The Green Bay Packers continue to crack down on the filming of practice, as the media can no longer record one-on-one drills during training camp. Previously, only the Packers’ plays (during team periods) were off-limits. Now, almost all visuals from practice are blacked out moving forward.
Worth noting: Green Bay has not yet announced whether the team will or won’t stream its Family Night practice on Packers.com, as they did last year. Before last summer, you were only able to watch the Packers’
Lambeau Field scrimmage on the Packers TV Network stations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Alaska.
Anyways, here’s what you missed from practice on Tuesday, if you weren’t there in-person.
Injuries
The reserve list remains the same, as running back Chris Brooks (hamstring, NFI), tight end Luke Musgrave (neck, PUP), defensive lineman Javon Hargrave (knee, PUP), defensive lineman Jordon Riley (Achilles, PUP), edge rusher Micah Parsons (knee, PUP) and long snapper Matt Orzech (calf, PUP) remain out of practice. Beyond those players, cornerback Carrington Valentine (hamstring) and safety Jonathan Baldwin (undisclosed injury) also missed practice on Tuesday with injuries.
The Packers signed tight ends McCallan Castles and Drew Biber to help them during this period where their tight ends have been banged up, and neither RJ Maryland nor Luke Lachey were seen at practice today, so Maryland and Lachey are presumed to have been waived injured in order to make room for the additions of Castles and Biber. Green Bay’s roster was full going into today, so corresponding roster moves needed to be made.
Offense
For those of you who are worried about Jordan Morgan’s transition to left tackle, the news has been quiet on the Morgan front this summer (usually a good sign for offensive linemen), but he did stand out today. Tuesday’s practice was one-on-one heavy compared to other practices, probably a result of the Packers finally being in full pads for a second practice. In one-on-one drill, Morgan looked the part of a starting left tackle.
Aaron Banks and Zach Bako-Bewele (formerly Tom) continue to rehab their knee injuries, so they only go through individual drills right now and sit out competitive and team periods. Because of that, the Packers have needed replacements at left guard and right tackle in camp.
Generally, the answer has been for Jacob Monk to play left guard and Darian Kinnard to play right tackle, but the team rolled with rookie Jager Burton, who injured his hamstring on the first day of camp, and Anthony Belton, who usually plays right guard, at those positions to open up the team period on Tuesday. Monk slid in as Belton’s replacement at right guard.
In the team’s second series, though, it was back to Belton at right guard, Monk at left guard and Kinnard at right tackle.
Either way, it seems pretty clear that the Packers’ top eight offensive linemen are Morgan, Banks, Sean Rhyan, Belton, Bako-Bewele, Kinnard, Monk and Burton. Green Bay will likely roster 10 offensive linemen (maybe even 11) on their initial 53-man roster, so the final two spots are really what’s up for grabs right now.
Quarterback Jordan Love threw his first interception of training camp yesterday after staying clean for several practices, but today he added to the interception tally as he threw a pick-six to edge rusher Barryn Sorrell on a throwback screen intended for running back Josh Jacobs. Hey, this is what camp is for, right?
Defense
While the pecking order at cornerback has pretty consistently stayed Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine, Brandon Cisse and then Benjamin St-Juste, Cisse is making some plays. As Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber noted, Cisse didn’t allow a catch in his first three one-on-one looks, a drill that favors the offensive side of the ball.
If there has been any “riser” in training camp so far, it’s probably defensive lineman Anthony Campbell, who has been a pass breakup monster at the line of scrimmage. He looked good in one-on-ones today. There’s a chance he could push Nazir Stackhouse for a roster spot, as the Packers will likely keep six interior defensive linemen on their roster now that they’ve transitioned to a 3-4 defense.
Second-year Warren Brinson and rookie third-round pick Chris McClellan also made some plays today. Hopefully that’s a good sign for the defensive side of the ball and not a bad sign about the Packers’ interior offensive line situation.
Special Teams
We’ve already had looks at the team’s preferred gunners and shield players on punt team, but it is worth noting that the preferred “offensive line” on the punt unit is linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper, linebacker Isaiah McDuffie, edge defender Barryn Sorrell and edge defender Aaron Mosby. Usually, Nick Niemann helps out on the line of scrimmage, not as part of the shield (usually a spot reserved for safeties and running backs).
It’s going to be tough to keep Mosby rostered on the 53, considering how many bodies are ahead of him on the defensive depth chart. Don’t be surprised if Mosby makes the practice squad and is brought up at some point in-season, which has pretty much been the norm for his run in Green Bay.
Lukas Van Ness has been a starting “lineman” on the punt unit throughout his NFL career, but it looks like now that he’s graduated into a starting role on defense, he’s no longer a preferred player there. That begs this question: Is it really a smart idea for Sorrell to be the starter opposite of LVN, which has been the case throughout camp, when he’s starting defensive drives after sprinting 40 yards downfield on the punt team? I’m not sure, but this is the trouble you run into when your tight ends off the bench aren’t blocking tight ends, the other body type that can contribute at these positions.
