Here’s What Happened at Practice 1 of Packers Training Camp

We have the Play of the Day, the Player of the Day, Jordan Love's Day and much more from Wednesday at Green Bay Packers training camp.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – A new era of Green Bay Packers football began with Jordan Love leading his first training camp practice as the starting quarterback on Wednesday.

It wasn’t exactly a memorable debut, though one day in July is irrelevant in the grand scheme of his career and the team’s season.

Love completed 7-of-15 passes. Included among the eight incompletions was a really bad drop by Christian Watson. The world’s toughest grader might have given Watson another drop when he couldn’t quite make a leaping grab before Jaire Alexander knocked it free.

Love had an opportunity to connect with tight end Luke Musgrave on a deep shot but the ball hung in the wind long enough for cornerback Corey Ballentine to recover and make the play.

During a third-down period, Love converted once on three tries. On third-and-9, he had Watson streaking behind Rasul Douglas on a corner route but the ball was nowhere close to the target. After scrambling for a first down on third-and-5, Love tried to fit one to rookie receiver Jayden Reed on a crossing route but Keisean Nixon broke up the pass on third-and-7.

Love’s first snap of the day was a botched exchange from center Josh Myers. His last snap was a right-in-stride connection to Samori Toure, who was wide open against Nixon. He caught the ball about 15 yards downfield and kept on sprinting into the open field for an even bigger gain.

“We had a couple strikes,” Love said after practice. “I had one to Rome(o Doubs) that he made a great catch, and we hit a through route, which is always nice, right up the middle to Samori. There’s a couple throws here and there that you always wish you could get back. …

“I like completions and, whenever you can get that, it’s always fun. Just looking back on it, those deep balls are just one thing that I wish we could have had a little better connection but that’s something we’re going to build and grow over time.”

Player of the Day

The Packers desperately need Kenny Clark to return to his Pro Bowl form as the leader of a young and unproven defensive line group. Nobody should make too much out of the trench play in a shorts-and-helmet practice, but Clark stuffed a run in the first period and blew into the backfield to chase Jordan Love out of the pocket and force an errant deep pass to Samori Toure.

Play of the Day

Jaire Alexander (Photo by Tork Mason/USA Today Sports Images)

Jaire Alexander got a lot of action against Christian Watson and pitched a shutout, which would have been enough to give him Player of the Day honors. His best play came when matched on Romeo Doubs. Late in practice, Jordan Love took a shot to Doubs up the right sideline but Alexander showed his closing burst by knocking the ball away.

Injury Report

Physically Unable to Perform List: OLB Rashan Gary (knee), CB Eric Stokes (foot).

Non-Football Injury List: LB Tariq Carpenter (illness), S Tarvarius Moore (illness). OT Caleb Jones (illness), WR Grant DuBose (back).

Returned to Practice: TE Camren McDonald (unknown; had started camp on NFI).

Transactions

Receiver Jeff Cotton, who had been the oldest receiver on the roster even with just one career offensive snap on his resume, opened camp on the physically unable to perform list. The Packers released him to make room for a new receiver.

Lineup Notes

- First snap on offense: left tackle David Bakhtiari, left guard Elgton Jenkins, center Josh Myers, right guard Jon Runyan and right tackle Zach Tom; Luke Musgrave and Josiah Deguara were the tight ends, Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs were the receivers, Aaron Jones was the running back and Jordan Love was the quarterback.

Bakhtiari took about half the first-team reps. Yosh Nijman entered at left tackle in those instances, though Zom a couple snaps there, too.

- First snap on defense: Kenny Clark and TJ Slaton were the defensive tackles, Preston Smith and Justin Hollins were the outside linebackers, De’Vondre Walker and Quay Walker were the inside linebackers, Jaire Alexander, Rasul Douglas and Keisean Nixon (slot) were the corners and Darnell Savage and Rudy Ford were the safeties.

In the base defense, Devonte Wyatt replaced Nixon as the third defensive tackle.

Practice Highlights

- The team practiced for 90 minutes in helmets and shorts. It was a bit sloppy at first, with some dropped passes during individual drills and the aforementioned botched snap on the first play of 11-on-11. Pre-snap penalties, however, were not an issue.

- Rookie kicker Anders Carlson, who has the unenviable task of replacing Mason Crosby, made 5-of-6 field-goal attempts ranging from 40 to 45 yards. There is no lack of power in his right leg.

“I think for me, I look at my journey,” Carlson said. “Obviously I admire the career he had here and the legend he is, but for me, it's all about my journey and what I can do to help the Packers.”

- Jordan Love won’t be handcuffed into running whatever play is called. During his second sequence of plays, Love got everything organized at the line and handed the ball to Aaron Jones, who blew through a hole created by right guard Jon Runyan and right tackle Zach Tom.

- Don’t forget about safety Innis Gaines in the race for playing time in the secondary. Lining up in the slot, he had tight coverage against Dontayvion Wicks before exploding forward and breaking up a pass.

- Danny Etling got the first snaps as the No. 2 passer. His first throw was broken up by Shemar Jean-Charles.

- Rookie quarterback Sean Clifford made a nice play. He felt pressure, stepped up in the pocket and delivered a strike to Bo Melton for a nice gain. Melton, a seventh-round pick by Seattle in 2022, probably had more catches than anyone on the practice field.

- Kenny Clark and Preston Smith might have had sacks in a live setting.

- When he gathered all the players at the end of practice, coach Matt LaFleur made the offense do pushups.

Packers Training Camp Schedule

The Packers will practice in front of the fans at 10:30 a.m. Thursday and Saturday. In between will be a closed-to-the-public practice on Friday. The first scheduled off-day is set for Sunday.

Quote of the Day

Aaron Jones, on the offense’s potential:

“I think we can be very explosive. We got a lot of speed, got a lot of weapons, some people (you) may not have ever heard of and some people you may have heard of. People get the ball in space and different things. People just ready to explode. We got dudes just – I’m not going to say as fast as Christian Watson, because that’s a special guy that’s fast – but you got guys who are similar speeds who can make plays in the open field and make somebody miss. 

“That’s what the game comes down to at this level, getting into the open field, making somebody miss. That’s what separates the good from the great from the average: what you do when a play breaks down or when you’re in the open field.”

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