Highlights From Practice 2 of Packers Minicamp
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers minicamp ended with a bang. Or, more accurately, a Thump.
Innis Gaines – everybody calls him “Thump” – picked off Sean Clifford on the final play of minicamp on Wednesday. The ball glanced off a few sets of fingertips before being snared by Gaines, who ran around like the proverbial chicken with his head cut off before sliding to the turf.
Coach Matt LaFleur then gathered his players together following the 11th and final practice of the spring.
The next time they’ll be on the practice field will be the start of training camp on July 26.
All three quarterbacks got to run a 2-minute drill to end practice. None of them got within a country mile of the end zone.
Up first was Danny Etling and the No. 2s. Four consecutive completions – two to Bo Melton, one to Tyler Goodson and one to Duece Watts – moved the ball to the defense’s 32 with 39 seconds remaining. However, Etling misfired on four consecutive passes. On fourth-and-10, he had Jeff Cotton streaking free up the middle of the field for what should have been the winning touchdown but threw the ball a couple yards too far.
Next was Jordan Love and the starters. Keisean Nixon “tackled” Romeo Doubs and Samori Toure inbounds for short gains, which drained a bunch of the clock, and Doubs dropped an easy pass on third-and-1. Love converted the fourth down with a checkdown to Patrick Taylor, who was “tackled” inbounds by Jaire Alexander, then hit Christian Watson for a gain of 6. With time running short and the ball on the defense’s 45, Love took a shot but his downfield pass along the sideline to Watson was intercepted easily by Jaire Alexander.
Finally, Clifford’s second pass was intercepted by Gaines.
Play of the Day
On the second play of the final 2-minute drill, Sean Clifford’s pass went off the fingers of the intended receiver, the covering defensive back and cornerback Tyrell Ford before being grabbed by Gaines.
Gaines will enter training camp in position to earn a roster spot, even with the seventh-round draft picks used on cornerback Carrington Valentine and safety Anthony Johnson and the additions of veterans Jonathan Owens and Tarvarius Moore in free agency. Gaines started one game last season and is a viable option to play safety and slot.
Player of the Day
Keisean Nixon better spend the next six weeks doing a little extra cardio.
During a punt drill, he was one of the flyers. After “tackling” the returner, Nixon became the returner on the next play. He’s starting in the slot on defense and, of course, is the reigning All-Pro kickoff returner. That’s a lot of duties.
During Wednesday’s starters-vs.-starters 2-minute drill, Nixon limited Jordan Love’s completions to Romeo Doubs and Samori Toure to a combined gain of 9 yards and kept them inbounds to keep the clock running. That’s winning football.
Jordan Love’s Day
With coach Matt LaFleur having gotten his team through OTAs relatively unscathed, he limited the number of “live” reps during the minicamp.
Jordan Love went 4-of-6 during a seven-on-seven period. One of the incompletions was a pass to Romeo Doubs that was broken up by Jaire Alexander; Doubs thought it was pass interference. Love went 4-of-6 with one drop during the 2-minute period.
That’s 8-of-12 on the day, though it should be noted there were no pass rushers on the field for seven-on-seven and the pass rushers didn’t go hard during the 2-minute periods. So, with a clean pocket, it should have been an advantage for Love.
In five practices open to reporters, Love was 50-of-84 passing (59.5 percent) with three interceptions during live sessions.
Taking Attendance
Outside linebacker Jonathan Garvin, who skipped the three weeks of voluntary OTAs and was not present for Tuesday’s practice, was on the field on Wednesday.
Coach Matt LaFleur on Tuesday said there were a couple excused absences. Presumably, those were safety Tarvarius Moore and long snapper Matt Orzech, who didn’t practice either day.
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 were present but did not practice due to injuries.
Extra Points
- After a team activity on Thursday, the players will go their separate ways for almost six weeks. Here are all the key dates.
- After the aforementioned pass breakup by Jaire Alexander in the seven-on-seven drill, a team staffer threw the ball back to the official. Alexander broke up that pass, too.
- During a noncompetitive jog-through period in which plays are run at far less than full speed, Jordan Love threw an interception right to linebacker De’Vondre Campbell. Either Love didn’t see Campbell or Christian Watson botched the route.
- Will there be a battle at safety during training camp? Darnell Savage and Rudy Ford were the No. 1 tandem throughout the spring, but Jonathan Owens has gotten first-team reps alongside Savage, as well.
- Will there be a punting battle during training camp? Veteran Pat O’Donnell and Irish import Daniel Whelan each got six punts. Whelan averaged 4.74 seconds of hangtime compared to 4.20 for O’Donnell. O’Donnell’s best had 4.80 of hangtime; Whelan beat that on his last four.
- Rookie kickers Anders Carlson made 5-of-6 field-goal attempts inside the Don Hutson Center on Tuesday and all six tries outside on Wednesday. Two were extra points of 33 yards and his long was 42. On that, rookie Broughton Hatcher’s snap was low but the ball was placed well by Whelan, and Carlson blasted the ball between the uprights.
- Once again, the No. 1 offensive line was formed by David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jon Runyan and Yosh Nijman.
- When Green Bay lines up with its nickel defense on first down, the tandem at tackle has been Kenny Clark and TJ Slaton rather than Clark and 2022 first-rounder Devonte Wyatt.
- First-round pick Lukas Van Ness has run mostly with the third unit. At outside linebacker, the tandems have been Preston Smith and Justin Hollins and Kingsley Enagbare and La’Darius Hamilton. During a 2-minute drill, Van Ness lined up with undrafted free agent Keshawn Banks.
Quoteworthy
The Packers ran several “live” periods of 11-on-11 during OTAs but none during minicamp. Coach Matt LaFleur explained before practice.
“You’ve always got to weigh risk-reward. I thought we’ve had an outstanding offseason all in all. Like I said yesterday, we’re further ahead than I feel like we’ve really ever been here in terms of the conditioning standpoint. So, I’m happy with the progress that our guys have made and don’t want to have any situations that could devolve where we’re at and get somebody in a bad spot with 40 days before our vets report [for training camp].”
More Green Bay Packers News
When does Packers training camp begin?
Maybe Jaire Alexander needs a new nickname
Josh Myers downplays battle (which hasn’t materialized, anyway)
Highlights from Practice 1 of Packers minicamp
Eleven story lines for the mandatory minicamp
Three Packers on PFF’s All-Breakout Team
Here’s why bar will be raised for Jordan Love at minicamp
Sportsbooks and the NFC North race
Who’s the Packers’ “reason for optimism” in 2023?
