Paul Bretl | 8/13/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers were back on the practice field on Tuesday for the first time since their preseason opener in Cleveland. Today the shoulder pads were on and tomorrow they will be in full pads before traveling to Denver on Thursday for a joint practice on Friday, followed by the preseason game on Sunday.
Today’ practice was a bit shorter, going one hour and 36 minutes, but we saw plenty of 11-on-11 action. Here is what you need to know.
Who was in and who was out? Jaire Alexander did not play on Saturday. He was out for a personal matter, but was on the practice field Tuesday. Tyler Davis, who did not play in the preseason opener either was back. Also returning after missing some time was Jordan Morgan, Donovan Jennings, Deslin Alexandre, Dimitri Stanley, and Ty’Ron Hopper–all of whom only participated in the individual portion of practice. We also saw Tucker Kraft taking some 11-on-11 snaps as well.
Running back Jarveon Howard was out with an ankle injury. This is the first practice that he’s missed. Edgerrin Cooper was still out, as was Carrington Valentine, Keshawn Banks, and MarShawn Lloyd did not practice after leaving Saturday’s game with a hamstring injury. Quay Walker did not participate in the team portion of practice, but there is no real concern.
Who was where on the offensive line? With Morgan still not in the team portion of practice, the offensive line remained the same, with Rasheed Walker at left tackle, followed by Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Sean Rhyan, and Zach Tom. Rhyan has on a lot on his plate this summer, as he’s competing for the starting right guard position, but also trying to prove that he can play all three interior positions if he ends up as a backup off the bench.
“Again, just like everybody else, he’s embraced his role of having the versatility of playing right guard last year,” said offensive line coach Luke Butkus on Monday. “A little bit of left guard the last couple years he’s been here and this camp kind of doing it all. That’s only going to help him. Sean’s a big, strong kid and showed some really great reps on Saturday. Just the consistency right now from Sean, we gotta keep going.”
The second offensive line unit had Kadeem Telfort and Andre Dillard playing both tackle spots, with Royce Newman at left guard, Jacob Monk at center and Lecitus Smith at right guard. Rookie Travis Glover saw some right tackle snaps with the twos and appeared to be ahead of Caleb Jones today. The third offensive line unit primarily had Jones at left tackle with Monk at left guard, Smith at center, Luke Tenuta at right guard, Glover at right tackle.
Once again at safety we saw Javon Bullard starting next to Xavier McKinney. Before practice, Matt LaFleur said there’s no need to read into any depth charts right now and that everyone is competing. However, it’s been a week-plus of Bullard getting the start in practice, and he did as well in the preseason game. So I guess do with that info what you wish, however, we saw Evan Williams make another impressive play, recording a “tackle” for loss on a toss play to Josh Jacobs.
“Really sure tackler. Smart,” Eric Stokes said of Williams. “Aggressive and always around the ball. You love those intangibles as a safety, so it’s perfect.”
With Walker and Hopper not participating in the team portion of practice and Cooper still out, that created more opportunities for undrafted rookie Ralen Goforth, who was starting next to Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson as the Will linebacker when the Packers were in base. Along with Goforth, Kristian Welch got some added opportunities as well, and had a near interception off Jordan Love.
“It was good, man,” said Goforth after practice. “Getting out there, getting reps. Guys that I’m normally watching from the sideline, but it was nice to get out there. You really see the communication get heightened. Everybody’s talking and you just really want to showoff for the guys.”
With Hopper and Cooper missing time, I still think it’s possible that the Packers go heavy and keep six linebackers, specifically rostering Welch to help on special teams. The rookies have missed some valuable practice time, and Welch was a core special teams player in 2023 and played the third-most special teams snaps in the opener against Cleveland.
During one of the 11-on-11 periods, we saw Jordan Love connect with Christian Watson on a deep post with Eric Stokes in coverage. It was a nice route by Watson who was able to get a step or two on Stokes before high-pointing the ball for the catch. As I wrote about recently, the deep ball for Love and the offense greatly improved during the second half of 2023 and that momentum has carried over to the summer.
“Well, he’s always had the arm talent to make the throws downfield,” said Clements when meeting with reporters on Monday. “I think just at the beginning of the year (2023), you can call deep passes and, if you get the right coverage, then you have a shot to take it downfield. If you don’t get the right coverage, you can’t force it downfield. I think maybe at times we were trying to go downfield when the defense didn’t allow it.”
LaFleur discussed before practice the opportunity the Packers have with the different skill sets and body types to get creative when lined up in nickel. While Keisean Nixon has taken the bulk of those starting snaps, we’ve seen Javon Bullard get more opportunities there as well as of late.
“We’re trying to get our best players out there,” said LaFleur. “The guys that give us the best chance to win, and there’s nothing to say that you can’t have multiple groupings as well. I know a lot of teams will do that, just depending upon what they want to play. Do they have a lot of different bodies in there. Some teams will have a big nickel or they get more of the safety body type in there versus their regular nickel, it’s just however it shakes out.”
During a move the ball period, Love and the starting offense put together an 11 play drive that began in their own territory. Along with some running plays mixed in, Love finished the drive 3/6, with completions to Luke Musgrave, AJ Dillon, and Dontayvion Wicks. Helping to keep the drive going was a pass interference penalty on Evan Williams on a deep ball to Bo Melton. Love got the offense in field goal range, which Alex Hale made from 26 yards.
In a red zone period that began at the 19 yard line with just 22 seconds left, Love first connect with Wicks for 17 yards on a crossing route. The offense then spiked and ball and on the third play, Love found an open Romeo Doubs in the front right corner of the end zone.
End of half situation: The offense then began at midfield with 40 seconds left on the clock. On the first play, Love had Wicks over the middle but the pass was just slightly behind, allowing Jaire Alexander to break it up. On second down and with 34 seconds left, Love scrambled and over threw Doubs down the left sideline. On third down, there was a false start (I didn’t see who the penalty was on) and then facing a 3rd-and-15, Love tried to push the ball down the right sidelined to AJ Dillon who was matched up with Eric Wilson but it was a slight overthrow. This drive would have ended in a punt.
At the backup quarterback position, Sean Clifford was with the second team offense during the move the ball period, but throughout the practice he would throw two interceptions–one of which was made by Kalen King, his second of camp. From that point on, it was Michael Pratt leading the second offense in the red zone drill and end of half situation. So, again, read into that what you will. We will see what Wednesday’s practice holds.
Pratt was unable to find the end zone in the red zone, with the drive ending on a Lukas Van Ness sack after he beat Telfort. In the end of half situation, Pratt connected with Julian Hicks and then down the seam to Ben Sims to put the offense in field goal range for a 44 yard attempt, which Alex Hale made.
While Hale’s practice ended with a make, it was a rough day for the kicker. He finished 5-for-9, and at one point missed four kicks in a row, all to the right.
When it comes to AJ Dillon versus Emanuel Wilson for a roster spot, keep in mind the importance of pass-blocking, particularly for the second and third running backs on the roster. This is an area where Dillon has been sound and Wilson, while improving, is still a work in progress.
“Well, we’re still working on that part of it,” said running backs coach Ben Sirmans. “He has shown whether it’s 1-on-1s that when he does attack things with the proper technique that he can block people, and I think the other thing besides that is he’s shown whether it’s a walkthrough or different phases we’ve put him in where we’ve brought pressure that he’s much more I guess educated at what his assignment is and making really good decisions. So I think that’s something that we’re working towards, but we’ve just got to continue to put him in those situations to get a full answer on that, but my trust level is growing with him.”