Matt LaFleur Eating His Words, and More from Practice 1 of Packers Minicamp

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur said something that was obviously correct before the start of the team’s three-day minicamp on Tuesday.

“Certainly, I think the offense is a little bit further ahead of the defense in regards to understanding the why behind what we’re doing, which is to be expected,” LaFleur said. “A lot of these guys have been around for a minute.”

By the end of practice, LaFleur had to eat his words. The offense, which is in Year 4 with Jordan Love at the helm, had its lunch money stolen by the defense under first-year coordinator Jonanthan Gannon.

Lukas Van Ness, in particular, was a force.

On the first play of the day, he had a tackle for loss. On the next play, his strong pass rush led to what was either an incomplete pass or a lateral by Jordan Love. Regardless, the wayward throw went off Savion Williams’ hands and was scooped up by Javon Bullard.

On the third play, Josh Jacobs ran to the right but his path was cut off by Barryn Sorrell. Jacobs cut the run inside, only to see Evan Williams in the hole. On the fourth play, Love was forced to check it down to Chris Brooks, who was stopped immediately by Bullard. On the fifth play, Love’s bootleg pass was closer to Bullard and Edgerrin Cooper than to any of his receivers.

With that, mercifully, the No. 2 units came onto the field, though it was more of the same. On his third snap, Tyrod Taylor was swallowed up by Jonathan Ford and rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton.

And on it went. During a third-down period, the No. 1 defense won three of four snaps, with the lone conversion coming from Love to Christian Watson at the sideline against Keisean Nixon.

The No. 2 defense swept the four reps against the Taylor-led No. 2 defense. First-year slot Johnathan Baldwin had two key plays, including a pressure that resulted in a deep incompletion.

The No. 1 offense came back on the field facing a series of third-and-goal plays. Love threw a touchdown to Josh Whyle against Zaire Franklin, though a replay review might have shown Franklin had pushed Whyle out of bounds before the tight end got two feet down. Then, Franklin may or may not have stopped Jayden Reed on a catch at the 1, Love slipped and was sacked by Van Ness and Love ended the period with a touchdown scramble.

The star of the day was Van Ness, who will be expected to power the pass rush until Micah Parsons returns.

“My goal for this year is getting back to really having fun with football and just enjoying it. I think I’m doing that,” Van Ness said after practice. “This OTAs has been great. I think with this new J.G. defense, there’s a lot of versatility, allowing us to play free without thinking, and I’m just having a lot of fun, and you saw a little bit of that today. The versatility, playing on both sides, coverage, rushing, whatever it may be. Yeah, today was a good practice.”

Packers Minicamp Injury Report

A total of 16 players did not practice. New to the injury list with undisclosed injuries were two starters, left guard Aaron Banks and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave. Also, tight end Luke Musgrave dropped out of practice.

Receiver: Skyy Moore.

Tight end: Tucker Kraft (knee), Drake Dabney.

Offensive line: RT Zach Tom (knee), LG Aaron Banks, C/G Jacob Monk (bicep).

Edge: Micah Parsons (knee), Collin Oliver.

Defensive tackle: Devonte Wyatt (ankle), Javon Hargrave, Warren Brinson, Jordon Riley (Achilles).

Linebacker: Isaiah McDuffie.

Cornerback: Benjamin St-Juste, Domani Jackson, Kamal Hadden (ankle).

New to injury report: Banks, Hargrave, Brinson.

Returned to practice: G Donovan Jennings, DT Jonathan Ford.

On Sundays, no defensive back wants to see Kraft sprinting upfield with a head of steam. As he comes back from a torn ACL, the same sentiment would be true as Kraft sprinted up and down the sideline during his rehab work.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden catches a pass during a red-zone period. | Jovanny Hernandez / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The “Starting” Lineup

This is how the Packers lined up for the first snap of the day.

Offense: QB Jordan Love, RB Josh Jacobs, WR Matthew Golden, WR Christian Watson, TE Josh Whyle, TE Messian Swinson, LT Jordan Morgan, LG Jager Burton, C Sean Rhyan, RG Anthony Belton, RT Darian Kinnard.

Defense: Edge Lukas Van Ness, DT Karl Brooks, DT Nazir Stackhouse, DT Chris McClellan, Edge Barryn Sorrell, LB Zaire Franklin, LB Edgerrin Cooper, CB Keisean Nixon, CB Carrington Valentine, S Xavier McKinney, S Evan Williams.

More Minicamp Lineup Notes

– The No. 2 offensive line was LT Brant Banks, LG Dillon Wade, C John Williams, RG Karsen Barnhart, RT Travis Glover.

– The No. 2 edges were Dani Dennis-Sutton and Brenton Cox. The No. 2 secondary had Brandon Cisse and Jaylin Simpson at cornerback, Johnathan Baldwin in the slot, and Kitan Oladapo and Mark Perry at safety.

– The No. 3 offensive line was LT Dalton Cooper, LG Josh Gesky and C Dylan Barrett alongside Barnhart and Glover. Those might have been Barrett’s first snaps at center.

– An interesting pass-rush group included Dennis-Sutton and Cox as the edges and Van Ness moving inside alongside Karl Brooks.

Packers Minicamp Highlights

– Rookie kicker Trey Smack made 7-of-8 field-goal attempts ranging from a 33-yard extra point to a 58-yard field goal. The lone miss was from 40 yards. It was a vast improvement after going 5-of-9 at OTAs last week.

– Jordan Love connected with Josh Whyle over the middle for a nice gain. On the play, though, Karl Brooks had a good rush against left tackle Jordan Morgan.

“I’m excited about him,” Love said of Whyle. “Since we’ve been back in OTAs, he’s been making plays. Obviously, he got here last year, was available for us, didn’t have too much time out there, but he got better, and this offseason he’s been putting in the work and he’s been making plays. Obviously, with Tuck out, great opportunity for him to step up and make some plays.”

– One play later, Love had to throw it away while being pressured by Lukas Van Ness and Chris McClellan.

– On the next play, Love completed a pass to Jayden Reed despite pressure by – you guessed it – Van Ness.

“Yeah, Van Ness was flying around, man,” Love said. “I think the biggest thing with him is his get off. He was getting off the rock today and he’s got that speed that puts tackles in a bind.”

– An end-around to Savion Williams was sniffed out by safety Kitan Oladapo, cornerback Shemar Bartholomew and edge Brenton Cox.

– An end-around to Bo Melton didn’t have a prayer because of cornerback Marlon Jones.

– An up-the-middle run by rookie Jaden Nixon didn’t go anywhere. Why? One coach hollered, “Way to go J-Ford.” Jonathan Ford was back on the field after missing the first two weeks of OTAs.

Green Bay Packers linebacker Ty'ron Hopper (59) and running back Marshawn Lloyd (32) warm up before practice. | Jovanny Hernandez / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

– During a third-down period, running back MarShawn Lloyd caught a pass from Tyrod Taylor and exploded up the middle. Linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper might have made the play, but Lloyd was at full speed in a hurry so might have run through the tackle attempt.

“We all know that he’s a little Yeet Cannon, is what we like to call him,” Love said of Lloyd. “He’s very explosive, and he does some really good things, but he’s just one of those guys that’s kind of just got that freaky twitch ability that is just God given.”

– Jones struck again on a third-and-goal play by deflecting a pass by Kyron Drones.

– During a red-zone period, the No. 1 offense scored a touchdown. For the No. 1s, Love converted a third-and-5 with a pass to Christian Watson at the sideline against Carrington Valentine. Then, on third-and-goal at the 5, Love hit Chris Brooks in the flat for the score. On the two-point play, it was Love to Matthew Golden at the pylon against Valentine. It was a great route by Golden.

– For the 2s, Tyrod Taylor was surrounded in the pocket and threw it away on third-and-3. On fourth down, it appeared nickel Johnathan Baldwin stopped running back Pierre Strong short. The offense was given a first down, anyway, and wound up scoring on Taylor’s third-and-goal touchdown pass to Will Sheppard. Taylor ran it in for the 2.

Packers Schedule

The Packers are scheduled to practice on Wednesday and Thursday. Both practices are open to reporters but not fans.

From there, the veterans will be excused for an early summer vacation and the young players will stay for one more week of OTAs.

SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER

Add us as a preferred source on Google