Paul Bretl | 7/30
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers were back on the practice field on Tuesday for their seventh practice of training camp and it was a hot one. They’ll practice two more times this week on Wednesday and Thursday and then will hold their annual Family Night practice inside Lambeau Field on Saturday.
Let’s open up the notebook and dive into my observations and takeaways from today:
– Roster moves: The Packers made three additions, bringing back long-snapper Peter Bowden, who was released last week to make room for Jacob Eason. The Packers also added cornerback Don Callis, a 2024 UDFA from Troy who was in for a tryout during rookie minicamp and signed cornerback LJ Davis. The corresponding moves to make room for those players included releasing cornerback Zyon Gilbert, fullback Henry Pearson, and kicker James Turner.
– Back on the practice field for the first time during training camp was running back Marshawn Lloyd (hip) and safety Kitan Oladapo (foot). Both participated in individual drills but not the team portion. Zayne Anderson and Robert Rochell were also back at practice while Deslin Alexandre and Keshawn Banks remained out.
– The starting offensive line configuration remained the same with Rasheed Walker at left tackle, followed by Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jordan Morgan, and Kadeed Telfort at right tackle for the most part, although Andre Dillard continued to get worked in as well with the ones.
– Adam Stenavich said on Monday that there would be a good competition for the swing tackle role, mentioning Telfort, Dillard, Luke Tenuta, and Caleb Jones competing, but so far it certainly looks like Telfort is the front-runner. When he’s not with the starters at right tackle, he’s with the twos at left tackle. Dillard is seeing the same rotation, with Stenavich adding that he has to get more comfortable on the right side.
“He’s been a good surprise and he’s been just a steady guy,” Adam Stenavich said about Telfort. “He’s not the most athletic. He’s not all that stuff. When you look at the numbers, he’s a big guy. He plays consistently, which in the offensive line is very important. He’s just a consistent presence. He’s very football intelligent. He’s just one of those guys that I’m excited to just see how he plays and how he keeps developing. We’ll see at the end of camp how it all aligns.”
– Of note along the offensive line, Sean Rhyan did see some work at right guard with the starters during the red zone period, but was mostly with the second team and even took some snaps at center with that unit.
“I think there’s been a lot of good moments,” said LaFleur about Rhyan before practice, “and there’s some things, as a whole up front, not just Sean, everybody, we’ve got to do a better job up front. So, but I think Sean, again, played a lot of meaningful snaps for us. He’s getting some work on both sides of the line, on the left and on the right. So, he’s a guy that is competing for a spot.”
– At linebacker, as has been the case all of camp, Quay Walker was in the middle with Eric Wilson and Isaiah McDuffie to his right and left. In nickel, it was Walker and McDuffie with the ones, and Wilson and Edgerrin Cooper with the twos. Ty’Ron Hopper has been playing middle linebacker with the second and third team defenses. Evan Williams was next to Xavier McKinney, but the Packers continued to rotate heavily at safety.
– Colby Wooden saw some first team reps at defensive tackle today next to Kenny Clark.
– The second offensive line unit was made up of Luke Tenuta at right tackle, followed by Rhyan, Jacob Monk, Royce Newman, and Dillard. When Rhyan went to center with this unit, Tenuta went to right guard and Travis Glover took over at right tackle.
– The pass-catchers and defensive backs competed in one-on-one drills, here are some of the notable outcomes:
- Keisean Nixon vs. Jayden Reed: Incomplete
- Keisean Nixon vs. Dontayvion Wicks: Incomplete
- Romeo Doubs would beat Jaire Alexander twice
- Xavier McKinney vs. Luke Musgrave: Incomplete
- Eric Stokes vs. Christian Watson: Complete
- Bo Melton vs. Carrington Valentine: Complete
– In addition to the one-on-ones, I thought both Nixon and Doubs were two of the standout players from today’s practice, with Doubs also having a few receptions in addition to his wins in the one-on-one reps. Nixon has been extremely consistent in coverage throughout the training camp practices.
– On the flip side, there were some tough reps from Morgan, both of which came against Karl Brooks. One rep was in the run game with Brooks blowing up the play and another came as a quick pressure in the passing game.
LaFleur has been impressed with not only Daniel Whelan’s training camp, but the entire offseason he’s put together up to this point.
“I think Daniel has had an outstanding offseason. In practices he’s kicking the crap out of the ball. Hopefully we only have to use him as a holder, but it’s probably not realistic. When you have a punter who’s capable of pinning an opposing offense deep, that is a real weapon. I think he’s progressing nicely. Now he’s got to go out and do it in games. From what he’s shown in practice, I’ve got a lot of confidence in seeing a huge step in the right direction for him.”
– The last few practices in particular, I thought we’ve seen some really good burst from Emanuel Wilson. Perhaps the uphill battle that he is facing, however, when it comes to making the roster is he will really need to stand out in pass protection and potentially on special teams–two areas where AJ Dillon has proven to be reliable.
– I thought Josh Jacobs had two of his bigger runs of training camp early on. It looked like the left side of Walker and Jenkins was able to create some running lanes for him. Overall, however, I still wouldn’t say there was a ton of running room for the offenses.
– With James Turner released, the kicking competition is down to Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph. Carlson would finish the day 5-for-6, missing right from 41 yards. Joseph would make all six of his kicks and his 22-for-24 in training camp. Carlson is 21-for-24.
– Red zone period: Each of the three offenses started from the 11 yard line. Jordan Love and the starters went through twice.
- Love’s first attempt: The first attempt for the starting offense ended in a touchdown. The first two plays were runs to Josh Jacobs that went for two yards each, then on third down, Love avoided pressure by stepping up in the pocket and delivered a pass to Jayden Reed in the end zone, who found the soft spot between the two safeties.
- Love’s second attempt: The drive started with a three yard completion to Romeo Doubs. Back-to-back pressures by TJ Slaton forced Love to scramble, with one pass falling incomplete and the other broken up by Xavier McKinney. On the fourth play, Love found Doubs in the end zone, who was being covered by Eric Stokes.
- Sean Clifford’s first attempt: In a live game, it looked like first down would have ended in a sack by Karl Brooks, who benefitted from good coverage on the back end. The next play was a fantastic throw by Clifford as he threaded the needle in the back of the end zone to Grant DuBose. The following two plays were in incompletions and the fifth play ended in a “sack” by Devonte Wyatt.
- Micahel Pratt and Jacob Eason each had three plays: Pratt would go 0-2, missing Julian Hicks on both attempts–the second play was a false start. Eason would have been sacked by Lukas Van Ness, who beat Caleb Jones. On the second play he found Wilson in the flat, and then Wilson ran it in from the one-yard line.
- Love’s third attempt, which began at the 18 yard line: The defense had three safeties on the field for this series. The first play was a pass breakup by Nixon who was covering Wicks. The second was a beautiful throw by Love on the run to the back corner of the end zone to Musgrave, but it was dropped. Practice then ended on an interception by Stokes, who made an aggressive play on a pass intended for Christian Watson.
“Stokes has looked like the guy we thought he could be,” said LaFleur before practice. “I think he’s done an outstanding job out there.”