The Green Bay Packers still have one more training camp practice on Thursday before they take on Seattle on Saturday, but Wednesday’s practice was the final one that was open to the public. It also happened to be the hottest day of the year, at 100-plus degrees on the field. However, other than moving practice up an hour, everything else went as planned, including sticking to the original plan of being out there for two hours.
Once again, here are my key observations and takeaways from what I saw take place from the sidelines.
— The injury report at the start of practice was the same as Tuesday, with no new additions or players coming off of it. The list included David Bakhtiari, Dontayvion Wicks, Tarvarius Moore, Henry Pearson, Jason Lewan, Eric Stokes (PUP), Lew Nichols, Tyler Goodson, De’Vondre Campbell, Luke Tenuta and Bo Melton.
— During practice, Anthony Johnson, Darnell Savage, and Devonte Wyatt would all drop out. Colby Wooden stepped in for Wyatt and Jonathan Owens for Savage.
— Rashan Gary was participating in team drills for the second day in a row. A good sign that he felt good coming out of Tuesday’s practice. As of now, Gary is still taking it “day by day” and has some boxes to check if he is going to be available for Week 1.
— Of note, during individual position drills, Lukas Van Ness was working out with the interior defensive line group. He, of course, is still an edge rusher, but with how deep that unit appears to be, he may be the fifth option within that rotation. Lining up inside would give him the opportunity for more snaps. Following the draft, Brian Gutekunst did say that we could see Van Ness lined up inside as a pass rusher, where he spent the majority of his snaps at Iowa. During team drills, he continued to line up at edge.
— I wrote yesterday that I’m not really sure where Corey Ballentine and Innis Gaines fit on the 53-man roster, but it appears that the Packers are very much giving them a hard look. Both were again with the second-team defenses – Ballentine outside and Gaines at nickel – and saw plenty of snaps today.
— Jordan Love’s final throw was an interception in two-minute drill, but overall, I thought he had another really good day. There was another “wow” throw in the red zone period on a touchdown pass to Luke Musgrave in the back of the end zone that he fit in over the linebacker and only where Musgrave could get it while still getting both feet in. Outside of that one throw, there were not turnover-worthy passes, and he’s struck a really good balance of knowing when to push the ball downfield, fit it into a tight window, or go through his progressions and take what the defense gives him.
— Malik Heath was getting some serious looks with the starting offense at the start of team drills, rotating in with Samori Toure, Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, and Romeo Doubs. All signs point to Heath being on this final roster.
OL and DL doing one-on-ones. Everyone else doing 7v7s:
Love: I was off my game, just saw the result which was a downfield pass completed to Reed.
Clifford: comeback route to DuBose incomplete. Not on same page? Valentine in coverage.
McGough: complete to Chrest on shallow…
— Paul Bretl (@Paul_Bretl) August 23, 2023
— Grant DuBose hasn’t had the time frame to put together the same body of work as Heath, but for the most part, he has made the most of his opportunities over the last week and a half. He had a really nice touchdown catch in a two-minute drill from Sean Clifford, where he ran a post inside, but sold the route going outside, to help create quite a bit of space between him and safety Benny Sapp.
— At safety playing next to Savage was again Rudy Ford, who spent most of his day playing with the starters.
— I’d have to go back and look to see how often the Packers did this in 2022, but they’ve had their share of looks this summer, and especially as of late with De’Vondre Campbell out, with only Quay Walker on the field at linebacker. Also, as I mentioned yesterday, they continued to blitz a lot from this position as well.
— Barring some drastic change, your starting offensive line Week 1 in Chicago is going to be David Bakhtairi, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jon Runyan, and Zach Tom. Outside of Rasheed Walker, as of late, of Yosh Nijman filling in for Bakhtairi, this has been the starting combination for really most of training camp.
— Speaking of Nijman, he had some tough pass pro snaps today. Also, while Brenton Cox has been able to flash, watching him go up against Zach Tom on a few reps shows that he also has a ways to go.
More 7-on-7s:
McGough: looked for Chrest down left sideline. Good coverage by Hamilton.
Love: complete to Doubs on out route along sidelines. Alexander in coverage. Nice pass and catch.
Clifford: Heath quick slant v. Valentine.
McGough: Bonds has step on SJC. Over throw.
— Paul Bretl (@Paul_Bretl) August 23, 2023
— Following the New England game, I wrote in my instant takeaways that Josiah Deguara has underwhelmed in the passing game, both in reliability at times when not targeted around the line of scrimmage, and also in YAC ability. However, the last two days he has looked very good as a blocker, which is largely where his responsibilities will lie.
— Tucker Kraft is very much riding the roller coaster right now as he transitions to the NFL at a very difficult position, one day having a good practice and then going quiet for a few. But today was one of those sound performances that we’ve seen him have. He made a few plays in the passing game with the second offense, including a big play down the seam, and had two nice blocks as well, one in the run game and another on a swing pass.
— Matt LaFleur said before practice that this edge rusher group has “a lot of potential,” and we again saw that on display with JJ Enagbare, Lukas Van Ness, and Justin Hollins all able to get after Love. With that said, Love always looks calm and in control, even when the pocket may be breaking down.
— Love is just so casual at changing arm angles to make throws depending on the pass he’s trying to make or if anyone is in his face.
— Arron Mosby is buried on the depth chart in a very deep edge rusher room, but against the run in particular, I’ve thought he’s held up well, specifically against the run.
— Another day, another play where Jonathan Ford is making his way into the backfield. At this point, while I’m not sure how much playing time he will see, his play is going to make it difficult to keep him off the final roster, especially with his ability against the run, where this defense can always use more reinforcements.
— I thought the offensive line did well today against the blitz, something the defense threw at them somewhat regularly, both from linebacker and from Keisean Nixon on one occasion, as well as against the stunts from the edge rushers. These elements gave the offensive line some fits last season. Green Bay has been having Van Ness use stunts quite a bit, in what I imagine is an effort to give him a free run at the quarterback.
— Jadakis Bonds isn’t going to make the final roster but he is perhaps playing his way on to the practice squad over the last week. Sean Clifford has been looking his way fairly often with the second team offense. Bonds had two more nice receptions on Wednesday.
— As we know, Luke Musgrave’s biggest impact is going to come as a pass catcher early on, but blocking is an important component to playing tight end in this offense. He took some more lumps in that capacity today.
