Sunday LaFleur: Is Wilson Complete and Ready to Compete?

The unexpected star of the Packers’ preseason victory over the Bengals was running back Emanuel Wilson. Is he ready to compete for the No. 3 job?

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Aug 13, 2023 4:04 PM EDT

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Every year, there’s an unexpected star in an NFL preseason. For the Green Bay Packers on Friday at Cincinnati, it was running back Emanuel Wilson.

Wilson turned in a remarkable and poignant performance on the anniversary of his father’s death. He rushed for 111 yards on just six carries, highlighted by an 80-yard touchdown run.

“It’s very important because I know coming in as a rookie, sometimes you get overlooked for being undrafted and everything,” the Division II All-American said afterward. “My coach said, ‘Play like you played in college,’ and that’s what I did tonight.”

The No. 3 running back position is a wide-open battle that had been led by Patrick Taylor, who played in 14 games last season, and Tyler Goodson, whose explosive ability gave him some first-team reps in camp. With injuries sidelining Goodson and seventh-round pick Lew Nichols, the door was open for Wilson.

However, being the No. 3 back is about more than running the ball.

“A lot of it is going to come down to what else do you have to offer,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said last week. “Certainly, there’s got to be a certain prerequisite in terms of your ability to run the football, but what are you doing in pass protection? What are you doing on [special] teams? How are you catching the ball out of the backfield? All that plays into it in determining who’s going to be that third back.”

So, how’s Wilson doing in those other facets? How much additional value does he bring to the roster?

“Those are areas that we’re going to have to see improvement,” coach Matt LaFleur said before Sunday’s practice. “Not that he’s done a bad job; it’s just you want to see the consistency of that.

“Obviously, whoever the third back is, has to have a role on [special] teams. I haven’t been on too many teams where they’re not a key contributor in that facet of the game. That’s a big learning curve for a lot of young players, especially when you’re a star player at your school and you’re not getting a lot of those reps. We’ve got to put him in those situations in practice and, hopefully, he can continue to improve and grow and be a force there.”

Here are a few other highlights from LaFleur’s pre-practice news conference.

Emanuel Wilson (Photo by Katie Stratman/USA Today Sports Images)

On Sean Clifford’s big plays vs. big mistakes:

“Obviously, the quarterback’s No. 1 job is to take care of the football, but I don’t think you can put all that on him. … I thought just in terms of his ability to be resilient and bounce back, you don’t always see that, especially from young players. He’s a competitive dude, and it’s not a secret as to why he had so much success at Penn State and was a starter there for so long. So, hopefully, it’s a good learning experience for him in terms of just where his eyes need to go on every play, but I thought there was much more positive than negative from the game.”

On the play of the secondary vs. the Bengals:

“I thought our guys did a really good job of playing tighter coverage, challenging the receivers more, playing physical. I thought there was a lot of good out of that. Again, it’s one game. It’s not like they had Ja’Marr (Chase) and Tee (Higgins) and (Tyler) Boyd and all those guys out there. You’d like to see it translate from our practices and go against some of the top-tier competition in this league before you really, really good about it.”

On outside linebacker Kenneth Odumegwu, the import from Africa who is part of the International Player Pathway program:

“It was pretty cool. Typically, we don’t give out game balls postgame [in the preseason] but he did get a game ball, but I thought he was worthy of it. First ever game, and the guys have really rallied around him and supported him. He is top shelf in terms of character and I’m sure you guys have had an opportunity to talk to him and can see it first-hand. He has definitely learned a lot, and I think there’s a lot more to learn but he’s been a good addition to our team.”