Winners and Losers From 12th Practice of Packers Training Camp

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The 12th practice of Green Bay Packers training camp was an eventful one with a couple skirmishes and the return to 11-on-11 work of tight end Tucker Kraft.

Here were the winners and losers from Sunday.

Winner: QB Jordan Love (With Time)

When Jordan Love has time, he’s been explosive and effective. That was evident at the start of Sunday’s practice. On the first play, he had a clean pocket and found Matthew Golden in a hole in the zone between cornerback Brandon Cisse and linebacker Edgerrin Cooper for a gain of about 20. On Love’s next pass, the result was the same, with Love going downfield to Jayden Reed in a hole in the zone between Cisse and linebacker Zaire Franklin for a gain of about 20.

A few plays later, Love had time and threw a bomb to Bo Melton, who made a twisting catch against Cisse.

Practice ended with Love having time to convert a pair of third-and-3s with completions to Reed and Golden.

Loser: QB Jordan Love (When Pressured)

The problem for the Packers is Jordan Love has been under duress throughout training camp. During his last period of the day, Barryn Sorrell had a sack and a tandem blitz featuring Xavier McKinney and Kitan Oladapo forced a throwaway.

Either the defensive front is really good, the offensive line is struggling or Jonathan Gannon has too many tricks up his sleeve for an offense that’s not game-planning for his scheme.

Love, statistically, was one of the worst under-pressure quarterbacks in the NFL last season but one of the best from a clean pocket. The Packers need to get their protection issues straightened out before Week 1 at Minnesota.

Winner: TE Tucker Kraft

What a return for star tight end Tucker Kraft, whose four receptions included a touchdown that he capped with a monster spike of the football.

“Just felt good getting my hands on my teammates, making contact again, surviving the ground through the catch and just competing,” Kraft said.

Returning to 11-on-11 work was the huge next step for Kraft on his way to being on the field for Week 1.

“They’re going to take into account my rep range probably until halfway through the season. Then they’re just going to pat me on the ass and send me out there, send me to the wolves,” Kraft said.

“How this offense is, I’m going to get as comfortable as I can playing those reps in those games that I was playing previously, those games when I was 50-60 reps, 85 reps against the Cowboys in overtime. It’s just the more you can do, all the hats I can wear on the offense, I want to bring everything to the table.”

Winner: J. Michael Sturdivant

It seems like every day that one of Green Bay’s young receivers has a big day. It was the undrafted rookie J. Michael Sturdivant’s day on Sunday, starting with a bomb from Jordan Love early in one-on-ones and a diving touchdown catch from Kyle McCord in the final play of one-on-ones.

During 11-on-11, he beat Benjamin St-Juste on a crossing route early in practice and scored a 43-yard touchdown on a pass from McCord in a 2-minute drill toward the end of practice (he was ruled down after a gain of 25). He added a short catch late in the day.

Winners: WR Matthew Golden and Christian Watson

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Matthew Golden 90) catches a pass during Green Bay Packers Family Night. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Matthew Golden and Christian Watson were shaken up but returned and delivered.

Golden got his ankle twisted when Brandon Cisse intercepted Jordan Love to end a 2-minute drill. Golden came back to catch three passes and probably should have scored a long touchdown on the next 2-minute drive but Jordan Love’s pass was off the mark.

Watson caught two passes late in practice, including a touchdown against Evan Williams.

Loser: WR Kaden Prather

Kaden Prather, who was signed a couple weeks ago, played only two snaps against Pittsburgh. To get more opportunities in games, you’ve got to make more plays in practice. On the final play of practice, he was open on a slant to the end zone but didn’t keep his feet inbounds.

Winner: RT Zach Bako-Bewele

Brenton Cox got to play with the No. 1 defense with Lukas Van Ness out with an injury. Cox might be the team’s best edge pass rusher, but he didn’t make much headway against right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele.

Bako-Bewele is coming off a knee injury that ended his season and required surgery. He didn’t play against the Steelers and has been taking limited reps at the past few practices.

Loser: LG Jager Burton

Rookie Jager Burton is in the running for the starting job at left guard. He was beaten by Edgerrin Cooper for a pressure and Barryn Sorrell for a sack.

Burton struggled a bit in pass protection against the Steelers, too. He will get better in time but it hasn’t always been smooth sailing.

Winner: DT Anthony Campbell

Impressive first-year player Anthony Campbell dropped out of the Pittsburgh game with a knee injury. He didn’t miss any practices, though, and was back to causing havoc with a tackle for loss and a sack.

“You’re talking about a guy, came to us Week 17, 18 last year and to a guy who’s showing up every single day in practice with some type of ball production, whether in the run game, pass game and level of consistency,” position coach Vince Oghobaase said on Friday.

Winner: Edge Nyjalik Kelly

My notebook is filled with numbers. “10” is Jordan Love. “60” is Anthony Campbell. “47” is undrafted rookie Nyjalik Kelly.

There are a lot of notes about Kelly from Sunday, and they were mostly in getting after the quarterback. During the backups’ 2-minute drill, Kyle McCord hit tight end Messiah Swinson for a touchdown. Kelly might have had a sack. On the two-point play, McCord hit Swinson again; Kelly once again applied pressure.

Loser: Edge Barryn Sorrell

Barryn Sorrell got removed from a drill for bull-rushing an offensive lineman into the lap of Jordan Love, knocking him down. Coach Matt LaFleur was furious.

LaFleur mentioned early in camp that defensive players have been getting too close to QB1. It continued on Sunday. Earlier in practice, the pocket engulfed Love and he had to tip-toe out of harm’s way after the play.

Winner: LB Edgerrin Cooper

Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) participates in the DreamDrive bicycle ride before practice on Aug. 11. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

We could put linebacker Edgerrin Cooper or his running-mate, Zaire Franklin, here practically every day.

During the second offensive period for Love and the starters, Cooper tackled MarShawn Lloyd for a loss and then teamed with Franklin to stuff Lloyd at the line of scrimmage. Later, he came free on a blitz.

Winner: CB Jaylin Simpson

Jaylin Simpson had big-time practices at Family Night, Sunday and Monday last week but was torched on a couple plays by the Steelers on Thursday.

Simpson’s best plays have come at cornerback; he played in the slot on Thursday.

Simpson made no excuses, though.

“Yeah, it’s a challenge, but I want all the challenges. I want everything they can throw at me,” he said after Sunday’s practice, which included one interception, almost a second interception and one sack.

“At the end of the day, I think I was truly just born to be a DB. I don’t think I was born to be a corner or a safety or a nickel. I think I’m just a DB. So, that’s just my job title. I had, what, three days to go out there and learn nickel. And I went out there and did my best. I had one little slip – that happens – and then another one is just the touchdown in the red zone. That’s just on me. I got to communicate with the corner. I was still in the corner mind-state of just pressing. I need to get myself off so I can overlap that. But I’m just playing DB, man.”

The interception was worthy of any teach tape. Tyrod Taylor went deep up the right sideline to Kaden Prather but Simpson was attached for every step on the route. If you didn’t know any better, you might have thought Simpson was the intended receiver.

“II just smelled something a little fishy going on,” he explained.

Winner/Loser: CB Keisean Nixon

About that starting competition: Keisean Nixon took almost all of the No. 1 reps. That’s a win.

“I don’t view myself in no competition. I’m coming here to compete with myself,” he said after practice. “What they do and what they choose to do, that’s out of my control. I can only control what I can control. I came from the bottom. So, I’m here. Year 8. Since I’ve been here, I ain’t been off the field. And anything they’ve asked me to do, I played at a high level. Whether it was getting accolades or anything, however it came, I showed up. So, I always show up.”

On the field, Nixon was beat deep by Matthew Golden and resulted in grabbing for pass interference. Considering Nixon tied for the most penalties in the NFL by a cornerback last season, that’s a loss.

Loser: CB Benjamin St-Juste

After essentially splitting the first-team reps at Monday’s practice, Benjamin St-Juste ran with the second unit through Thursday’s preseason game and got only a handful of snaps with the starters on Sunday.

He also gave up a couple catches, including the long one to J. Michael Sturdivant in 2-minute.

“The coaches are going to decide that,” he said after practice. “I show up every day. They text me if I'm rotating with what group I'm rotating, and that could be like that during the season. Maybe there’s a game Carrington (Valentine) plays, Keisean (Nixon) plays, (Brandon) Cisse plays, I play. We'll see.

“Honestly, they make the decision. Players don't really make that. All I can do really is go out there and be the best player I can, be the best teammate I can. And that's pretty much what I did last year (with the Chargers). I didn’t expect nothing. Just showed up. Some games I started. Some games I played more. That’s it.”

Winner: K Trey Smack

Coming off a big performance in the preseason game, Trey Smack made all four field-goal attempts.

What happened today at Packers training camp?

Even Schneidman agreed it was a lot.

Here is everything you need to know, including a big injury update, key plays, skirmishes, lineup notes and much more. ⬇️https://t.co/XLhocUObj4
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 16, 2026

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