‘West Coast Camp’ Gets Love-Led Offense Ready for Training Camp

Jordan Love and several teammates, including Aaron Jones, worked out in California just before the start of Packers training camp.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Jul 26, 2023 7:00 PM EDT

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – It might not have shown at Wednesday’s first practice of training camp, but offseason workouts organized by new Green Bay Packers starting quarterback Jordan Love should pay dividends.

Less than a week before reporting for the start of camp, Love was joined by receivers Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, Dontayvion Wicks and Jeff Cotton along with running back Aaron Jones and fellow quarterback Danny Etling for passing sessions in Orange County, Calif.

Steve Calhoun, who trains Love and Doubs at his Armed & Dangerous Football, called it the Green Bay Packers West Coast Camp.

“We had a good time out there,” Love said after practice. “I was glad those guys were able to make it out. Offseason, we [Love, Doubs and Jones] got a couple workouts in. It was good to just get back into ball with the guys.

“Usually in the offseason, you’re throwing with other people that don’t run the same routes that you run in your offense, things like that, so just being able to have that familiarity and build those connections with those guys was awesome.”

Love and Jones came up with the idea to get together after more than a month away following the end of the June minicamp.

“Jordan spearheaded it after that and sent out the text messages,” Jones said. “‘Hey, these are the days. If you can make it, great. If you can’t, that’s fine. But this is what we’re going to be doing. We’re going to bond. We’re going to hang out. We’re going to get on the field and work.’”

Along with football, the players connected and talked football over dinner and bowling. Love said he was the winner on the lanes by flirting with a 200 game. He wouldn’t say who was worst, though he did needle Watson.

“I know Christian wasn’t bowling to his best because he had to start bowling straight, and he’s not used to that,” Love said with a smile. “So, he was a little frustrated out there.”

While the offense wasn’t especially sharp on Wednesday, Jones saw the importance of a first-time starting quarterback getting extra time on and off the field with a key team leader (Jones) and the youngest receiver corps in the NFL (no player on the depth chart is older than 25).

Jordan Love and Aaron Jones embrace at the start of practice on Wednesday. (Photo by Wm. Glasheen/USA Today Sports Images)

“We went over certain plays, certain installs, certain routes,” Jones said. “We’re in meetings and coach (Matt) LaFleur is asking the young receivers questions and they’re able to answer with confidence because we just went over it in California.

“And Jordan’s there with them and he can tell them why’re we’re running that play, what we’re looking for on that play and what we’re trying to accomplish. So, they can sit there and give that back to Coach, and it’s not just remembering it, but they’ve gone back and studied it and it stuck with them. I think that’s just as valuable.”

It also served as a way for the rookies Wicks and Reed to get closer to their veteran teammates.

“I got to hang out with Wicks a lot, who I hadn’t hung out with before and only maybe exchanged words with in here and sat in the hot tub or sauna with,” Jones said. “So, got to learn about his life, his upbringing, where he’s from and different things like that. Since then, we’ve stayed in contact, called each other, FaceTimed, different things like that. It was definitely a blessing and I think it definitely brought us closer.”

Partially because these group sessions are something that didn’t happen with Aaron Rodgers, a social-media post about the workouts went viral.

“Obviously, there’s not much going on in the offseason,” Love said. “Training camp’s not going on, things like that. Any snippet of work they see us putting in, obviously, fans love to see that stuff, love to see us working together in the offseason.”