Paul Bretl | 8/2/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers’ annual Family Night practice isn’t like the other training camp practices that the team has. The obvious reasons are because the practice takes place inside Lambeau Field and not at Ray Nitschke Field. The practice is also held in front of a game-like crowd, which this year featured nearly 60,000 fans in attendance.
But from an evaluation standpoint, as GM Brian Gutekunst explained earlier in the week, how the players perform in this environment will carry more weight than a traditional Thursday morning training camp practice would.
“When we get into Family Night and obviously the preseason games,” Gutekunst said, “those guys got to go out there and make those decisions without those guys in their ear, and I think it’s extremely important for me as an evaluator to see that and to see how they respond to that.”
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In any practice environment, a defensive back coming away with three interceptions like safety Omar Brown did on Saturday night is going to garner attention. But doing it on the Family Night stage means a bit more when decisions have to be made.
Brown went undrafted in 2024 out of Nebraska, where he played his final two college seasons after spending his first three seasons at FCS Northern Iowa. Brown would sign as an undrafted rookie with Denver and spent that training camp with the Broncos.
During roster cutdowns last August, Brown was released by Denver, and the Packers would swoop in and sign him to the practice squad. As Matt LaFleur said after Family Night, Brown was a player that Green Bay had their eyes on during the pre-draft process, which included having him in for a 30 visit.
Brown would spend the entirety of his rookie season on the Green Bay practice squad and was a game-day elevation twice, appearing on special teams in Weeks 16 and 18, where he played 16 total snaps, and once on defense in Week 16, where he played eight snaps.
“Man, I think it was huge,” Brown said at his locker of being on the practice squad last season. “Especially with this safety group. We’ve got a lot of older guys – people that got a lot of experience.
“So, really, I feel like that was good for me. Really just seeing how everything was going to be, having X, having Evan, just being behind this group of safeties is really just big leadership. The whole defense, honestly, but I’d say that my position group, we’ve got a lot of leaders.
Brown’s first Family Night interception came during a red zone period. Positioned at safety against Malik Willis and the second team offense, Brown patrolled the middle of the field near the goal line. Willis tried to fit the ball into a tight window as his receiver crossed the middle of the end zone, but Brown was underneath and plucked the ball out of the air.
The second interception came off Taylor Elgersma, who threw the ball down the seam, where it was deflected in the air and right into Brown’s hands.
Those first two interceptions were prime examples of a safety knowing his job, reacting to what the offense is doing, and being positioned perfectly to make plays on the ball.
“I just ran to the ball every play, really, just like a regular practice,” Brown said afterward at his locker. “That’s what we teach is running to the ball, and I feel like it’s going to come to you if you run to the ball.”
Brown’s third interception consisted of those elements as well, but some impressive playmaking was also a part of the equation. On a deep ball down the right sideline thrown by Willis, Brown elevated with wide receiver Julian Hicks, contested the catch, and on his way to the ground secured the interception.
As Brown recalled in the locker room, he doesn’t think Willis saw him on that play as he “snuck” behind Hicks.
Following that final interception, on the far sideline from the press box where the Green Bay defense was positioned, you could see Xavier McKinney put his arm around Brown and offer some advice.
“Tonight I told him, after his third one,” McKinney recalled, “I just said, ‘Just stay consistent. Stay focused.’ Because as you make those plays, everybody’s patting you on the back, but you’ve still got to understand, you’re still trying to make the team.
“But I think tonight really separated him for making that statement of making that 53-man. So I’m proud of him, and I can’t wait to continue to just see him grow and I’ll be happy to see him once we get into our regular preseason games.”
With Brown’s three interceptions on Family Night, a feat he’s never accomplished at any point in his football playing career, he is now up to five interceptions in total since training camp started. The on-ball production for Brown has been steady since the team’s first practice.
Roughly a week and a half into these training camp practices, Brown has laid an excellent foundation for himself when it comes to making a real push at the Packers’ 53-man roster. However, as McKinney pointed out, while these splash plays are great, making the final roster is all about showcasing consistency.
And at a position group that features McKinney, Evan Williams, and Javon Bullard at the top of the depth chart, special teams contributions will be a must for Brown as well.
With that said, while all of that is certainly true, for at least one night, Brown was the star of the show in front of a nearly sold-out Lambeau crowd. Afterward, as Brown was meeting with the media, McKinney continued to show his support, chanting “MVP! MVP!” throughout the locker room.
“He’s a stud,” Zayne Anderson added. “He attacks every day like a true pro. He’s always wanting to get better and he’s always asking questions which I think is the first thing and he does his job, which clearly tonight, he gets those interceptions.
“He deserves it, man. He works his butt off and it’s cool seeing guys in the room the fruit come from their labor. Everybody in the room is super pumped for him.”
9 Other quick Family Night observations
Malik Willis has had a really up-and-down camp. When able to throw in rhythm, he’s been very accurate. However, when that timing is disrupted is when he’s throwing the interceptions, and oftentimes, those turnovers are a product of a bad decision.
The defense won the night. Particularly in coverage, the Green Bay secondary was incredibly sticky. There were several plays where the quarterback had time in the pocket, but nowhere to go with the ball. In Year 2 under Jeff Hafley, the defense has thrown a lot of different looks and movements at the offense.
Brandon McManus continues to play at a high level. Including his Family Night performance, McManus is now 34-of-35 on field goals in the team portion of practice in training camp.
Speaking of being around the ball, Carrington Valentine has done an excellent job of that as well. He intercepted Jordan Love during the two-minute period. Matched up against Matthew Golden, Valentine ran the route with him and came away with the interception on an overthrown pass. Valentine ended last season with a few interceptions in the final weeks, and he’s carried that momentum over into the summer.
It’s now been three practices in a row where we’ve seen Warren Brinson making his way into the backfield, and he’s done so against both the run and the pass. Tonight, his standout rushes came in the passing game, one of which was in the red zone, where he disrupted the play. Brinson got steady looks on Saturday next to Karl Brooks with the second defense.
I’m not sure how many linebackers the Packers keep, but Kristian Welch is going to put himself in the 53-man roster conversation with his ability to help on several special teams units. On the starting kick and punt coverage units was Welch, and alongside him were many players who we would consider roster locks.
Tucker Kraft was the only new addition to the injury report with a groin. LaFleur said it was something he had been pushing through in recent days, but the team wanted him to rest up on Saturday. LaFleur also mentioned that Emanuel Wilson avoided major injury during Friday’s practice.
Yes, I just wrote about John FitzPatrick, but with each passing practice, I’m more convinced that he’s going to have some sort of role on offense this season.
It certainly seemed like the Packers were taking close looks at Malik Heath and Mecole Hardman. Early on in practice, it was Heath getting a lot of opportunities with the ones, while in the back-half of the practice, it looked like Hardman got those opportunities. The difficulty here in trying to decipher who might have the edge if the two are truly competing for one roster spot is that both bring very different skill sets to the offense.