It was a busy week at Lambeau Field and it’s going to get busier next week. The team presented it’s entire coaching staff to reporters in advance of the Organized Team Activities which will begin next week. That will be followed by the mandatory mini-camp next month, a six week hiatus and then training camp begins. The Packers announced the finalization of the 2023 Pre-Season schedule on Thursday.
The first exhibition will take place in Cincinnati on Friday night, August 11. It will be a 6:00 PM CDT kickoff as the Packers meet the Bengals. Week two will be highlighted by the New England Patriots coming to Green Bay for a pair of joint practices leading up to the next pre-season game on Saturday, August 26 at Lambeau Field, kicking off at 7:00 PM. The final tune up will be on Saturday, August 26, the gold package pre-season game against the Seattle Seahawks. What’s interesting here is that it will kickoff at 12:00 Noon that day, an early start for the west coast Seattle squad.
Quarterback Coach Tom Clements
Now back to the coaches. After hearing from all three coordinators on Tuesday, the defensive staff talked on Wednesday and on Thursday, it was the offensive assistants. The coach that drew the most attention was Tom Clements. The quarterback coach is in his second tour of duty with the Packers. He was on Mike McCarthy’s staff in the formative years of Aaron Rodgers, helping him develop into a four time MVP and Super Bowl champion. He returned in 2021 after Luke Getsy got the offensive coordinator job with the Chicago Bears. Clements said he came back to try and help Rodgers win another Super Bowl. That obviously didn’t happen and Rodgers now resides in the Garden State of New Jersey as a member of the Jets. Clements said he still enjoys helping to develop young quarterbacks and liked his QB room with both Jordan Love and Danny Etling so he decided to stay on board. Getting Love ready to become a full time starter will keep the attention on Clements through the rest of the off-season. He said his approach to coaching won’t change going from the NFL’s all-time greats to a novice.
Two position coaches will be in charge of very young rooms. Tight Ends Coach John Dunn admitted his group looks a lot different this year. Gone are Robert Tonyan and Marcedes Lewis and two of the team’s top four draft choices are now in the mix with holdovers Josiah Deguara and Tyler Davis. Dunn said he’s going to have to accelerate the learning curve for second round pick Luke Musgrave and third round choice Tucker Kraft because these two will be playing a lot this year and they’ll also be playing perhaps the most complicated position on the team.
Then there’s wide receivers coach Jason Vrabel who may have the youngest position group on the team. The Packers drafted three receivers last year with two seeing significant action. Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs both made big plays for the offense, but they also experienced dropped balls and dealt with the frustration of injuries. I asked Jason if those two got a bit more than just one season of experience through all of that.
Samori Toure also flashed and Vrabel said he’s coming back 10 pounds heavier and ready to contribute to a receiving corps that added three more youngsters in this year’s draft. Grant Dubose, Dontayvion Wicks and Jayden Reed. Vrabel said the second round pick from Michigan State looked very impressive during rookie camp with his quick twitch and top end speed. Vrabel told Reed he reminds him of Randall Cobb in his mental approach to the game and his position.
Also appearing at the media auditorium podium was running backs coach Ben Sirmans. He has the most experienced playmakers on the offense in Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon. Sirmans said both of those veterans can ease some of the leadership burden that will ultimately fall on Love.
Finally, offensive line coach Luke Butkus has the one group that is returning intact and without a single lineman added to the bunch through the draft. Butkus is fine with that and he echoed what offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said earlier in the week about having a lot of competition at three of the five positions, center, right guard and right tackle. Those jobs were manned by Josh Myers, Jon Runyan and Yosh Nijman a year ago and while it might difficult to unseat the incumbents, last year’s draft picks Zach Tom and even Sean Rhyan will be in the mix. Tom displayed his versatility as a rookie while Rhyan had a very disappointing first year, being inactive all season until he was suspended for the final month for violating the league’s performance enhancing substance policy. The left side of the line will be anchored by Pro Bowlers in left guard Elgton Jenkins and left tackle David Bakhtiari. Bakhtiari’s contract, with a near 40 million dollar cap figure in 2024 puts him in an interesting position moving forward. Then there’s the medical mess of the past two seasons with multiple knee surgeries and the emergency appendectomy, not to mention his best friend on the team, Rodger, is now a Jet. Butkus said David is still in a good place both physically and mentally and is willing to take on a greater leadership role for not only the offense but the entire team in 2023.
The OTA’s begin on Monday and there will be three practices open to the media, on Tuesday, May 23, Wednesday, May 31 and Tuesday, June 6.
One final note involves the governing body of the Packers. He’s in the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and now LeRoy Butler is ready to become the newest member of the Packer Board of Directors. Butler is one four names that will be presented at the annual shareholders meeting for election to the board. The others are Laurie Radke, the President and CEO of the Green Bay Chamber, Sachin Shivaram who heads the Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry in Manitowoc and Christopher Stiles, the President and CEO of the Morely-Murphy company.
Four directors are turning 70 and they will take on director emeritus status. They are Jerry Ganoni, Gary Rotherham, Bobbie Webster and Mike Weller. The annual stockholders meeting at Lambeau Field is set for July 24.
