Paul Bretl | 8/6/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — After two days off following Family Night, the Packers were back on the practice field Tuesday for their 11th training camp practice of the 2024 season.
It was a cooler day in Green Bay compared to last week and a windy one as well. Practice ended up going just shy of two hours. As always, let’s open up the notebook and dive into what happened.
Who was in and who was out? Josh Jacobs returned to practice on Tuesday and participated in the team portion as well. Also back was Tucker Kraft, who was activated off the PUP list. He participated in the individual portion of practice but will have to ramp up before back in the 11-on-11s.
“Yeah, so right now we’re just in a ramp up period,” said Kraft. “So over the next two weeks there will be just more and more. I’ve been doing–you guys don’t see me, but I was in the indoor for the last three weeks and just grinding in there. Trying to get as familiar with contact again as possible. Working in those weird positions. Positions I don’t want to be in. But just working through those and see if they cause pain. We’re progressing really well. So you guys will see me a lot more involved down the road.”
New addition to the injury report were wide receivers Dimitri Stanley (hamstring) and Rory Starkey (calf) Still sidelined were Don Callis (hamstring), Carrington Valentine (hamstring), Deslin Alexandre (lower leg), JJ Enagbare (hamstring), Keshawn Banks (groin), Edgerrin Cooper (hip), and Donovan Jennings (knee).
Quay Walker would sit out the last few periods, but said afterward that he was fine.
“Yeah, I’m doing good,” said Walker. “Everything’s fine.”
The Packers first preseason game will be played later this week against Cleveland. Before practice, LaFleur confirmed that Jordan Love will play some snaps, which presumably means there will be some other starters who suit up as well, but playing times will vary.
“I think just going through kind of re-evaluating the last couple years from when we’ve had guys not play and last year having them, all the guys play, I thought it was beneficial for us early on, especially Week 1, just to kind of knock some of the rust off. I think there was a lot of value of going through getting your mind right to get ready to play a football game,” said LaFleur. “Obviously we’re going to be smart with those guys. The last thing we want to do is put guys at risk. I mean, there’s an inherent risk, right, every time you go out on the field, but we’ll be smart with him. But at the same time I do think just the preparation of getting ready for a game is invaluable and why not use those opportunities?”
Zach Tom returned to 11-on-11s. Tom was back in the team portion of practice–although he didn’t take every snaps as the Packers still mindful of his workload. Not surprisingly, the offensive line got a huge boost with him back on the field, and therefore, the offense as a whole looked to be much more effective. Love took advantage in the move the ball portion of practice, as did Josh Jacobs with two nice runs to begin the day.
“It was good,” said Tom. “A little different when you’re going live speed vs. just doing individual. But it was good to be back out there today and get my first live reps since probably San Francisco.”
Who was starting on the offensive line: The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman noticed that Jordan Morgan left practice during the individual period. He did not return. In his place was Sean Rhyan, with the rest of the starting line consisting of Rasheed Walker at left tackle, followed by Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Rhyan, and Tom. With Tom still being eased in, we saw Andre Dillard and Kadeem Telfort take some reps with the ones as well. In the swing tackle competition, both Dillard and Telfort seem to be ahead of Caleb Jones, and it looked like Dillard saw more snaps with the starters today than Telfort did.
Some notable one-on-ones:
- Grant DuBose catch vs. Corey Ballentine
- Christian Watson catch vs. Eric Stokes
- Xavier McKinney PBU vs. Luke Musgrave
- Dontayvion Wicks catch vs. Robert Rochell
- Jayden Reed catch vs. Keisean Nixon
- Evan Williams vs. Joel Wilson: Incomplete
- Caleb Jones beats Arron Mosby
- Kadeem Telfort beats Brenton Cox
- Cox beats Telfort
- Kenny Clark beats Jordan Morgan
- Colby Wooden beats Royce Newman
- Josh Myers beats TJ Slaton
- Karl Brooks beats Sean Rhyan
With Cooper still out, Ty’Ron Hopper got some snaps with the starting defense and he seemed to take advantage of the opportunity. On a few different plays, Jeff Hafley used Hopper as a blitzer. On a run, he met MarShawn Lloyd at the line of scrimmage and won that battle. Then on a passing play, he had sticky coverage on Joel Wilson and contested the pass.
“I think he’s coming along fine,” said Walker about Hopper. “Just growing each and every day. It’s the only thing you can ask for. He’s getting better, trying to find the small things he can get better at, whether they be on the field or off the field, but I think he’s growing each and every day.”
It was a windy day at Ray Nitschke Field and the kickers struggled because of it. After both Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph started 3/3 with the wind more so helping–although it was crossing a bit as well–kicking into the wind both finished 1/4 and 4/7 on the day.
During the team portion of practice, there were two in game situations, the first with the offense starting backed up inside their own 10 yard line. Sean Clifford and the second offense were not able to pick up the first down. The drive started with a run to MarShawn Lloyd and was followed by two incompletions. Next up was Jordan Love, with that series ending after two plays with Eric Wilson recording a “sack” and a safety. Michael Pratt was able to move the chains after two runs by Ellis Merriweather and a completion on a slant to Samori Toure.
The second team situation was an end of half scenario. The offense were at midfield and had 0:50 seconds on the clock with one timeout. Love’s drive began with a throwaway with no where to go with the ball. On the second play, he connected with Christian Watson over the middle for 15 yards and the offense used their timeout. On the third play, Love again had to throw the ball away. With four seconds left, the offense attempted a 53-yard field goal, which both Joseph and Carlson missed.
Sean Clifford: The first play was a batted ball at the line of scrimmage. The second play was a screen to Lloyd for about four yards and the drive ended after an incomplete pass to DuBose on third down, with Clifford leading him a bit too far.