Plot Thickens: Everything I Saw From Practice 14 of Packers Training Camp

GREEN BAY, Wis. – At Wednesday’s practice at Green Bay Packers training camp, which was closed to the public, the plot thickened in the race to be the team’s starting cornerbacks.

Here’s everything that happened during the 14th practice of Packers training camp, starting with the most important development of the day.

Who Will Start at Cornerback?

As long as he keeps trending the right way, Brandon Cisse seems destined to be one of Green Bay’s starting cornerbacks for the Week 1 showdown at Justin Jefferson and the Vikings.

After that, it’s anyone’s guess.

Practice started with veteran Keisean Nixon lined up with Cisse. Some days, Nixon and Cisse have taken all of the first-team repos. Other days, it’s been a rotation of players alongside Cisse.

Wednesday was one of those “other” days.

During a third-down period, the cornerbacks were Cisse and Carrington Valentine with the No. 1 defense and Benjamin St-Juste and Nixon with the No. 2 defense. During the last set of full-speed reps, Cisse and St-Juste were the No. 1 corners while Nixon worked with Jaylin Simpson. Nixon even took some No. 3 reps alongside cornerback MJ Devonshire and safeties Murvin Kenion III and Trey Dean III.

Practice ended with a half-speed 2-minute drill featuring the backups and young players. The corners were Cisse and St-Juste, which makes sense as they are in their first seasons with the team.

“It’s only going to make us better,” safety Xavier McKinney said of the competition a day earlier. “That competition, I think there’s competition everywhere on the field, at least that’s how I see it. You always want a team that there’s competition throughout every position group, and I think that just makes our team that much better.

“To see that, you kind of see the guys keep elevating their game each and every day, and that’s going to be good for us in the long run. Because even the guys that will be the depth guys, you still have that level of competitiveness and just that intentionality about everything you do, so when you do go in there, there’s no drop-off.”

Packers Training Camp Injury Report

New injuries: None.

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

Old injuries: S Javon Bullard (foot), T/G Darian Kinnard (ankle).

Returned to practice: WR Bo Melton (stinger), WR Skyy Moore (unknown), edge Nyjalik Kelly (knee), edge Dani Dennis-Sutton (illness).

The big return was Dennis-Sutton, who “overheated” at practice on Monday, Aug. 10.

Green Bay Packers edge Dani Dennis-Sutton takes a scooter to training camp on July 31. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“Obviously, you take that very seriously,” coach Matt LaFleur said before practice. “He’s kind of working through the protocol to come back.”

Dennis-Sutton didn’t want to say much about what sidelined him for more than a week, including the first preseason game.

“What are you talking about?” he said when asked what happened.

Asked specifically about overheating, he said, “I was just super-hot, so just took a couple days off. I’m fine.”

He wouldn’t say if he was hospitalized, only that he was “back to normal.” While he tried to downplay it, the death of Vikings offensive lineman Korey Stringer in 2001 from exertional heat stroke has teams extremely cautious.

Dennis-Sutton took part in individual drills at practice and wasn’t sure if he would play on Friday night at Denver.

“Yeah, that’s the plan,” he said about picking up where he left off. “Get back out there. Right now, I'm just doing what I can, but yeah, feel great, plan to get back.”

Which Unit Won the Day?

There weren’t a lot of competitive periods, especially when compared to practices on Sunday and Tuesday.

However, the third-down period told the tale.

First up, it was starter vs. starters. The Jordan Love-led offense went 2-1. On third-and-10, Christian Watson beat Carrington Valentine for a first down. On third-and-5, Brandon Cisse broke up a pass for Matthew Golden; it was a big-time play by Cisse, who was attached to Golden’s hip on a crossing route. On third-and-3, Love went over the middle to Tucker Kraft; the pass getting to Kraft a split-second before linebacker Zaire Franklin could make a play.

Next, Tyrod Taylor and the No. 2s got three snaps. On third-and-7, Taylor and his receiver weren’t on the same page; the nearest player was cornerback Benjamin St-Juste, who almost made a leaping interception. On third-and-4, Taylor hit Will Sheppard for a first down despite pressure from Colin Oliver. On third-and-2, defensive tackle Anthony Campbell controlled the point of attack and didn’t give Pierre Strong a whisker of space.

Love and the starters went back on the field for three snaps and again went 2-1. On third-and-5, Love’s downfield pass to Christian Watson was right on the money but a bit of a wobbler, and Watson dropped it against Cisse. On third-and-3, Love threw incomplete to Skyy Moore – Evan Williams would have lit him up – but the defense was offside. On third-and-2, Love booted to the left and hit Jayden Reed for the first down – and much more with yards after the catch.

Finally, it was the No. 3s. Kyle McCord on third-and-7 threw a beautiful downfield strike to J. Michael Sturivant over safety Tra Fluellen for a first down.

McCord called it “a new concept that we wanted to see how it looked. That’s camp. You’re going to put things in for the first time and you have to go out and execute it. He ran a great route, got open and made a good catch, too.”

On third-and-5, Fluellen got his revenge with a sack. On third-and-2, McCord’s play-action bootleg got tight end Thomas Yassmin free for what should have been an easy touchdown but the Australian important dropped it.

With the No. 1 offense going 4-2, it gets the daily victory. That’s two in a row, though the defense is 11-3 for the summer by our estimation.

Play and Player of the Day

Coming later.

Training Camp Lineup Notes

– Aaron Banks was the left guard for a second consecutive day after being limited (or sidelined) by a knee injury.

“We always have a plan in place in regards to, you never want to overload a guy too quickly and too much,” coach Matt LaFleur said before practice. “For some guys, it’s just how do you get them to the game? There’s a plan for each individual on our team. Certainly, the more they’re out there, the better you feel as a coach. I think there comes a lot of confidence with that from the player, knowing that they put in the work, to go out and perform at the level we need them to perform at.”

– Banks got most of the first-team snaps, though rookie Jager Burton got some, too. Burton also got his first action at right guard since minicamp.

– The No. 1 group of defensive tackles consisted of Devonte Wyatt, Jonathan Ford and Karl Brooks.

– With Javon Bullard out, Kitan Oladapo had been taking the nickel reps with the No. 1 defense. On Wednesday, Kamal Hadden probably got half the snaps.

“Just rise to the occasion. It’s nothing crazy, nothing special,” he said of playing with the starters. “Just when you’re out there with those guys you’ve got to meet them to that standard.”

We’ll have more on Hadden in our Play and Player of the Day feature.

– In the punt-return rotation, it was Skyy Moore, Jayden Reed, Matthew Golden, Will Sheppard and Jaden Nixon.

– For the practice-closing 2-minute drill, which was not competitive, the offensive line was left tackle Brant Banks, left guard Dillon Wade, center Dylan Barrett, right guard Josh Gesky and right tackle Dalton Cooper. Get used to that group playing a lot in the final two preseason games.

Tucker Kraft needs only one hand. pic.twitter.com/5aCHqgbG7V
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 19, 2026

Big Plays from Training Camp

– After a big practice on Tuesday, this one was about a half-hour shorter. So, there are fewer notes than usual.

– The first play of the day was a handoff to MarShawn Lloyd. Lukas Van Ness beat Tucker Kraft for a stop near the line of scrimmage.

– On the next play, Jordan Love had nowhere to go with the ball because defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt took away running back Chris Brooks on either a checkdown or a screen.

– One play later, Love checked it down to Lloyd, who had nowhere to go against linebacker Zaire Franklin and nickel Kamal Hadden. Javon Hargrave might have had a sack, anyway.

– On the next play, Love threw incomplete to Matthew Golden against pressure by cornerback Benjamin St-Juste. Love and Golden talked through the play afterward.

– After that, Love threw a short pass to Kraft, who caught the ball with a head of steam and quickly went into YAC mode.

– During the No. 2’s first segment, Ty’Ron Hopper stuffed running back Jaden Nixon, Isaiah McDuffie sacked Tyrod Taylor and Hadden grabbed an interception.

– During a punt period, coordinator Cam Achord was furious about a player (or players) not knowing where to line up. Later, rookie linebacker TJ Quinn lined up incorrectly and was pulled from the drill for a moment.

– After the punt period, there was a brief tackling segment. Achord blew off some steam by demonstrating the art of tackling a dummy (which is to land on top of the dummy, rather than fall off the side, and continue moving your feet).

– The starting offense went against the No. 2 defense. On the first play, Brenton Cox appeared to beat left tackle Jordan Morgan for a tackle for loss. On third-and-8, Love threw a screen to MarShawn Lloyd, who juked Campbell and picked up the first down.

Next, Love completed a slant to Jayden Reed against Jaylin Simpson and then hit Savion Williams on a jump ball over Keisean Nixon.

– The starting defense then went against the No. 2 offense. Anthony Belton was guilty of a false start, Javon Hargrave beat Donovan Jennings for a sack and Tyrod Taylor threw incomplete after Cox beat Belton.

My iPhone camera ability was (almost) good today. pic.twitter.com/G20Yk4h0Wt
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 19, 2026

Packers Training Camp Schedule

The Packers will leave for Denver on Thursday and face the Broncos on Friday. Kickoff is at 8 p.m. Central.

There are only two public practices remaining in training camp. They are set for Monday and Wednesday, with the latter being the LaFleur Bowl joint practice against the Cardinals. Both will start at 10:30 a.m. (though the players don’t jog onto the field until closer to 10:50 a.m.)

The Last Word

Goes to cornerback Kamal Hadden and the energy he brings to the field.

“It just comes natural to me. A lot of people ask me that. I’m the youngest of five, so I’ve just always been like that – a smack talker or just like an energy guy. Sometimes other players, they feed off that, and my teammates hold me up to it. When I’m out there, I bring energy and it’d be like, ‘I need that every day.’

“It rolls naturally to me, man, I’m always excited to play football. Football is like the one thing that makes me happy. Being back on the field, man, getting it taken away from me like I did seven months ago, it makes everything more appreciative. I just love to play the game, and I never want to be away from the game. That’s why I go out there with the joy and the energy that I do.”

Whether it's MarShawn Lloyd or Tucker Kraft, Zaire Franklin is going to hit him at Packers training camp.

There's a practical reason.

“Coach makes us put shoulder pads on, so I got to make sure they work.” ⬇️https://t.co/zzCVuWN9re
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 19, 2026

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