Green Bay Packers rookie cornerback Carrington Valentine ended Monday’s practice the Don Hutson Center with a pick-six interception, providing another standout play in what has become a summer full of impressive plays from the seventh-round pick out of Kentucky.
A few days after producing three pass breakups (including an interception) in the Packers’ preseason opener in Cincinnati, Valentine read an out-route by Romeo Doubs and picked off Jordan Love in an 11-on-11 period to end practice.
“I just saw the release of the route,” Valentine told Wes Hodkiewicz of Packers.com after practice. “And when he broke out, I took my eyes there and my eye progression and I just went and broke on the route … I wouldn’t say I knew it was coming but I had a hunch.”
This wasn’t the first pick-six from Valentine during training camp. He had another on former Packers quarterback Danny Etling earlier in camp when he recognized a route and made the play.
“I’ve always been a playmaker,” Valentine said.
In Cincinnati, Valentine got a gift interception on a deflected pass off a receiver’s hands late in the first half. He earned it after breaking up two passes earlier in the contest. Bengals quarterbacks targeted him six times but found only two completions.
Valentine has been running with the first-team defense rountinely during camp. Can he push for regular season playing time over the final part of camp? It might be tough for the Packers to keep such an impressive young player off the field, even if the configuration might be tough at cornerback.
Want more from No. 37? Here’s every targeted snap from Valentine during the preseason opener, via Justis Mosqueda of Acme Packing Co.:
It's hard to not get excited about Carrington Valentine pic.twitter.com/WnaNpqO9FO
— The Big Ten's Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) August 14, 2023
