Packers High-Fives: Rookies Most Likely to Contribute
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Ready or not, the Green Bay Packers will kick off their 102nd season on Sept. 13 at the Minnesota Vikings.
And, really, who’s going to be fully ready? With no offseason practices, an abbreviated training camp and no preseason games, profound challenges await general manager Brian Gutekunst and coach Matt LaFleur. “I think you’re running on faith a little bit,” Gutekunst said in regard to Saturday’s roster cut from 80 players to 53.
Meanwhile, when the Packers line up in Week 1, they’ll do so without the key players going through any live tackling. “We want to have all our horses for the race coming in two weeks,” LaFleur said of the tradeoff between getting battle-tested but staying healthy.
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In the latest part of this “high five” series, here are the five rookies most likely to contribute this season.
No. 5: Jonathan Garvin
The last of the team’s nine draft picks might wind up being the last of five players on the outside linebacker depth chart. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be banished to the bench, though. Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine uses three outside linebackers in some of his pass-rushing packages. Special teams will be the key to early playing time.
“It’s been fun” being coached by Mike Smith, Garvin said on Monday. “First time I met him was at the (Scouting) Combine. We’re sitting there talking and see we have similar goals and interests. So, coming in here and learning from him, there’s a saying, ‘It takes a village to raise a child,’ and that’s what it feels like being in the outside backer room. Not just that but in the defense in this team in general, everybody is helping you in every aspect of the game.”
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No. 4: Vernon Scott
Scott, the first of two picks in the seventh round, made a quick first impression by making a couple plays on the ball at the start of camp. As is the case for Garvin, Scott’s immediate path to playing time will come on special teams. If he makes it, he figures to be the fifth safety behind the starters, safety/linebacker Raven Greene and versatile Will Redmond.
“It’s been amazing. I’m so grateful for this opportunity, to be drafted by the Green Bay Packers,” Scott said last week. “I just thank them for believing in me throughout the whole process. Not going to the Combine and also having pro day canceled, they just believed in my film and believed I had a chance, had an opportunity in this league. I’m just very grateful for that. I’ve just been going hard ever since. I’m just happy to be a Packer.”
No. 3: Kamal Martin
Martin, the team’s fifth-round pick, was well on his way to winning the starting job at inside linebacker. Instead, he had knee surgery and could be placed on injured reserve on Sunday with the hope of returning to the roster if healthy at midseason.
Martin wasted no time in challenging Oren Burks for the starting job. Presumably, it might not take him must time to push for playing time upon his return.
“First thing, he’s very instinctive,” defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said on Thursday. “There were some things he just did naturally. We use the term triggering, when he sees something and he reacts to it quickly. He had a real good knack for maybe seeing things a little bit faster.”
No. 2: AJ Dillon
Dillon is one of the great unknowns. The team’s second-round pick has a freakish combination of lower-body strength, vision and speed through the hole. That could make him a dangerous weapon from the get-go, even at a position manned by proven veterans Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams. Then again, he hasn’t been tackled by someone in an opposing jersey. It’s easy to project Dillon running through tackles but he’s got to prove it.
“He better be ready,” LaFleur said. “We feel really confident with our running back corps as a whole unit, and I think you’re going to see all those guys in the mix. They all bring a little something different to the table. Just like any young back, there is a lot to learn in this offseason in terms of just whether it’s in the pass game and pass protection. Certainly, he has some great skills as a runner. He’s got to have the mind-set that he better be ready to roll.”
No. 1: Josiah Deguara
Sure, picking quarterback Jordan Love was a head-scratcher. But so was drafting Deguara in the third round. The Packers had used a third-round pick on a tight end, Jace Sternberger, the year before. And at 6-foot-2, Deguara was nobody’s definition of the prototype for the position. Deguara, however, figures to play early and often at a multitude of positions, including fullback. He might wind up being No. 3 on the tight end pecking order behind Marcedes Lewis and Robert Tonyan.
“Obviously ‘Cedes being I think in his 15th year, it’s crazy to see how he does things and the same thing with Aaron (Rodgers),” Deguara said recently. “Both those guys have been in the league a long time. So for me coming in as a rookie, they’re great role models for me to not only see what they do on the field and technique-wise but also how they go about their business.”
