Training camp can be fickle. Earlier this week, the Green Bay Packers signed kicker Lenny Krieg. Just yesterday, receiver Brendan Rice missed his first practice with a hamstring injury. On Friday, both of those players were released to make room for the additions of receiver Kaden Prather and long snapper Cal Adomitis.
The old adage is that you can’t make the club in the tub, and that’s truer the further you go down the depth chart. This is your reminder of how thin the margins are for the bottom
20-ish players on the Packers’ 91-man offseason roster to keep their jobs on a day-to-day basis.
Beyond the transactions, here’s what you missed on Friday if you weren’t able to attend today’s training camp practice.
Injuries
TUCKER KRAFT IS BACK. The tight end isn’t participating in team drills just yet, but he is off the physically unable to perform list and did do individual drills on Friday. For those keeping track at home, he did return to practice earlier than receiver Christian Watson did off his ACL tear. If edge rusher Micah Parsons follows the same timeline as Kraft, his return to practice would be somewhere in mid-September (which is now allowed for players on the PUP list due to an offseason rule change).
Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper’s injury on Thursday was not serious and be practiced on Friday.
In his pre-practice press conference, head coach Matt LaFleur stated that cornerback Kamal Hadden is close to returning to the field and that the hope is that tight end Luke Musgrave’s neck issue will “work itself out, but it’s not gonna be in the short term.” The Musgrave injury is likely why the Packers continue to work out tight ends, including three on Thursday.
The only player not on Green Bay’s reserve lists who didn’t practice today was offensive lineman Jager Burton, who is dealing with a short-term hamstring issue. If you need a refresher, this is what the Packers’ reserve lists look like currently:
- RB Chris Brooks (hamstring, NFI)
- TE Luke Musgrave (neck, PUP)
- OL Brant Banks (hamstring, PUP)
- DL Javon Hargrave (knee, PUP)
- DL Jordon Riley (Achilles, PUP)
- EDGE Micah Parsons (knee, PUP)
- CB Kamal Hadden (ankle, PUP)
- LS Matt Orzech (calf, PUP)
Offense
The Packers continue to slow-play their players who are coming off injury, which on the starting offense includes Kraft, right tackle Zach Tom and left guard Aaron Banks. Consistently, Jacob Monk (left guard) and Darian Kinnard (right tackle) have been the “starters” in camp as injury replacements.
Worth noting: It doesn’t seem like the Jayden Reed slot-only role is changing. Christian Watson and Matthew Golden are getting priority looks over Reed when the team is running two-receiver sets with the starting offense.
Speaking of Golden, he made a couple of splash plays in today’s practice, including a jump ball in double coverage and a 50-plus-yard touchdown. Maybe there’s a good reason why he’s getting reps over Reed at outside receiver, despite Reed’s production.
Undrafted rookie receiver J. Michael Sturdivant, who was the highest-rated signing the Packers made in the UDFA period, is starting to generate some buzz, too. While he’s had a couple of drops, the 6’3”, 207-pounder with 4.40 speed is making some plays in camp. Ultimately, the sixth receiver job could come down to Skyy Moore, Sturdivant and Isaiah Neyor. It’s going to be fun to watch that battle in the preseason.
Defense
Don’t make too much about the defensive line rotation right now, because Devonte Wyatt and Javon Hargrave still aren’t participating in team drills. The starting job battle we can pay attention to, though, is outside cornerback, and it’s starting to be the same story every day. While Brandon Cisse got looks with the first-team “starters” when Kesiean Nixon was outside of the lineup, Carrington Valentine has consistently been a starter throughout camp.
With Nixon back, it was Nixon and Valentine at outside cornerback with the 1s to open the day, the same as Thursday. It sure looks like the Packers’ cornerback pecking order right now (and this is obviously subject to change) is: Nixon, Valentine, Cisse and then Benjamin St-Juste. With that being said, St-Juste did make a nice play today, hauling in a pick-six from backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor.
Barryn Sorrell is pretty consistently getting the “start” opposite of Lukas Van Ness on the edge right now, but the group is rotating heavily. One interesting trend is that rookie fourth-round pick Dani Dennis-Sutton is pretty consistently kicking into the interior line when the team is presumably working on obvious passing downs. You’d have to think that this role will eventually go to Parsons when he’s healthy, but maybe that’s where we see DDS’ biggest contribution until Parsons returns to the field.
The first-team defense won the two-minute drill today, which usually ends practice, on the back of two Nixon pass breakups. Start the hype train now? For what it’s worth, practice actually ended on a competitive red zone period on Friday, where Christian Watson caught a three-yard slant for a touchdown against Valentine.
Special Teams
No kicking today, if you were interested in that. You’ll have to wait until Sunday, as the Packers’ players have a rest day tomorrow.
