Highlights From Packers Family Night
GREEN BAY, Wis. – As a receiver at the University of Colorado, Kabion Ento caught eight passes in 2016, was a healthy redshirt in 2017 and caught 12 passes in 2018.
Receivers with 20 catches aren’t going to get the time of day from NFL scouts. Cornerbacks who stand a little over 6-foot-1 with a 41 1/2-inch vertical leap, on the other hand, might catch scouts’ attention. So, in the leadup to the 2019 draft, Ento switched sides of the ball.
Ento, not surprisingly, went undrafted but the Packers were intrigued enough to sign him. And they were intrigued enough following his rookie training camp to keep him on the practice squad. Last year, however, his development was thrown for a loss with a broken foot that required surgery and kept him on injured reserve for the entire season.
Ento’s imposing combination of height and leaping ability have stood out a few times at training camp, and they jumped to the forefront at Saturday’s Family Night. He broke up passes from Jordan Love and Kurt Benkert, highlighting a dominating night by the defense.
“I thought Ento did some nice things,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “He had a couple pass breakups. He’s a guy that’s got to go out there and compete and do it on a consistent basis. We’ll have three more opportunities in live game action to watch him out there, and we’ll see where he ends up.”
Mother Nature 1, Packers 1
Rain descended on the area mid-Saturday afternoon and wouldn’t leave. But it could have been worse.
“When we first went out there, we were told, ‘You’re going to have an hour max,’” LaFleur said.
So, he adjusted his script accordingly. While Aaron Rodgers led a starters-vs.-starters 2-minute drill, 2-minute drives for Love and Benkert were among periods that LaFleur scrapped. Red-zone periods were erased, as well. Nonetheless, the team practiced for about an hour-and-a-half, including a young-guys period at the end that featured live tackling.
However, the festivities started late due to lightning, and the post-practice fireworks were canceled – a huge disappointment to the fans who endured the nonstop showers. In between, the play was sloppy. During one sequence, Love and rookie lineman Jacob Capra botched two snaps – Capra was benched after the second – and Love dropped the ball while escaping pressure.
Funchess States His Case
Receiver Devin Funchess hadn’t done a darned thing of note during the first week of camp. Perhaps it’s because he missed most of the 2019 season with a broken collarbone and opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID.
The former Carolina Panthers standout made three big plays on Saturday night. The first was a gain of about 25 from Love against cornerback Stanford Samuels. The second was a third-and-5 conversion from Rodgers. Later, with Love at quarterback, Funchess was wide open on a busted coverage and made a tremendous toe-dragging catch at the sideline.
RELATED: FUNCHESS APOLOGIZES FOR ANTI-ASIAN SLUR
“Two years removed, so it did feel good to be back. I got to have fun again; have fun with the guys and just put on a show for the crowd that was here,” he said.
Funchess is in a battle for a roster spot in a crowded receiver room. Davante Adams, Allen Lazard, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Randall Cobb and Amari Rodgers, barring an injury, will fill five spots on the depth chart. Funchess is in the mix for a sixth spot.
The rain hardly dampened his spirits.
“We’re missing the fireworks, that’s the only thing,” he said. “Everything else, football is an all-weather sport. I’m waiting on the snow, have fun playing in snow again like I did in high school. It was just good to be back out there, back in my element, back having fun.”
Play of the Day
There were no touchdowns scored. The only turnover produced came on a dropped pass. So, let’s turn to punting. Kicking from midfield, Ryan Winslow’s punt hit around the 5 and was saved with a diving stop at the goal line by receiver DeAndre Thompkins. Thompkins also picked up about 30 yards on an end-around, running through a tackle attempt by Ento in the process.
Packers Injury Report
New Injuries: WR Equanimeous St. Brown, WR Juwann Winfree, DT Kenny Clark (all undisclosed).
Old Injuries: WR Chris Blair (ankle), OLB Randy Ramsey (ankle), ILB Kamal Martin (knee), TE Josiah Deguara (knee).
Returned to Practice: None.
Non-Football Injury List: CB Kevin King (hamstring), S Will Redmond (foot), OLB Za’Darius Smith (back), LB Isaiah McDuffie (hamstring), DT Kingsley Keke (ankle).
Physically Unable to Perform List: TE Dominique Dafney (knee), LT David Bakhtiari (knee).
Some Quick Reads
– All-Pro receiver Davante Adams dropped a few passes this week, including one on Saturday with the offense in the red zone. Safety Darnell Savage made a juggling interception for the only turnover of the night.
– In the starters-vs.-starters 2-minute drill, the offense had 1:20 to move the ball 70 yards for a touchdown. Rodgers got the offense rolling with a 16-yard completion to running back Aaron Jones and a 22-yard connection to tight end Robert Tonyan with 41 seconds remaining. Adams was ruled down inbounds after a 6-yard catch, which ran off a bunch of time. With 3 seconds to go, De’Vondre Campbell got in Rodgers’ passing lane and the pass to Adams fell incomplete.
– All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander broke up passes from Rodgers to Lazard and Adams.
– Games are won and lost on third down. Here’s how the practice started: Rodgers incomplete to Adams on third-and-7; Rodgers incomplete to Cobb with tight coverage by Chandon Sullivan on third-and-4; Love threw incomplete to Amari Rodgers on third-and-5; Ento broke up a pass from Benkert to Malik Taylor on third-and-7; Dean Lowry “sacked” Rodgers on third-and-9; and Rodgers had to throw it away against pressure on third-and-8. Finally, the offense broke through with a Rodgers-to-Valdes-Scantling completion against Eric Stokes on third-and-7. On third-and-6, Alexander broke up a pass to Adams.
– Love went deep to Reggie Begelton but Samuels and safety Innis Gaines were in great position. Gaines is off to an impressive start to camp.
– Benkert went deep to edge defender-turned-tight end Bronson Kaufusi but defensive lineman-turned-edge defender Delontae Scott was in great position to force an incompletion. The battle for the No. 4 outside linebacker position is wide open, and Scott and Tipa Galeai showed up a few times.
– During individual drills, Rodgers (twice) and Benkert threw bombs into a net. The ball started at the 35 and the net was located in the back of the end zone. Along with the quarterback’s drop, the ball traveled about 50 yards to drop into a net about 2-feet wide. The crowd roared each time.
Packers Training Camp Schedule
The team will not practice on Sunday and will have a closed practice on Monday. Practices at 10:10 a.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will be open to fans. Those practices lead into Saturday’s preseason opener at home against the Houston Texans.
