Here’s What Happened at Practice 9 of Packers Training Camp

Rashan Gary made his training camp debut on Monday. Plus, we have Jordan Love’s Day, the Play of the Day, Player of the Day, highlights and more.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In making his training camp debut on Monday, Green Bay Packers outside linebacker Rashan Gary told his teammates that it was a “complete honor (and) privilege” to be back on the practice field for the first time since suffering a torn ACL at Detroit on Nov. 6.

“Words can’t express the feeling of the journey and what I’ve been through,” Gary said after practice. “For those who’ve been around me during these couple months and knowing the hard work that I’ve been putting in, they know. I just want to give all my glory to God.”

Gary had surgery the day before Thanksgiving and said he didn’t have any setbacks along the way. Following his training camp debut, he’s well on his way to playing in Week 1 at the Chicago Bears on Sept. 10.

“That would just be a testament to my hard work and just me checking off the boxes day in and day out and just squeezing out everything I can in each day,” he said.

Gary missed the first eight practices of training camp while checking the final boxes of his comeback. On Monday, he looked like his powerful and explosive self during individual drills. He did not take any 11-on-11 reps – those figure to happen next week, after Wednesday’s joint practice and Friday’s preseason game at Cincinnati are complete.

Asked if he needed any preseason reps to get ready for the season, Gary delivered a mic-drop comment.

“Have you seen me in the preseason last year? Or the year before that?”

Here's a little Rashan Gary making his #Packers training camp debut today.https://t.co/CfVMhFpj0w

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) August 8, 2023

Jordan Love’s Day

Jordan Love ended his day with a bang, his final three passes resulting in touchdowns.

Love started 0-for-4. His first pass of the day was picked off by safety Darnell Savage. His second was a well-thrown deep shot to Romeo Doubs, who either couldn’t control the ball as he tumbled to the ground or had it ripped free by nickel corner Keisean Nixon.

From there, the rest of practice focused on red-zone work. After Rasul Douglas’ excellent coverage prevented a sideline completion to Christian Watson and Love threw too high to tight end Tyler Davis near the goal line, Love found a wide-open Jayden Reed running away from linebacker Isaiah McDuffie for an easy touchdown.

During the last period, Love completed all four attempts. The last three went for touchdowns to Reed (more on that play later), Doubs (who fought his way past the goal line against Tarvarius Moore) and Luke Musgrave (who found a hole in a zone).

Added together, he went 6-of-11 passing with four touchdowns and one interception.

Player of the Day

The Packers’ biggest question mark on defense is their line. Those questions run past whether Devonte Wyatt and TJ Slaton are ready to be starters or if there’s any proven depth on a second unit in which T.J. Ford and rookies Colby Wooden and Karl Brooks haven’t played in a regular-season game.

Former Pro Bowler Kenny Clark is coming off a down season by his standards. He made two impact plays on Monday, though. First, on the fourth snap of the day, he blew past right tackle Zach Tom and “stopped” running back AJ Dillon in the backfield. Later, his pressure turned into a sack of Jordan Love.

“I’m excited that we get a chance to go against somebody else,” Clark said in looking ahead to the dates against the Bengals. “We beat against each other all camp, all year, so, we get a chance to go against somebody else and get a different look and work on our craft.”

Play of the Day

Sometimes, a quarterback needs some good fortune. That was the case for Jordan Love.

During the third play of the final period of the day, Love tried to hit Jayden Reed, who was streaking across the end zone. Cornerback Carrington Valentine was in the way and had a chance for an interception. Instead, the ball went through his hands and right to Reed, who made a toe-tapping catch in the back of the end zone for the touchdown.

The touchdown turned into the first of three in a row.

Aaron Jones salutes the fans on the way to practice on Monday. (Photo by Wm. Glasheen/USA Today Sports Images)

Injury Report

Along with Rashan Gary being activated off the physically unable to perform list, rookie receiver Grant DuBose made his debut. Due to a back injury, he had missed every practice, from the rookie camp through the first eight days of training camp, since being drafted in the seventh round.

New Injuries: S Innis Gaines (quad).

Old Injuries: CB Eric Stokes (PUP list foot), RB Lew Nichols (shoulder), C Jake Hanson (elbow), TE Josiah Deguara (calf).

Returned From Injury: OLB Rashan Gary (PUP list; knee), WR Grant DuBose (Non-Football Injury List; back), LG Elgton Jenkins (illness), LT David Bakhtiari (knee).

Transaction

- With rookie running back Lew Nichols missing a second consecutive day, the Packers filled the roster spot created by the release of Danny Etling.

Lineup Notes

- With David Bakhtiari back in the lineup after missing Thursday’s practice and Saturday’s Family Night, the No. 1 offensive line had Bakhtiari at left tackle, Elgton Jenkins at left guard, Josh Myers at center, Jon Runyan at right guard and Zach Tom at right tackle. Yosh Nijman spent most of the day as the No. 2 right tackle until getting a couple first-team reps at the end of practice.

- As was the case at Family Night, the safety tandem had Darnell Savage matched mostly with Jonathan Owens, though Tarvarius Moore got some action alongside Savage, as well.

“Excited, man,” Owens said of the competition. “Put in a lot of hard work, and everything’s going to happen how it’s supposed to as long as you prepare for the moment. You have to go out and take advantage of it.”

- Rookie cornerback Carrington Valentine spent the entire day working with the No. 1 defense. The day started with Jaire Alexander and Valentine at corner and Rasul Douglas in the slot. Most of practice, though, was conducted with Valentine and Douglas as the corners and Keisean Nixon in the slot.

- Lukas Van Ness joined Preston Smith as the first-team outside linebackers.

- The No. 2 line, mostly, was Rasheed Walker at left tackle, Royce Newman at left guard, James Empey at center, Sean Rhyan at right guard and Nijman at right tackle.

Practice Highlights

It was a short practice with no one-on-one drills, so there are fewer highlights than usual.

- How windy was it on Monday? With the wind in his face, powerful rookie kicker Anders Carlson barely squeaked a 50-yard field goal over the crossbar. With the wind at his back, veteran punter Pat O’Donnell ripped a 72-yard punt; the ball was snapped at the 30 and landed in the end zone.

- Carlson made 5-of-6 field-goal attempts after a sensational Family Night. He was good from 33 and 44 before hitting the left upright from 45, then made kicks from 49, 50 and 51 yards. Carlson is up to 30-for-43 (69.8 percent) after making 14-of-16 (87.5 percent) his last two practices.

- Sean Clifford’s first pass as the No. 2 quarterback? A play-action bullet that was thrown too high to Dontayvion Wicks. The ball glanced off Wicks’ fingers and was almost intercepted by Dallin Leavitt.

- Back-to-back center-quarterback exchanges were botched between center Cole Schneider and quarterback Alex McGough. Schneider was yanked and replaced by James Empey. On the next snap, Karl Brooks stormed in the backfield and leveled Emanuel Wilson.

- McGough booted to his left and couldn’t connect with Malik Heath on a deep shot. Heath turned left and then right to find the ball. On his way back, Heath was coached up by receiver Christian Watson and position coach Jason Vrable.

- AJ Dillon had a nice run that was powered by undrafted rookie fullback/tight end Henry Pearson. Pearson is getting more work with the starter at that spot, Josiah Deguara, out with an injury.

Packers Training Camp Schedule

The Packers will depart for Cincinnati on Tuesday. They’ll practice against the Bengals on Wednesday afternoon and play them in the preseason opener on Friday, with kickoff at 6 p.m. Central.

Three practices will be open to fans next week: Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, with the final two of those practices being against the New England Patriots. Starting times have not been announced.

Quote of the Day

Saturday was a great day for Packers safety Jonathan Owens. Not only did he run with the starters on Family Night but his wife, legendary gymnast Simone Biles, had a historic night in her return to competition.

“I sprinted in here. I sprinted in here right out of Family Night to go check my phone and check out the scores. I’m in here screaming and guys are like, what’s going on? I’m like man, my lady, she just won. She killed it. I was super-excited. …

“I text her right after, because I knew her phone was probably blowing up. I just told her to call me whenever she gets a moment. So, I didn’t get to really FaceTime her until around 11, but she was excited. She was with her family, too, so I let them have that moment, and my family was in town, too. But we talked, we stayed up until about 3 in the morning just on the phone, just talking and reliving the moment. I know it felt like a dream to her, so I was super-excited for her.”

More Green Bay Packers Training Camp News

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Packers release QB Danny Etling

Jonathan Ford comes up big on Family Night

Five overreactions from Family Night

Highlights from Practice 8 (Family Night) of Packers training camp

GM Brian Gutekunst goes all-in on potential

De’Vondre Campbell trashes Adam Schein for ripping Jordan Love