The Green Bay Packers are back on the football field. They opened the rookie mini-camp on Thursday and conducted plenty of meetings and the first of two practices on Friday. 51 players are in town, the 11 draft choices, 14 undrafted rookie free agents, 18 players in for a tryout and 8 current players are also on hand for a couple extra days of work.
The Packers announced 7 of their 11 draft choices arrived with signed contracts. Both number one picks, linebacker Quay Walker and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt head that list. According to reports, Walker’s deal is four years with a fifth year option for 13.84 million dollars, a signing bonus of 7.246 million and all of it fully guaranteed. Wyatt’s contract is for four years at 12.86 million with a 6.5 million dollar signing bonus and again, guaranteed.
Also getting deals done were third round pick, offensive tackle Sean Rhyan of UCLA, 5th rounder Kingsley Enagbare, the edge rusher from South Carolina and three of the four seventh round picks, Georgia Tech safety Tariq Carpenter, Miami defensive tackle Jonathan Ford and Nebraska wide receiver Samori Toure.
Among the tryout players is a local product, safety Kendall Karcz from St. Norbert College in DePere.
Two quarterbacks are on hand, holdover Danny Etling and Max Bortenschlager, one of the tryouts from Florida International.
They came in all shapes and sizes, including an XXXL offensive tackle. Caleb Jones, an undrafted free agent signed earlier in the week, checked in at 6-9 and 370 pounds.
Caleb Jones
When asked if he’s ever had one that large, Head Coach Matt LaFleur said, “I have not, nope, he is …. enormous.”
As with all of the campers, LaFleur said they’re starting with the basics.
The team spent about 90 minutes on Ray Nitschke Field getting in some drill work.
During one on one drills with receivers and defensive backs, second round pick Christian Watson made a couple of tough, contested catches and 4th rounder Romeo Doubs ran down two deep balls. Walker also made a play, picking off a pass on a deep sideline route. His speed as an inside linebacker was noticeable.
Before practice, the media was finally allowed back in the locker room for the first time since the Packers lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game on January 21 of 2020. The days of zoom sessions or appearances in the media auditorium because of the pandemic are at last, a thing of the past.
We had a chance to visit with the draft picks and Walker offered up his first impressions of Green Bay and Lambeau Field.
We also visited with Wyatt who said on his first day in the building, he sat down for lunch with last year’s Georgia teammate Walker, along with another Bulldog, Eric Stokes, taken in the first round last year.
The team will workout again on Saturday and LaFleur will cut them all loose for a couple of weeks to digest their introduction and so they won’t start from scratch when veterans arrive for the start of the voluntary organized team activities later this month.
