seemed quite sharp. Joseph would go 6-for-6 on the day. Both kickers are 11-for-12 through training camp.
– The defensive front was again quite good as already mentioned, but Rashan Gary made noise again, recording back-to-back “sacks” during the red zone period while matched up against Kadeem Telfort.