Obviously, cornerback Keisean Nixon generated some buzz on Sunday after he told the press that he guesses he’s “being punished right now” by working occasionally with the second-team defense, and stayed on the field with both the first- and second-team defenses throughout the Green Bay Packers’ preseason opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Head coach Matt LaFleur addressed the situation in his pre-practice press conference on Tuesday, joking, “He loves making a headline, doesn’t he,” with a smile
on his face. When asked about how he feels about Nixon as a player and a person, LaFleur stated, “I love Kei. He’s been awesome since the day he got here.” As far as how the head coach would handle the words his projected starting cornerback made, LaFleur responded, “I’m not gonna micro-manage everything that everybody says.”
LaFleur said that every spot on the team is a competition, which has been the company line for the Packers throughout training camp. Today, though, it did seem like the cornerback rotation did open up more than it had in the past, which we’ll cover in our defensive notes in this article.
Before we get into what happened at practice today, LaFleur said two other notable things, in terms of the mechanics of the preseason. First, he stated that offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich called the offensive plays against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Usually, he has given coordinators and assistants one quarter each to call plays in previous preseason games.
Second, LaFleur also stated that the current plan right now is for the starters to play two drives against the Denver Broncos, compared to the one they played against the Steelers, in Week 2. In Week 3, the team hopes to use joint practices against the Arizona Cardinals to get reps with the first-team units, and let the backups play the actual preseason game.
So it seems like quarterback Jordan Love will make two appearances in the preseason this year, both on the road, but won’t have a helmet on for the home preseason game. Unless you caught him on Family Night, the first time you’re going to get to see Love throw at Lambeau Field in-person this year will be on Thursday Night Football in Week 3 (September 24th) against the Atlanta Falcons.
Injuries
Four players remain on the Packers’ physically unable to perform list: tight end Luke Musgrave (neck), defensive lineman Jordon Riley (ankle), edge defender Micah Parsons (knee) and long snapper Matt Orzech (calf). On Tuesday, general manager Brian Gutekunst hinted that Orzech could be returning to practice within the next week or so, but the expectation is still for both Riley and Parsons, who seem to be recovering well from their season-ending injuries from last year, to start on the PUP list to begin the regular season. Musgrave is the wild card.
Players who returned to practice today were running back Josh Jacobs (groin) and edge defender Lukas Van Ness (shoulder). Van Ness played in the preseason opener and missed just one practice with his shoulder issue, while Jacobs has been out a while with his groin injury.
Players who remain out of practice are offensive lineman Darian Kinnard (ankle), edge defender Dani Dennis-Sutton (illness), edge defender Nyjalik Kelly (knee) and safety Javon Bullard (foot). The Packers are on record that Kinnard, Dennis-Sutton and Bullard won’t be out long-term, but they haven’t commented (or been asked) about Kelly.
Offense
Even with Aaron Banks returning to team drills for the first time in training camp, he did not immediately hop back into the first-team line as the full-time left guard, as the starting line today was: Jordan Morgan, Jager Burton, Sean Rhyan, Jacob Monk and Zach Bako-Bewele (left to right). Yes, that means Anthony Belton is still on the bench, despite Bako-Bewele returning to the full-time right tackle role after missing team drills for most of camp, too.
This could be a byproduct of the team being down Darian Kinnard, one of the few backup “true tackles” that the team has on the second line of the depth chart, but we’ll have to see how this evolves moving forward. Generally, Belton spent most of the early portion of the offseason at guard, where he performed better than tackle last year and eventually developed into a starter midway through the season, and has now spent almost all of his time at tackle as of lately.
Tomorrow, we’re going to run a breakdown of Burton and Monk’s performances during their extended look in the preseason opener, including video from the game, so you guys can get a look at the Packers’ potential Week 1 guards.
Bank did rotate in at left guard in place of Burton at times during practice on Tuesday.
The play of the day was quarterback Jordan Love chucking it to tight end Tucker Kraft, who just returned to team drills yesterday, who caught a one-handed ball against his helmet after running up the seam in double coverage. I’m not worried about Kraft losing a step post-injury.
Receiver Bo Melton dropped out of practice late today, getting shaken up on a deep shot in double coverage and returning to the field without a jersey or helmet after talking to trainers.
Defense
Before practice, Gutekunst praised the defensive line room, stating that they have “more than enough, that’s unusual” for the big boys. Javon Hargrave returned to team drills for the first time all camp after starting on the PUP list, but it was Karl Brooks and Devonte Wyatt who were the starters in the team’s first-look nickel defense. Again, this shouldn’t be too surprising, as Green Bay protected Brooks like an entrenched starter in the preseason opener and listed Brooks as a starting defensive tackle on their unofficial depth chart, which has basically been accurate outside of the guard position.
Hargrave did get some looks with the 1s today, though. Obviously, the defensive line will rotate a lot.
Note: Jonathan Ford, who is played specifically as a head-up nose tackle for the team, but received snaps with the first- through third-team units in the Packers’ preseason opener, did get some looks with the first-team offense again in practice. It’s going to be interesting to see how Green Bay decides who will be the team’s sixth (and likely last) interior defensive lineman, a race that will come down to Ford, Nazir Stackhouse and camp riser Anthony Campbell.
In the slot, safety Kitan Oladapo, who is stepping up as the injury replacement to Javon Bullard (following the waiving of injured Johnathan Baldwin), started with the first-team unit. Oladapo has looked much more comfortable at safety in his time in the NFL than in the slot, where we got his first extended look at that position against the Steelers on Thursday.
Another slot option that the Packers have is cornerback Kamal Hadden, who worked with the safeties today (the safeties have generally played the slot in Green Bay in recent years). Hadden (ankle), Carrington Valentine (hamstring) and Domani Jackson (core) were all held out of the preseason opener, leaving the Packers down three of their top six cornerbacks going into the game.
All three of those corners were involved in team periods today, which created maybe the most competitive day of practice at the position throughout training camp. While Keisean Nixon (who has typically started with the 1s) and Brandon Cisse (who has generally been behind Valentine in the pecking order when Valentine has been healthy) got the first-look opportunities on Tuesday, Valentine and Benjamin St-Juste — who has generally been the fourth cornerback — also got rotated in with the first-team defense today.
Outside of two practices when St-Juste was being “onboarded” back into the defense following an injury and was splitting first-team reps with Nixon, Nixon had basically been a full-time starter with the 1s throughout training camp. Today, it felt like a true four-man competition for two starting spots for the first time this summer.
Special Teams
The two-minute drills with both the first- and second-team offenses stalled today, giving kicker Trey Smack some opportunities to kick field goals. He hit from 42 but also missed wide right from 47.
