Winners, Losers From Practice 13 of Packers Training Camp Includes Embattled Starter

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jordan Love? Cooking.

Matthew Golden? Magnificent.

Savion Williams? Emerging.

Keisean Nixon? That’s more like it.

The 13th practice of Green Bay Packers training camp had a bunch of standout performances. Here are the winners and losers from Tuesday’s practice at Ray Nitschke Field.

Winner: QB Jordan Love

Jordan Love has had an up-and-down training camp. Part of that is the immense pressure he’s faced from Jonathan Gannon’s defense.

He was in midseason mode on Tuesday, though, as he diced up the secondary with what he agreed was his best practice of camp. He was in total command, decisive and accurate.

“I would say it’s up there with one of the better days,” Love said. “I think just as far as execution-wise, making plays, but it felt good today. I think it’s good stuff to build on.”

Winner: RB Pierre Strong

Pierre Strong is a good running back. It’s why he was drafted in the fourth round in 2022. He landed on the Packers’ practice squad at the end of camp last year and spent the full season with the team, though he didn’t play in a game.

He remains a long shot to make the team, just because four running backs is probably one too many, but he probably leads the team by a wide margin in rushing yards during training camp. He has a knack for finding cutback lanes and the speed to get through them.

Late in practice, he got the ball on three consecutive runs. On second down, he took a toss to the left, got around the corner and finished by driving a shoulder into safety Mark Perry. On third-and-1, he moved the chains on a run to the right.

Winner: WR Matthew Golden

Matthew Golden dominated with seven catches. As has been the case for most of the summer, he’s been open from the moment he gets off a bike upon arriving at Ray Nitschke Field. He’s probably open now. A player known for his speed, his No. 1 assets are his ability to separate and catch the ball.

“That’s always been the mindset to go out there and attack Year 2,” he said after his big day. “It started at practice, just being able to prepare and practice to lead up to the game. I feel like I’m doing everything right. I got the right mindset. I’m taking it one day at a time and everything that we’re doing now is leading up to Week 1. That’s where my mind is at. I’m going to just continue to stack days.”

Winner: WR Savion Williams

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Savion Williams (83) catches a pass during Green Bay Packers Family Night. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Packers need another receiver to emerge. Savion Williams was a third-round pick last year who did next to nothing as a rookie. After a quiet set of offseason practices, he’s become more of a force during training camp.

He was really good on Tuesday. Two plays stood out. One was an acrobatic catch up the left sideline on a deep ball from Tyrod Taylor. Later, on a crossing route, he made a terrific all-hands catch on a low pass thrown by an under-pressure Kyle McCord to pick up a first down.

Losers: WRs Bo Melton, Skyy Moore

This wasn’t about their play but they both dropped out of practice. Melton suffered a stinger when trying to make a diving catch on a deep throw. Moore was shaken up when he was hit by Kamal Hadden.

Moore, in particular, has been an up and down on offense because of inconsistent hands.

Loser: RB MarShawn Lloyd

Early in practice, Lloyd took a run to the left and tried to cut it back inside of Brenton Cox. The ball wound up on the ground and was recovered by Chris McClellan. Lloyd may have been down, but even after-the-whistle fumbles are frowned upon.

Winner: LG Aaron Banks

It took until the 13th practice of training camp for the $77 million man to take part in his first 11-on-11 reps. He seemed solid and, perhaps coincidentally, the offense had its best day of training camp.

Loser: OL Anthony Belton

The Packers used their second-round pick in last year’s draft on Anthony Belton. During his final three seasons at North Carolina State, he played 2,229 snaps at left tackle.

Belton was anchored at right tackle during last year’s preseason and finally was moved inside to right guard at midseason. The expectation is he would take a big second-year jump at a familiar position. Instead, he lost the starting job to Jacob Monk and hasn’t played a single snap at right guard since.

Back at right tackle, he hasn’t exactly taken to it like a fish to water. On Tuesday, Lukas Van Ness beat him for a couple sacks and Barryn Sorrell might have sacked Jordan Love before his Play of the Day touchdown pass.

Winner: TE Tucker Kraft

After a huge debut practice on Sunday, Kraft added five more catches on Tuesday. He has said he wouldn’t be burdened by diminished expectations coming off a torn ACL, and he’s right. He looks as good as ever.

The challenge going forward might be on coach Matt LaFleur to stick to prescribed snap counts early in the season because of Kraft’s presence.

“Any time a guy’s coming off a significant injury, you got to think it’s not a sprint, it is a marathon,” LaFleur said. “The season is long and we need him for the long haul because you guys saw practice the other day. He was pretty impactful when he was out there. It was it is. We’ll adjust to whatever the circumstances bring us and we’ll have a plan ready to go.”

Winners: DT Jonathan Ford, Nazir Stackhouse, Jaden Crumedy

Green Bay’s defensive tackles have been the story of training camp. Each of these three players had a tackle for loss.

While a lot has been said about Anthony Campbell’s from-out-of-nowhere training camp, Jaden Crumedy has been just as effective. He teamed with Arron Mosby for a TFL early in practice and had a big TFL toward the end of practice.

“Those big guys, when you have more than enough, that’s very unusual. And so we’re excited about those guys,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said.

Winner: DT Warren Brinson

Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Warren Brinson (91) during Family Night. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

No player on the roster has taken a bigger Year 2 jump than Warren Brinson. He was a healthy scratch to start last season but is going to be a big factor to start this season.

Up-the-middle pressure is a quarterback’s biggest enemy, and nobody has provided more of it than Brinson. He had a few pressures on Tuesday, including a potential sack to foil Jordan Love’s fourth-and-goal touchdown pass to Matthew Golden.

Winner: Edge Lukas Van Ness

After missing a day with a shoulder injury, Lukas Van Ness was back to being a disruptive force following a slow start to camp. Along with a few pressures, he practically took the hand off that resulted in a loss of 5 for running back Pierre Strong. A few plays later, he forced a throwaway.

“I’ve always believed in my capabilities, but I think just as I’ve kind of matured and allowed myself to play a little more free,” he said afterward. “I’ve talked about this in the past, just unlocking the mental aspect of my game. I feel like I can be a pretty smart player on the field, but almost to my own demise where I’m just almost analyzing too much.

“So that’s been a big point of emphasis this year – go vertical, make plays in the backfield, knock back and get to the quarterback and I feel like it’s been working out pretty well.”

Winner: LB Zaire Franklin

Not that Quay Walker wasn’t a physical player, but Zaire Franklin has brought a real edge to the defense. It doesn’t matter who has the ball, he’s going to get popped by Franklin. Even Tucker Kraft hasn’t been immune to Franklin.

Franklin had a right-place, right-time interception of Jordan Love during a 2-minute drill. He’s been a nonstop menace on running plays.

Winner: CB Keisean Nixon

Keisean Nixon didn’t have a great day. He broke up one pass but gave up a handful of completions. Where Nixon showed up was the physical part of the game.

After making a weak-kneed effort to tackle Steelers receiver Germie Bernard in the preseason game, Nixon was flying around the field on Tuesday, whether it was hitting tight ends Tucker Kraft or Josh Whyle, stopping a running play by MarShawn Lloyd or flying up to thwart and end-around by Savion Williams

On Friday, position coach Daniel Bullocks was asked what he was looking for at cornerback besides the obvious of interceptions and pass breakups.

“The big thing is play style. We talk about our play style. That’s mode and violence. That’s what we expect every single snap. Playing with effort, getting to the football, playing with your hair on fire, being relentless, treating the ground like a hot stove – you get knocked on your ass, got to get your ass up off the ground. And then running out of the stack, retracing back to the football, and then just playing with violence. Anytime you’re at the point of attack, man, knocking people back.”

Nixon showed that play style on Tuesday.

Loser: K Trey Smack

The rookie kicker made 1-of-2 field-goal attempts to cap 2-minute drills. His miss from 47 yards would have meant the Packers lost the game (or were trailing heading into halftime).

What happened today at Packers training camp?

A lot.

Some injured players returned and Jordan Love and Matthew Golden were cooking. We have the big plays, the injury updates and much more from Practice 13. ⬇️https://t.co/1xzoTUkH7n
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 19, 2026

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