Top Receivers, Rodgers Absent from Practice 2 of OTAs
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers wasn’t the only key player not on the practice field for Day 2 of Green Bay Packers OTAs on Tuesday. And, potentially, it is one more fire to put out for general manager Brian Gutekunst.
Highlighted by Pro Bowler Davante Adams, all of the team’s main receivers were absent from the second of the voluntary practices. Adams, Allen Lazard, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Equanimeous St. Brown and Devin Funchess weren’t on the practice field to catch passes from quarterbacks Jordan Love and Kurt Benkert.
Coach Matt LaFleur said he didn’t know if the absences of those five receivers were coordinated or an odd set of coincidences. Adams, Lazard and Valdes-Scantling are the team's main receivers, and Funchess was a COVID opt-out. All five are playing on expiring contracts.
“I’ve had individual conversations with each guy, but never once has that come up,” he said.
Without the veterans, there were only six receivers on the field: Malik Taylor, Reggie Begelton, Juwann Winfree, Chris Blair, third-round rookie Amari Rodgers and undrafted free agent Bailey Gaither. Just how anonymous is that group? As professionals, Taylor had all five receptions for 66 yards among that group. Taylor played 166 snaps last season, Winfree played eight, Begelton played two and Blair was out of the league as an undrafted rookie but signed a futures deal with the Packers on Jan. 8.
“I think as a coach, you always want as many guys that choose to show up here,” LaFleur said. “I think there’s a lot of [building] team chemistry, which is so important in winning and losing in this league, and just learning how to play together, learning how to practice together, setting the standards for this football team So, yeah, you’d love to have everybody here.”
Of Green Bay’s 89-man roster, only 10 players weren’t on the field. The others were Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander, fellow cornerbacks Ka’dar Hollman and Stanford Samuels, and All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari. Bakhtiari, like Adams a close friend of Rodgers, is coming off a torn ACL.
Present but not practicing were recently signed quarterback Blake Bortles and veteran cornerback Kevin King.
Tight end Josiah Deguara, who missed most of his rookie season with a torn ACL, went through a rehab workout featuring a lot of explosive movements. Restricted free agent tight end Robert Tonyan, who is coming off a huge third season, reported for duty and went through drills. It was not immediately known whether he signed his second-round tender.
After an off-day on Wednesday, Week 1 of OTAs will conclude on Thursday. The team will practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday next week. The three-day mandatory minicamp is set for June 8 through June 10.
The nine-week offseason program will conclude the following week with three more OTA practices. Those will be optional, LaFleur said.
“What we’ll do is, in order to get credit [for workout bonuses], the guys will have to attend the virtual meetings,” he said. “However, the guys that are in Green Bay that choose to stay, we’ll go out on the grass with them and work on whatever it is we have to work on. Right now, it’s kind of up in the air to see how many guys we’ll have for that. Hopefully, these guys like what we’re doing here and they’ll continue to stay on through that ninth week.”
