Five Things to Watch at Packers Minicamp This Week

The Green Bay Packers will hold their mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. Here are five storylines.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) drops back to pass during minicamp last year. | Mark Hoffman-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will wrap up their abbreviated offseason program with their mandatory minicamp this week.

After cutting the voluntary organized team activities from three weeks to two, the Packers will practice on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week. After that, the players will go their separate ways for about six weeks before the first practice of training camp on July 23.

Here are five things to watch this week.

Life Without Jaire Alexander

The Packers are no strangers to playing without former All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander. He played in four games in 2021, seven games in 2023 and seven games in 2024. He will play in zero games for the Packers this season following his release on Monday.

The team and Alexander were unable to agree to a restructured contract.

“We would all like him back,” All-Pro safety Xavier McKinney said recently. “I talk to him every day, pretty much. Just try to stay connected with him. Obviously, we’ve developed a great relationship with each other. But my thing that I always try to talk about is that’s his own situation and I want the best for him.

“So, at the end of the day I’m going to be behind him regardless of what the situations going on. We’ve developed a relationship good enough off the field to where it’s like I just want what’s best for you and I’m going to be there regardless. I’ve been vocal about that with him. Like I said, we good friends. But we all want him here, but however that situation plays out, that’s how it plays out. I just want whatever is best for him.”

The depth at cornerback is perilous, to state the obvious, beyond the projected starting trio of Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs and Carrington Valentine. Will someone jump to the forefront the next three days?

Jordan Love’s Hot Start

Reporters were allowed to watch two of the six practices at OTAs. Quarterback Jordan Love was sharp in both. During the competitive periods last week, he was 17-of-20 passing; one of the three incompletions was a throwaway.

“Obviously, he’s played a lot of ball and along with that has gained a lot of confidence,” coach Matt LaFleur said recently. “I think he’s certainly comfortable in helping lead others and telling them what to do. He’s a coach on the field. He knows this offense as well as anybody in regards to the details and what we’re trying to get accomplished. And I think he articulates that well to the other players.”

Another strong week of work would leave the passing game feeling good headed into the break.

Matthew Golden’s Development

There are high expectations for any first-round pick. The expectations for first-round pick Matthew Golden are higher than usual, though, given his elite speed and his ability to fill a key need on the offense. He also had a strong week last week, showing what Love called a “smooth” route-running ability and excellent hands.

“Oh, man, the kid’s a stud,” veteran receiver Romeo Doubs said. “Doesn’t really say much. He just comes in and works. He has been real consistent in that area. If he has any questions for me, he comes to me. If he goes to Jayden (Reed), he goes to Jayden and makes sure that he asks as many questions as he can because he is a rookie. The kid’s playing fast right now, so I’m excited to see him.”

Especially with Christian Watson coming back from a torn ACL, the Packers will need Golden to be an instant-impact player. The early returns are encouraging.

Cowboy Coop

Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper took the league by storm last season. As a rookie, he led all off-the-ball linebackers in tackles for losses even though he played less than half the defensive snaps.

A potential star, Cooper had one of the great plays of OTAs last week when he got deep and wide in coverage to make a leaping deflection of a downfield pass to tight end Luke Musgrave.

The Packers have more good players than most teams. They don’t have many great players. Cooper could become one of the NFL’s elite linebackers this season, a true game-changer on defense.

“He had a hell of a first year and he’s just going to keep building,” McKinney said. “Obviously, he’s got the guys around him to be able to help him to continue to keep improving. And he knows how talented he is, so we just got to keep pushing him, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.

“But, for the most part, he’s motivated; he’s self-motivated. We already know what he’s capable of and what he wants to do, and even just coming in like he got bigger. You could tell that he’s serious about what he wants to do and he’s being very intentional about it as well. I expect more from him. We all do, and I know he expects that for himself, as well. Just going to be a matter of us continuing to push him, him continuing to push himself and we going to be good.”

Injured Young Players

There were high hopes for running back MarShawn Lloyd last year, but the third-round pick played in only one game due to an onslaught of setbacks that included an appendectomy. He sat out the first week of OTAs and took part in a little individual work last week.

Meanwhile, three Day 3 rookies – defensive end Collin Oliver, defensive tackle Warren Brinson and offensive lineman John Williams – didn’t participate at all. If they practice this week, they’ll be limited, but at least they’d get their feet wet a bit before the break.

While undersized, Oliver might be the best hope to improve the pass rush.

“I see him as a guy who has a skill set to play linebacker and to rush off the edge so I think he can do both,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said before OTAs. “I think he can be an on-the-ball ‘backer and I believe he can be an edge rusher in certain situations and I do believe he can be a defensive end in situations.

“It’s about taking the skill-set and putting it to use rather than saying, ‘This is our defense. Where is he going to play?’ So, we’ve got to get creative and figure out what he can do, what he can do well, how much can he handle in his first year, how much can we teach him. It’s our job to see what he can do to help us win football games.”