Highlights From Practice 1 of Packers Minicamp
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will open training camp in late July with Darnell Savage and Rudy Ford as their No. 1 safeties.
Veteran Adrian Amos, the Packers’ reliable and durable starter the past four seasons, signed with the New York Jets on Tuesday, Day 1 of Green Bay Packers minicamp, a source said in confirming national reports.
Not surprisingly, Aaron Rodgers helped convince the 30-year-old Amos to join Rodgers, Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb with the surging AFC power.
Amos started all 66 regular-season games with the Packers. He played almost every snap during those four seasons. Due to previous contract restructures, Amos will still count $7.95 million on the Packers’ cap this season. Taking Savage out of the math, that’s a bigger cap number than Green Bay’s other seven safeties combined.
The Packers, who are hitting the financial reset button after years of pushing cap dollars into the future, remained interested in keeping Amos but only at their price.
So, now what?
Ford has run with the No. 1 defense all offseason and presumably will do so when training camp begins. The Packers do seem high on Jonathan Owens, who started all 17 games for the Houston Texans last season.
It will be up to Savage – who was benched briefly last season – to step up and lead the group.
“With my mindset right now and how I’m ready to work and plan to work, I think everything will handle itself,” Savage said a couple weeks ago. “Already, the guys, I feel like since I’ve been here, I got thrown into the fire as a pup, so I had to grow up fast. So, I’ve always been used to guys having eyes on me, listening to me and learning from me. I don’t think it’s too much different.”
Jordan Love’s Day
With practice conducted inside the Don Hutson Center due to the daylong rain, the only “live” sessions were a pair of 7-on-7 periods.
In the first, Jordan Love went 1-of-6 in the red zone. Love wasn’t great but the coverage was tremendous. In order:
- Rooke tight end Luke Musgrave didn’t have a sliver of space against linebacker De’Vondre Campbell; the ball appeared to be thrown behind Musgrave, anyway.
- With nobody open, Love extended the play to his right and tried to fit a ball to Musgrave on the side of the end zone but the pass was broken up by safety Darnell Savage, who seemed upset he didn’t get an interception.
- Romeo Doubs got behind Keisean Nixon in the end zone but Nixon might have got a finger on the pass.
- Love’s throw to Samori Toure at the goal line hit the turf about a yard short of its destination.
- Love looped a touchdown pass to Doubs over Jaire Alexander. The coverage good but the pass was perfect and Doubs made a tumbling grab and kept his feet inbounds.
“Doubs caught a touchdown on me today, and I gave him a hug almost,” Alexander said. “I was like, ‘Good stuff,’ because the year before he didn’t catch anything on me.”
- Love booted to his left but Alexander was all over a pass to Christian Watson.
Next was a third-down period. Love was 5-of-6 for at least four first downs. He should have been 6-of-6 for at least five first downs but AJ Dillon dropped a pass in the flat on the final play.
Added together, Love was 6-of-12 (one drop).
Play of the Day
During the third-down period, Christian Watson blew past Jaire Alexander up the left sideline and Love ripped an absolute dart to Watson for what would have been a 90-some-yard touchdown.
Watson’s physical superiority – the reason why stardom has been predicted – was on full display, and Love’s pass was perfect as Watson neither throttled down or hit the accelerator to catch the pass.
“It’s fun. Right now, it’s work, but it’s fun,” Alexander said of the cornerback-receiver competition. “These are the guys who we got on our team who we’re going to be rocking with. It’ll be good to challenge them, for sure.”
Player of the Day
With only 12 “live” plays, it’s slim pickings. So, we’ll pick rookie kicker Anders Carlson.
For the first time with reporters present, Carlson kicked field goals. He made 5-of-6, with makes from 41, 47, 49, 51 and 54 yards and wide right from 44. His powerful leg was obvious, with the ball clearing the crossbar from 54 yards with what appeared to be minimal effort.
“I think he’s done an outstanding job,” coach Matt LaFleur said before practice. “I think just becoming more consistent. He’s got a lot of leg. He’s got a big-time leg. I think it’s just kind of harnessing that power and making sure it’s very consistent. But I think he’s shown improvement throughout the course of the offseason.”
Taking Attendance
Cornerbacks Jaire Alexander and Rasul Douglas, who skipped the voluntary OTAs, reported for duty and lined up with the starting defense.
LaFleur said there was “perfect attendance” at minicamp aside from a “couple” players who were excused for personal reasons.
The players not seen inside the Don Hutson Center were safety Tarvarius Moore, outside linebacker Jonathan Garvin and snapper Matt Orzech. Garvin, for what it’s worth, also was not present for the voluntary OTAs.
Players who were present but sidelined due to injuries were safety Dallin Leavitt, cornerback Eric Stokes, outside linebacker Rashan Gary, center/guard Jake Hanson, tight end Tyler Davis, receiver Grant DuBose and defensive lineman Chris Slayton.
Extra Points
- The No. 1 offensive line consisted of left tackle David Bakhtiari, left guard Elgton Jenkins, center Josh Myers, right guard Jon Runyan and right tackle Yosh Nijman. With Bakhtiari and Jenkins getting limited snaps, a mishmash unit was made up of left tackle Caleb Jones, left guard Royce Newman, center Zach Tom, Runyan and Nijman.
- As advertised, the Packers’ No. 1 cornerbacks were Jaire Alexander and Rasul Douglas with Keisean Nixon in the slot. Of note, the No. 2 cornerback tandem was Corey Ballentine and rookie Carrington Valentine.
- The safeties were Darnell Savage and Rudy Ford. That could be the Week 1 pairing now that Adrian Amos is officially off the market upon joining Aaron Rodgers and the Jets.
- In one of the runners-up for Play of the Day, Ford got his fingers on a pass from Love but rookie tight end Luke Musgrave showed great concentration by making the catch and turning upfield for a big gain.
- The Packers will conclude their offseason workouts with their second and final practice of minicamp on Wednesday.
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