Highlights from Day 2 of Packers OTAs

Who was absent? Who was in the starting lineup? And who was the player of the day? Here is a quick-hitting look at Tuesday's practice.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
May 24, 2022 10:43 PM EDT
Original:
May 24, 2022

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jordan Love, not Aaron Rodgers, directed the Green Bay Packers’ offense on Tuesday.

Yosh Nijman, not David Bakhtiari, lined up at left tackle.

Keisean Nixon and Kabion Ento, not Jaire Alexander and Rasul Douglas, lined up at cornerback.

Of Green Bay’s 90-man roster, 75 players practiced on Tuesday – the second day of OTAs but the first open to reporters. Of the 15 who did not practice, many were big names.

Not on the field: Rodgers, Alexander, Douglas, WR Sammy Watkins, WR Allen Lazard (has not signed his restricted free agent tender), OLB Rashan Gary, OLB Jonathan Garvin, OLB Randy Ramsey, TE Marcedes Lewis, OLB Preston Smith.

Present but not practicing due to injuries: RB Kylin Hill (knee), Bakhtiari (knee), OL Elgton Jenkins (knee), TE Robert Tonyan (knee), DT Dean Lowry (unknown). Hill, Jenkins and Tonyan went through some rehab work on the field.

Rodgers has said he’d participate in the mandatory minicamp and at least some of the voluntary OTAs. With Rodgers playing in The Match golf contest next week, it’s possible he will practice during the minicamp, set for June 7-9, and the final week of OTAs.

“I talked to him for a while last night, which was great,” coach Matt LaFleur said before practice. “Just to kind of update him on just where we are and go over a few, like we do every offseason. There’s always tweaks to what you’re doing. But no, he’s in great spirits and it was a great conversation. But I wouldn’t anticipate seeing him at least this week.”

As for Bakhtiari, who sustained a torn ACL on Dec. 31, 2020, and played in only one game last season, LaFleur said he’s “working hard” and doing a “nice job.”

Special Teams

It was the Rich Bisaccia Experience, with the new coordinator lighting into a rookie snapper and the punt team but then enthusiastically praising the players during a kick-coverage drill.

During an early punt drill, receivers Randall Cobb, Amari Rodgers and Romeo Doubs were the returners. Cornerbacks Keisean Nixon and Rico Gafford, neither of whom were on the team last year, were the jammers.

It was practically all hands on deck. Even running back Aaron Jones and All-Pro linebacker De’Vondre Campbell took part in the kick-coverage drill. Holding a dummy, Jones got driven back a few yards by rookie linebacker Quay Walker.

The field-goal drill was limited only to the No. 2s. That means Dominik Eberle did the kicking and Jack Coco did the snapping rather than incumbents Mason Crosby and Steven Wirtel. Eberle made 4-of-6 attempts; the misses were wide right from 45 and 47 yards.

Competitive Periods

The 11-on-11 periods weren’t quite at a jog-through tempo but they were at far less than 100 percent. The 7-on-7 passing drills, however, were much closer to full speed.

Love was mostly sharp, though he woefully underthrew a seam shot to rookie receiver Christian Watson that should have produced a big gain. With Tonyan rehabbing his torn ACL and Lewis absent, Tyler Davis took advantage of extra reps. He made a nice all-hands grab against tight coverage by safety Darnell Savage.

Watson dropped one but made a nice, reaching catch on a ball from Love. Tight end Eli Wolf had the big gain offensively by pulling down a seam ball from Love on the second-to-last play of the day. Cornerback Rico Gafford, who had been a receiver until a couple weeks ago, broke up a pass from Danny Etling.

Some Lineup Notes

The first rep on offense: LT Yosh Nijman, LG Jon Runyan, C Josh Myers, RG Royce Newman, RT Cole Van Lanen. QB Jordan Love. RB Aaron Jones. WR Christian Watson, WR Romeo Doubs. TE Tyler Davis, TE Dominique Dafney. Randall Cobb took the first reps in the slot.

The first rep on defense: DT Kenny Clark, DT T.J. Slaton, DT Jarran Reed. OLB La’Darius Hamilton, OLB Tipa Galeai. ILB De’Vondre Campbell, ILB Krys Barnes. CB Eric Stokes, CB Kabion Ento. S Darnell Savage, S Adrian Amos. Keisean Nixon stepped in for slot duty.

At tight end, Dafney and Josiah Deguara essentially play the same position. They are H-backs/fullbacks and not really traditional tight ends. When the veterans ran through plays on one end of the field and the rookies/young players were on the other end, it was interesting to see Dafney with the veterans and Deguara with the rookies.

Without Rodgers, Love got most of the work. During 7-on-7, Love took 14 reps while Kurt Benkert and Danny Etling got three apiece.

Player of the Day

Darnell Savage struck on back-to-back plays late in practice. On the first, he reached around tight end Dominique Dafney and broke up a pass thrown by Jordan Love. On the next, Love threw in the flat to tight end Josiah Deguara but Savage burst forward and broke up that pass, too.

“Just keep stacking days,” Savage said. “I’m just happy to be back with the guys, happy to see smiles on everybody's faces, happy to be working with them. Me being the older guy now, I’ve got to be an example-setter, so continue to try to do that.”