It was just the first team practice open to the media, and it’s only late May, but the sunny, breezy, 82 degree afternoon on Ray Nitschke Field had the look and feel of an early August training camp workout. The Pack’s organized team activities have begun and this was actually the second time Head Coach Matt LaFleur took his incredibly young squad onto the grass. After a couple of brief split squad periods and team stretching inside the Don Hutson Center, the squad headed outside and nearly all of the media attention was focused on the guy wearing the red, number 10 jersey. Jordan Love is now running the offensive show.
The first 11 on 11 period was on the spotty side as you might expect. Love and Christian Watson had an early miscommunication when Jordan threw a ball up the seam with Watson never even turning around to look for it. Kingsley Enegbare blew up rookie tight end Tucker Kraft to ruin a run play, Keisean Nixon blitzed off the slot to deflect a Love pass and Jon Runyan had a surging false start.
There were red zone and goal to go periods as well and Love finally connected with rookie Jayden Reed on a TD pass and looked even sharper starting a series at the 10 with three more scoring strikes. Statistically, he completed 6 of 16 passes against 11 defenders, finishing with some zip to the back of the end zone to Watson.
Following the 1:55 practice, LaFleur talked about what his expectations are for the team and his new starting quarterback.
Love held court in the locker room post-practice and I fired off the first question on the dawn of his career as a starter:
The OTA’s are voluntary for veterans and a handful are working out on their own. David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Preston Smith, Jaire Alexander, Rasul Douglas, Dallin Leavitt and Jonathan Garvin were all absent.
That forced some shuffling of the offensive line in front of Love. Yosh Nijman was with the starters at left tackle with Royce Newman at left guard. Josh Myers remained at center and Jon Runyan was at right guard. Zach Tom got first team reps at right tackle. Another interesting note was seeing second year guard Sean Rhyan working as the back-up center.
Defensively, Rudy Ford and Jonathan Owens were getting reps alongside Darnell Savage at safety. Without Smith and Rashan Gary (in uniform but doing rehab work on the side along with Eric Stokes), Enegbare was paired with Justin Hollins at outside linebacker. Number one pick Lukas VanNess took snaps with his hand on the ground and as a stand-up rusher. Quay Walker opened the day with De’Vondre Campbell but dropped out with what appeared to be a minor ankle or foot injury.
Rich Bisaccia got his special teams a couple of periods as well. Nixon, Reed and Doubs all took reps fielding punts. Nixon of course led the NFL in kickoff returns last season, earning first team All Pro in just a half season. At the league meetings in Minneapolis on Monday, the competition committee was able to persuade enough votes to implement a rule change for 2023 season only (for now), of allowing a fair catch on kickoffs with the ball being spotted at the 25.
Keisean Nixon won’t take new return rule sitting down.
When I asked Nixon after practice what he thought of the rule change, he said it’s “irrelevant” which is why the Packers voted against it. He added with a wry smile he doesn’t know what a fair catch is. Can’t imagine he’ll be raising his arm on kickoffs even if 8 yards deep in the end zone this fall.
Players in attendance but not working included offensive lineman Jake Hanson and Jean Delance, running back Lew Nichols and receivers Grant DuBose and Jeff Cotton.
General Manager Brian Gutekunst also made a personnel move today, signing undrafted rookie free agent wide receiver Jadakis Bonds out of Hampton University. The team cut tight end Nick Guggemos who spent the final six weeks of last season on the practice squad.
The squad gets a day off Wednesday and will practice again behind closed doors on Thursday.
