Paul Bretl | 8/10/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers open up the preseason on Saturday afternoon in Cleveland taking on the Browns. Most of the established starters will see at least a little playing time, but at this time of the year, much of the attention is on the positional battles taking place for both playing time and roster spots.
“I think it’s the totality,” said Matt LaFleur of the evaluation process. “I think you can’t put too much stock in one or the other. You’ve got to look at the whole. Granted, those games get heavily magnified because of the situation. That’s when you’re playing real football, so, obviously, there’s a lot of value to that and making sure that we get the right guys in there to see what we need to see in order to make the best decisions possible for the football team.”
So with those positional battles in mind, when the Packers have the ball and are on offense, here are seven players in particular that I’ll have my eyes on.
TJ Slaton: At 6-4 – 330 pounds, Slaton may not have the prototypical build of a defensive tackle in a 4-3 system, but rather may be better suited in that regard for a 3-4 scheme as the nose tackle, which is the role he filled under Joe Barry.
However, that hasn’t been the case at all. As defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich mentioned earlier in the offseason, Slaton is the “biggest man athlete” that he’s ever seen in his life. Adding that Slaton can two-step dunk a basketball. So from an athleticism perspective, Rebrovich as no concerns about Slaton acclimating to his new role.
“You know you never quite know how one guy’s going to transition to a certain style of defense,” added LaFleur, “but he’s done a really good job.”
Through three weeks of training camp practices, we are seeing the disruptive results that can occur when you combine Slaton’s size and athleticism with an attacking front where the goal is to get off the ball an into the backfield. Whether it’s against the run or the pass, Slaton’s presence in the backfield has become a regular occurrence at practice, particularly over the last week-plus. Let’s see how that translates over to a game.
“The coolest part about him right now,” said Hafley, “and I was joking doing bed check the other night, I talked to him for a while, the way he’s getting off the ball at his size and how disruptive he can be and penetrate, he’s hard to block. And you kinda saw a smile on his face and another guy who I believe has bought in and he’s doing everything that we’re trying to have those guys do and coach them to do.
“If you get big guys like that penetrating up front causes problems and I’m really happy with the way he’s started and I hope he can continue to build off of it because I think if he does and continues to improve he can really helps us out a lot and help himself out a lot.”
Brenton Cox: In training camp, Cox has primarily worked with the third-team defense, but saw some snaps with the twos and even the starters this week while JJ Enagbare was sidelined on Tuesday. Overall, Cox was a frequent visitor to the Packers’ backfield in practices this week, specifically as a pass rusher. Cox is a good athlete, but often wins with power and the use of strong, violent hands to get the offensive tackle out of position.
“I think I did okay,” said Cox of his performance on Tuesday. “Just hustling, just trying to be violent and attack the quarterback. Getting back there, that’s the main thing. Get back there, and everything else will fall into place.”
Cox has always had the ability to rush the quarterback, and part of his game should be magnified and on display in Jeff Hafley’s defensive scheme, where the ultimate goal is for the members of the defensive front to get off the ball and into the backfield, generating TFLs and sacks–a play-style that Cox has “embraced,” as LaFleur put it.
In the upcoming preseason game against Cleveland, Cox should get plenty of opportunities to build off of the foundation he’s laid over these first two weeks of training camp, and show the impact he can make as a pass rusher in an actual game. Presumably, Gary and Smith will see no or very little snaps on Saturday, making Cox the third edge rusher in the rotation for much of the game. We also don’t know how much playing time Van Ness or Enagbare will see, which will then put Cox at the top of the defensive end depth chart for a stretch.
However, while of course, there is a prerequisite that Cox will have to meet as a pass rusher in order to make the team, realistically, his most consistent playing time this season will come on special teams. You just don’t see many five-man defensive end rotations.
Eric Stokes: We probably won’t see much of Stokes in terms of playing time, but nonetheless, after battling injuries for much of the 2023 season, getting him back on the field is important for the Packers. When it comes to what the ceiling for this Packers team is this season, I believe Stokes will play a key factor in determining that. With Jaire Alexander opposite of him, Stokes is likely to see a lot of targets this season.
“Man just be out there, to not miss a game, that’s my biggest thing,” said Stokes. “Just being out there, staying 100% healthy and just letting everything else flow because I know what I can do when I’m out there and just being out there is the most important thing for me.”
As a rookie, Stokes put together an impressive season, allowing a completion rate of just 51 percent with nine pass breakups and one interception on 100 targets. However, prior to his injury in 2022, Stokes allowed 21 completions on 25 targets with no pass breakups or interceptions.
Throughout this year’s offseason programs and now in to training camp, Stokes has looked the part. He’s fully healthy, and you see that in his ability to hang with Christian Watson on downfield throws to contest the pass. Stokes has often positioned himself well to make plays on the ball as well, coming away with multiple interceptions.
“I think Stokes has had a really good start to camp,” said Jeff Hafley. “He’s been good in coverage. He’s showed physicality coming up and playing the run”
Javon Bullard and Evan Williams: The starting safety position next to Xavier McKinney had been rotated heavily throughout the first two weeks of training camp. But as of late, it has primarily been Bullard taking those initial starting snaps while Williams is with the twos or worked in here and there. From the outside, it looks like this positional battle is starting to take shape, but if you ask Matt LaFleur, that isn’t the case.
“I think it’s going to be a competitive situation throughout,” said LaFleur on Wednesday. “I would expect more rotation as we move forward.”
Both rookie safeties have been very impressive up to his point, with Williams coming away with four interceptions and Bullard showcasing his physicality. In addition to that, Bullard and William’s have been excellent communicators on the back end, and at times, don’t look like rookies with their comfortability in this system. We are also seeing that interchangeability that Brian Gutekunst wanted on display daily with both safeties playing deep and in the box, along with Bullard seeing more slot snaps as of late.
That decision to rotate Williams and Bullard is happening for a few reasons. The obvious is that each player is being evaluated to find out who will be starting alongside McKinney come Week 1. But the coaching staff also wants to get each of the young safeties comfortable playing with McKinney and filling different roles because we are going to see a lot of movement from this position group this season.
Adding this level of versatility among multiple players to the safety position generates a layer of unpredictability to the Packers’ defense. Pre-snap, opposing offenses won’t be able to necessarily get a beat on what responsibility each player has or where they might end up as the play unfolds based solely upon who is on the field or where each safety is initially lined up.
From a game-planning perspective, this feature also opens up the playbook for Jeff Hafely, who has the flexibility to change things up from week-to-week, or even play-to-play, depending on the opponent and what the Packers want to take away.
“I think whoever goes out there and gives us the most consistent effort and is able to make plays,” said LaFleur on what he’s looking for at safety. “We’re fortunate really when you look at all of those other guys, they’re all pretty intelligent guys that allows us to interchange X, whether we want him to be down in the box or put him in the post, just that flexibility is huge. So, whoever is starting opposite of him has got to be able to do both jobs as well.”
Greg Joseph and Anders Carlson: For one, I’m curious to see how the Packers divide up the field goal opportunities, given the unknown around how many chances may even be available. But on top of that, how each player performs in this environment will carry a lot of weight when it comes to deciding who the Packers’ kicker will be this season, with LaFleur mentioning during minicamp that the competition may not truly take shape until there are more “high pressure, game-like” situations.
So far through training camp, Joseph has been the more steady presence, making 46/51 (90.1%) attempts compared to Carlson, who has gone 42/51 (82.3%)–although really, the difference between these two comes down to a practice last week where Carlson missed three kicks. Since then, Carlson would have the better performance during Family Night, and both kickers would go 6/6 during Thursday’s practice.
“70-75 percent, I’d say,” said Joseph when asked how much of kicking is mental. “I think that’s what separates really good collegiate kickers from NFL kickers. All of us, you know, a lot of us can kick the ball far, but it’s I think that mental edge, that mental approach is massive and it’s the difference between a good kicker and a great kicker.”
With Carlson, something to watch is that earlier this offseason, he mentioned that the majority of his misses in 2023 were to the left–something he’s worked on correcting this offseason. However, the majority of his misses during training camp have been to the left as well.