Report: Packers Will Host Browns for Joint Practices
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Cleveland Browns garnered the nickname “Green Bay East” after adding former Packers staffers John Dorsey, Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith to their front office and James Campen and Joe Whitt to their coaching staff. None of those five are employed by the team anymore, but Cleveland will be coming west for joint practices with the Packers during training camp.
The news was reported first by PackersNews.com.
“It’s good to change the scenery a little bit and go against a different scheme,” coach Matt LaFleur said this week at the Scouting Combine, where he said the team would hold joint practices again but wouldn’t name the opponent. “It gives you somebody else to go against and tests those concepts against somebody else.”
Last year, the Packers hosted the Houston Texans for two practices before hosting them in the preseason opener.
“I think it was a positive experience for us last year and I know as an evaluator, I got a lot out of it,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said at the Combine. “So, I’m all for it. I think it helps our football team.”
Last year’s joint practices were the team’s first since 2005.
“I wouldn’t mind if they didn’t do it for another 14 years,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said last year.
No fan of preseason games, Rodgers disliked the joint practices for a similar reason. While the practices provided physical competition for the linemen and perimeter players, much of a quarterback’s game is played between his ears. Just like the exhibition games, when teams hide their latest and greatest plays and stick to vanilla schemes, both teams did the same in advance of their preseason game.
LaFleur understood his quarterback’s viewpoint.
“You know what, there’s a lot of things that a lot of players don’t like about training camp,” LaFleur said at the time. “And you know, from his perspective, hey, I can understand where he’s coming from in some regard because it’s not like they're playing [their full scheme]. They run about four different coverages so it’s not overly complicated. It’s not like Pettine throwing everything at you. So, I get it from his perspective. But at the same time, there’s 10 other guys on the field with him on each play and it was great for us, especially when you talk about our run game getting some different looks to go against. I always respect his opinion, just like I do all our players, but I do still think it was beneficial for us.”
