In Pads!: Everything That Happened at Practice 5 of Packers Training Camp

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Another day, another questionable hit by Nate Hobbs at Green Bay Packers training camp. On the third play of Monday’s practice, the first padded practice of camp, Hobbs shot in the backfield, went low and tackled running back MarShawn Lloyd.

Lloyd stayed on the turf for a few moments before being helped up. While he stayed on the field, he did not practice the rest of the day.

Coach Matt LaFleur, upset after Hobbs hit receiver Dontayvion Wicks a couple times on Friday and after showing the players the “rules of engagement” before Monday’s practice, pulled Hobbs from the lineup.

“Put me in timeout. Let me think about my decisions,” Hobbs said. “And I thought about it real good. It wasn’t an intentional decision like, ‘Oh, I’m going to tackle him.’ It was like, I was behind a blocker, once I popped back in and got my vision on the ball-carrier, he was as close as we are and his shoulder pads go a little down so, by nature, I got low, just to protect myself so I wouldn’t look crazy and get run over. You know what I’m saying? And I got low, I kind of dropped my knee on the ground and I kind of shot and I didn’t try to tackle him, I just got too low.”

There was a little pushing and shoving between players throughout practice, including guard Donovan Jennings and defensive lineman Warren Brinson in one-on-ones and tight end Tucker Kraft and defensive end Brenton Cox during 11-on-11. But, for the most part, tempers were held in check on a second consecutive sweltering day at training camp.

Jordan Love’s Day

Jordan Love was 13-of-19 passing with one interception.

The first play of the day was a well-placed downfield ball to Romeo Doubs, who found a hole behind the linebackers and in front of safety Zayne Anderson for a gain of about 20.

During a third-down period, Love completed 3-of-5 passes but gained only two first downs and threw the interception. On third-and-5, Carrington Valentine had excellent coverage to prevent a completion to Jayden Reed. On third-and-9, Love’s short pass to Tucker Kraft was stopped immediately by Xavier McKinney. Love converted third-and-4 to Doubs and third-and-6 to Reed against a McKinney blitz. On third-and-7, Love threw a bit too high to Golden, with the ball going off his fingertips and into the waiting mitts of Nate Hobbs.

During the final period of practice, Love was 4-of-5 during a 2-minute drill. More on that next.

Player of the Day: Jayden Reed

Every year, the rookie class – especially the early-round draft picks – gets all the hype and the veterans get lost a bit in the shuffle.

Receiver Jayden Reed has led the team in receptions and receiving yards in both seasons. Perhaps first-round pick Matthew Golden will develop into a No. 1 receiver but, for now, Reed remains the best target.

For a 2-minute drill, the offense took possession on the 30-yard line with 1:45 on the clock, zero timeouts and in need of a field goal.

On first down, Jordan Love threw behind Reed. On second down, Reed connected with Golden for 6. It was The Reed Show the rest of the way. On three consecutive plays, Reed caught a 6-yard pass on third-and-4, a 9-yard pass on first-and-10 and a 22-yard pass on a post against Nate Hobbs on second-and-1.

A clock-burning run by Josh Jacobs set up Brandon McManus for a 43-yard field goal.

“I think that’s big, man, just to have chemistry with the quarterback, get the targets in practice so it can translate to the game,” Reed said. “I do think it’s very important to build that chemistry along the way.”

On a steamy day, it was a strong way to end practice.

“Yeah, it was a hot one out there,” he said. “I was pretty tired on that drive, I’m not going to lie, but you’ve got to push through it.”

Play of the Day: Matthew Golden

Early in practice, Jordan Love and Matthew Golden connected for a big play. Golden ran an out against veteran cornerback Keisean Nixon and made a sliding catch at the sideline. Perhaps a replay review would have shown Nixon had successfully rolled Golden out of bounds without getting two feet down, though Nixon didn’t protest too much.

A closer runner-up was a back-shoulder catch by Malik Heath, which we’ll get to in a moment.

Packers Injury Updates

New injuries: None.

Old injuries: receiver Christian Watson (knee), linebacker Collin Oliver (hamstring), offensive lineman John Williams (back).

Returning from injuries: LB Quay Walker (ankle), center Elgton Jenkins (back) and WR Savion Williams (concussion).

Before practice, coach Matt LaFleur said Walker would be doing the “same” thing as the last few days, which is stand behind the defense to watch the plays. Instead, Walker did much more, getting a heavy dose of individual drills.

Savion Williams is out of the concussion protocol. He had a catch for about 20 yards on a pass from Malik Willis.

Packers Practice Highlights

- The first play during the “real” part of training camp was a run to Josh Jacobs that didn’t get too far. Guard Sean Rhyan and defensive lineman Kenny Clark wound up on the ground, which the coaches want to avoid.

“First day of pads is always hard,” Rhyan said. “Everyone is getting used to bending your knees again and really hitting and being able to set blocks. Tomorrow, I think it’ll be a better day.”

- Defensive end Lukas Van Ness was impactful all day, especially against the run. On the second play of the day, he stopped Jacobs at the line.

- Sean Clifford threw a bomb to rookie first-round pick Matthew Golden. Rookie seventh-round cornerback Micah Robinson’s superb coverage led to an incompletion.

- Speaking of Robinson, a bootleg pass from Malik Willis to tight end Ben Sims resulted in a minimal gain because Robinson closed quickly. If this were truly live, it would have been a heck of a collision.

- Left guard Aaron Banks, who is coming back from a back injury, got a smattering of snaps with the first unit. He would have had one more had he not been guilty of a false start. Jacob Monk replaced him for the next play.

- Defensive end Brenton Cox roared into the backfield and popped running back Jalen White for a big loss.

- The young tight ends had their moments. First, Johnny Lumpkin got a high-five from the coaches after clearing a lane for running back Amar Johnson to explode through for a nice gain. Moments later, Messiah Swinson pancaked cornerback Tyron Herring.

- It was a good day for safety Evan Williams, who broke up a pass on the sideline to Luke Musgrave and forced a fumble by Tucker Kraft. Kraft has at least a couple fumbles this summer.

- Defensive tackle Colby Wooden shot in from the backside to tag Jacobs in the backfield.

- There’s been a bad snap or two at every practice. On one, Jordan Love picked the ball up off the ground and threw a deep pass to Golden, which Golden did well to prevent Nate Hobbs from intercepting.

- It was short of the first down, but Willis went sidearm to get the ball to tight end John FitzPatrick on third-and-7.

- Given the same 2-minute scenario as Love – ball at the 30 with 1:45 on the clock – Willis led the No. 2s to a field goal in his 2-minute drill. On the first play, Willis completed a swing pass to Emanuel Wilson for a gain of 10. On the next play, Willis telegraphed a pass to Malik Heath, which Carrington Valentine almost intercepted for what would have been a pick-six.

Willis and Heath got their revenge on the next play, with Willis throwing a superb back-shoulder pass for a gain of 26 against Bo Melton. Willis made the catch at the sideline, displaying textbook late hands to not give Melton an inkling the ball was coming. He hit the turf hard but was back on his feet in short order.

Willis connected with Savion Williams for a gain of 7 before a pair of runs by Wilson set up Brandon McManu’s 36-yard field goal.

- McManus made all nine field-goal attempts to improve to 23-of-23 in camp.

Packers Lineup Notes

- With Elgton Jenkins and Aaron Banks working their way back from injuries, the starting line was left tackle Rasheed Walker, left guard Jordan Morgan, center Sean Rhyan, right guard Jacob Monk and right tackle Zach Tom.

However, during the opening walk-through, the No. 1 line might be the No. 1 line for Week 1, with Walker at left tackle, Banks at left guard, Jenkins at center, Rhyan at right guard and Tom at right tackle.

“I think it’s important just to build chemistry across the line,” Rhyan said of working with Jenkins. “For whoever’s going to be out there on Sundays, Mondays or Thursdays, whatever day we’re going to be playing. I think it is important to build chemistry between guard-center, tackle-guard, all the way across the line. In case we miss calls, it’s unspoken rules and we know what we’re going to do, which allows us to be successful. I think it’s important but camp’s long. We’ve got a lot more days of practice.”

- For one early snap, the No. 1 safeties were Xavier McKinney and Javon Bullard. Did that signal some sort of change? Probably not. For most of the day, McKinney worked with Evan Williams at safety while Bullard was either the No. 1 in the slot or a No. 2 at safety.

- Because of Trey Hill’s problems with shotgun snaps, first-year guard Donovan Jennings got a lot of work at center.

- Second-round pick Anthony Belton continues to work at left tackle with the No. 2s and right tackle with the No. 3s. Will he get a shot to compete at guard?

“I think he’s got the talent to do that,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “So, we want to try to get him a little bit more settled on the perimeter at tackle and take it in stride.”

- Bo Melton continues to get a lot of work at corner with a second unit consisting of Melton and Kamal Hadden at corner and Kalen King in the slot.

- This was noteworthy, though. Isaiah Dunn, who hasn’t played in a regular-season game since 2022, got some snaps at corner in a secondary that included Carrington Valentine at corner, Nate Hobbs in the slot and Bullard and Zayne Anderson at safety.

Packers Training Camp Schedule

The Packers will practice at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. After an off-day on Wednesday, the team will practice at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday and Friday before Saturday’s Family Night.

Quote of the Day

Cornerback Nate Hobbs on how people will appreciate his mentality once the season starts.

“Today is today, but the thing about life, bro, when things happen, you’ve got to have the perspective. Sometimes, we forget about everything we’ve been through and the perspective we have on things and we put ourselves in the moment too much. It’s a balance. You’ve got to stay in the moment, but you can’t get too much outside of the perspective you’ve got because that’s why you went through everything you went through in life: to give you perspective. That’s why people around you give you perspective. Right now, it’s bad. But on September 7th, it’s going to be real good. You know what I’m saying? But I do feel horrible.”