Big Plays, Pick Parade: Everything I Saw From Practice 12 of Packers Training Camp

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jordon Love came out slinging it on Sunday, the 12th practice of Green Bay Packers training camp.

Perhaps it was fueled by the return of Tucker Kraft, but Love’s first two passes were downfield completions to Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed. Kraft made his presence felt with four catches.

On the other hand, Love threw two interceptions – one each to Brandon Cisse and Kitan Oladapo in key situations. The pressure, as has been the case all summer, was relentless.

Here is everything you need to know about Sunday at Packers training camp, diving right into the winning unit and continuing with a noteworthy addition to the injury report.

Which Unit Won the Day?

With two interceptions to win the starters vs. starters 2-minute drills, the defense earned the win and, by our estimation, improved to 11-1 this summer.

Jordan Love came out cooking – more on that later – but the defense won when it mattered. The situation in 2-minute was the ball at the 35 with 1:30 on the clock and needing a touchdown. On first down, Warren Brinson forced Jordan Love to throw it away. On second down, it appeared Brandon Cisse broke up the pass to Christian Watson. On third down, Love’s pass to Matthew Golden at the sideline was intercepted by Cisse.

“It’s man on man, and those kind of moments you kind of want to be in as a corner, knowing the ball’s coming at you,” Cisse said.

Love and the starters got another chance. After back-to-back completions to Jayden Reed moved the ball past midfield, a completion to Christian Watson on what looked like an aborted hook-and-lateral and another to Skyy Moore moved the ball to the defense’s 29. Love missed a deep throw to Golden against Cisse on first down and threw one right to Kitan Oladapo on second down.

“I’m tired,” Oladapo said after playing first-team nickel and second-team safety. “It’s good, getting the conditioning out now, especially going to Denver and the elevation. Get in the best possible shape right now.”

Packers Training Camp Injury Report

New injuries: T/G Darian Kinnard (ankle), Edge Lukas Van Ness (shoulder).

PUP: Edge Micah Parsons (knee), LS Matt Orzech (calf), TE Luke Musgrave (neck), DT Jordon Riley (Achilles).

Old injuries: S Javon Bullard (foot), RB Josh Jacobs (groin), Edge Dani Dennis-Sutton (illness).

Returned to practice: CB Domani Jackson (core), DT Anthony Campbell (knee), LG Aaron Banks (knee).

The big news, other than Kraft participating in 11-on-11 drills for the first time, was the absence of Van Ness.

Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness (90) runs through a drill during the second day of training camp. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“It was extended during practice and I got a helmet to the back of the shoulder and aggravated it, and just kind of played through it through the week,” he explained. “And then yesterday in practice again, it got hit and re-aggravated.”

Van Ness, on the heels of recording one sack in only three snaps at Pittsburgh on Thursday, said he was “very day-to-day” and wasn’t sure about his availability for Friday night’s preseason game at the Broncos.

“Doing good,” he said. “Just kind of the nature of our position, specifically, is taking a lot of blows to the shoulders. I had kind of just caught a helmet wrong early in practice and caught it again yesterday. So, it’s kind of the hard part of wearing those shells. You don’t get the traditional coverage you get in the pads. So, caught it again yesterday and just kind of reaggravated it, so nothing long term. Just being smart.”

Play and Player of the Day

Tucker Kraft took the next huge step in his comeback today - and he was a dynamo with four catches and one touchdown. He was an easy pick in our daily Play and Player of the Day story from Packers training camp. ⬇️https://t.co/eg8oWk40M3
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 16, 2026

Training Camp Lineup Notes

– The on-again, off-again battle to be the starters cornerbacks was mostly off. For most of the day, the No. 1 unit included Keisean Nixon and Brandon Cisse. For one period, there was a rotation of Cisse and Benjamin St-Juste, Nixon and St-Juste and Nixon and Cisse.

“They ain’t really told me nothing,” Nixon said. “Every day, I find out a different thing, and I just attack it. I don’t care what it is, whether it’s me taking reps on special teams, whatever it is. I attack it, though. I’m here. Can’t really run me off, so I’m ready to play ball.”

– Without Lukas Van Ness, the starters on the edge were Barryn Sorrell and Brenton Cox.

– It was an interesting day for Anthony Belton. Having lost the starting job at right guard, he for the first time during training camp got some action at left tackle. That’s where he played in college. He split the first-team reps at right tackle with Zach Bako-Bewele. He even lined up next to Bako-Bewele as an extra tight end.

– For the most part, the No. 1 line consisted of left tackle Jordan Morgan, left guard Jager Burton, center Sean Rhyan, right guard Jacob Monk and right tackle Bako-Bewele.

Big Plays from Training Camp

– During one-on-ones, Keisean Nixon prevented a catch on two of three passes to Matthew Golden. On the second pass, Golden beat Nixon on a post-corner for a touchdown. On the third, Nixon might have been guilty of a hold but defensive passing-game coordinator Bobby Babich was fired up.

– Sticking with the one-on-ones, J. Michael Sturdivant caught a deep pass from Jordan Love, thanks to an excellent adjustment, Isaiah Neyor used a wicked move to beat Brandon Cisse and Sturdivant closed the drill with a superb diving catch for a touchdown against Benjamin St-Juste.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver J. Michael Sturdivant (87) runs after a catch against the Pittsburgh Steelers. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

– At the start of 11-on-11 work, Love might have his best back-to-back throws of the summer with downfield completions to Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed. On both, he found a hole in the zone in front of Cisse.

– It appeared Nixon swatted down a pass while blitzing from the corner.

– On the next two plays, Love went play action and fired a bullet over the middle to Watson before he caught the defense offside and fired a deep ball for a big completion to Bo Melton against Cisse.

“You know, he’s going to say he got me, but it was really on me,” Cisse said. “I got to finish the play there, and I’m capable of making a play on that kind of play. I’m hard on myself that I pulled off from that, and I got that kind of ability to flip and find and probably pick that off.

“So, that’s something I’ll probably be real hard on myself about in the film room. I got to finish a play like that, and I got that kind of ability to take those kind of plays all the way and take them the other way. So, yeah, heck of a catch by him, heck of an adjustment and a heck of a throw by J. Love on that play.”

– On his first pass of the day, Tyrod Taylor hit Sturdivant over the middle, though Nyjalik Kelly might have had a sack.

– With the No. 2s on the field, consecutive running plays were stopped in their tracks by Isaiah McDuffie, Anthony Campbell and Nazir Stackhouse. On the next play, St-Juste prevented a completion to Isaiah Neyor.

– After Edgerrin Cooper stopped MarShawn Lloyd for a loss, a brief skirmish broke out between Chris Brooks and Zaire Franklin. It was the first one during camp.

– On the next play, Kamal Hadden broke up a pass from Love to Skyy Moore and was fired up. Next, Lloyd was stuffed by Cooper and Franklin.

– One play later, Love went deep to Golden, who had gotten behind Nixon. Nixon was flagged for pass interference and a penalty of about 35 or 40 yards.

– Taylor and the No. 2s faced a third-and-6 but his deep pass to Kaden Prather was intercepted by Jaylin Simpson, who was playing cornerback, where he has thrived. The play never had a chance because Simpson was stuck in Prather’s back pocket the entire route.

“I was in man-to-man and I had a condensed split and you’re just going through your progressions, what routes you can get,” he explained. “I was outside leverage and the receiver was just overly trying to beat me to my leverage, so I just let him because he just wanted to get out there and I was just going to see where it took me from there.

“And then I just smelled something a little fishy going on. It was a double move, obviously, so I just felt it out and I’m just playing my keys. Just being a DB at the end of the day, just smelling stuff and smelled it out, caught a pick.”

– Nyjalik Kelly ruined a run and forced a throwaway on back-to-back plays. One play later, Anthony Campbell – who missed the second half of the Pittsburgh game – sacked Kyle McCord.

– On the second play of the backups’ 2-minute drill, which was operated by Kyle McCord, Simpson almost made a spectacular interception. After Cisse was all over a back-shoulder throw to Melton, McCord on fourth-and-5 hit tight end Messiah Swinson – but not before Simpson came free for what would have been an easy sack.

The coaches kept the drill going, though. With the ball at midfield, McCord scrambled for 7 before firing a crossing route to Sturdivant, who caught the ball in stride and ran away from St-Juste for a 43-yard touchdown. The play was blown dead at the 15. McCord threw a touchdown pass to Swinson on the next play, though Kelly might have had the sack. On the two-point play, it was McCord to Swinson again for the conversion, though Kelly might have ruined that play, too.

– Coming off a big game at Pittsburgh, Trey Smack made all four field-goal attempts on kicks ranging from 28 to 43 yards.

– During the next period, Love completed passes to tight ends Tucker Kraft and Josh Whyle before he was sacked by Barryn Sorrell, who easily beat Jager Burton with an inside move. On third-and-3, Love hit Jayden Reed for the first down. A couple plays later, Love had to chuck one to the sideline following a blitz by slot Kitan Oladapo and safety Xavier McKinney. That set up third-and-3, which Love converted to Golden.

– With Taylor and the No. 2 on the field, Isaiah Neyor’s block set up Sturdivant for a nice gain on a receiver screen. A couple plays later, Taylor threw a beauty to Neyor between Simpson and linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper. Neyor used a nifty spin move for additional yards.

– Love’s final pass was a third-and-5 touchdown to Christian Watson against Evan Williams. Love had to go through his progressions before floating one to Watson at the pylon.

– During the final period, Campbell sacked Taylor. On the next play, Arron Mosby stuffed a run by Damien Martinez. With Martinez going backward to find an opening, he was clobbered by Chris McClellan. Burton went after McClellan and Nazir Stackhouse went after Burton.

Packers Training Camp Schedule

Time flies when you’re having fun. There are only three open practices left in training camp.

“We’ve got a walk-through tomorrow,” coach Matt LaFleur said of Monday’s practice. “We’re going to go heavy today (Sunday), we’ll walk-through tomorrow and then we’re going to go heavy again the following day. Whatever day that is.”

That’s Tuesday, with that practice open to the public and starting at 10:30 a.m. The team will have a closed practice on Wednesday before facing the Denver Broncos on Friday night.

Training camp ends the following week with practices on Monday and Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. That Wednesday practice will be a joint practice against LaFleur’s brother’s team, the Arizona Cardinals.

The Last Word

Goes to cornerback Keisean Nixon on his motivation.

“Knowing I can play at a high level, I don’t really care about clips and stuff like that. When it’s time to play ball, I’ll always show up. But this team, I love playing with X, I love playing with E, Bull. I’m starting to like playing with Cisse, Juice. My kids are always my motivation, of course. But I just know I can play this game at a high level. Age never mattered. I’m 29, but can’t nobody beat me in no race, you know? And I just come to play ball, honestly.”

To me, these were the five biggest questions entering Packers training camp.

Here's where things stand. ⬇️https://t.co/OMzOispSgk
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 16, 2026

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER

Add us as a preferred source on Google