Highlights From Practice 15 of Packers Training Camp

Elgton Jenkins, Robert Tonyan and Christian Watson practiced, and there's a flashy new addition to Packers training camp.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Call Monday the calm before the storm.

Coach Matt LaFleur put his Green Bay Packers through a 90-minute jog-through practice on Monday. The intensity will be cranked up several notches when the New Orleans Saints visit for joint practices on Tuesday and Wednesday.

LaFleur said the scripts have been exchanged with Saints coach Dennis Allen for the two days of practices at Ray Nitschke and Clarke Hinkle practice fields.

“Technology these days makes it very easy,” LaFleur said of working out the logistics. “Make a phone call, send an email, have a conversation when you get it in front of you. Just kind of work together through it. We’ve done this the last couple years, so you kind of have a format and we tweak it every time. Certainly, if there’s things that Dennis wants, then we accommodate and vice-versa. It should be good work the next two days.”

As for Monday’s practice, there were no competitive drills. Of note, one day after coming off the physically unable to perform list, Elgton Jenkins was the first-team right tackle, Robert Tonyan saw plenty of action at tight end and Christian Watson got in quite a workout. More on that in a moment.

Plays of the Day

Rookie receiver Christian Watson went one-on-one with All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander. Watson got past Alexander and caught the long-ball strike from Aaron Rodgers.

OK, so that was overly dramatic. These weren’t competitive periods. It appeared the defensive backs were forbidden from breaking up passes. Nonetheless, Rodgers completed a handful of passes to Watson, most of them of the field-stretching variety. With the second-round pick having missed the first 13 practices and the preseason opener, Rodgers used this no-stress practice to help accelerate Watson’s development.

“I can take the mental reps, but it’s a different change of pace when you’re out there in the huddle, hearing the play from Aaron, looking at the defense, reading the defense, getting checks at the line,” Watson said on Sunday. “It’s a lot different than standing on the side and doing it mentally. It’s huge, and I’m excited.”

Late in practice, tight end Robert Tonyan made a leaping catch on a crossing route. With Tonyan coming off a torn ACL, several of his teammates enthusiastically acknowledged the play.

Player of the Day

A couple weeks after Packers coach Matt LaFleur complained about the JUGS machine’s performance during a punt drill, a splashy and modern replacement showed up at training camp.

Welcome, Monarc Seeker.

Talk about state-of-the-art technology. It can be loaded with six footballs, and continuously reloaded. Want to catch passes? It can fire them randomly at 12 different catch points. Want to field punts? It can fire them at various distances and hangtimes, with tight spirals or with wobbles.

What a dream for a rookie receiver to get ready for life with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback. On an end-zone fade, Rodgers takes an average of 1.3 seconds from snap to throw. That data can be programmed into the Seeker. When the flashing blue light turns white, the receiver can run his route. And at 1.3 seconds, the ball comes out of machine and into the back corner of the end zone for a high-point catch opportunity.

If three receivers have an hour – 20 minutes each catching from the Seeker, continually reloading the machine and as the middle man – they can catch about 10,000 footballs a month.

The creators worked for two years at the University of Iowa, including some 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. testing sessions, to perfect the machine. Iowa, LSU and Oklahoma were the early users. The Packers are the first NFL team to give the Seeker a shot.

Notes from Packers Practice

- One day after Zach Tom replaced Jon Runyan at left guard for the No. 1 offense’s two-minute drill, Runyan took every first-team rep.

- The 11-on-11 sessions were cut into two groups, one with the starters and key backups and the other with everybody else. The three inside linebackers with that top group? Starters De’Vondre Campbell and Quay Walker and backup Ray Wilborn.

- Ty Clary got a shot at center with the “others” group. After a terrible shotgun snap, he was replaced by Michal Menet.

- At outside linebacker, the backups to Rashan Gary and Preston Smith were Jonathan Garvin and Kobe Jones.

- On one snap with the No. 1 offense, the receivers were Amari Rodgers, Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs and the tight end was Robert Tonyan.

- On punt return, the jammers were cornerbacks Rico Gafford and Keisean Nixon and Amari Rodgers got the first rep as returner.

Packers Monday Injury Report

Kicker Mason Crosby, who is on the physically unable to perform list following offseason knee surgery, started kicking footballs on Sunday.

“I’ll kick again Wednesday and then my plan is to kick Friday and almost try to do to a pregame type of routine, and then we’ll see where we’re at,” Crosby said. “It’s getting there.”

Returned to practice: TE Dominique Dafney (knee), OLB Tipa Galeai (elbow), OLB La’Darius Hamilton. WR Juwann Winfree (groin).

Old injuries: S Dallin Leavitt (shoulder), S Tariq Carpenter (knee), S Darnell Savage (hamstring), CB Donte Vaughn (hamstring), S Innis Gaines (hamstring), C Cole Schneider (ankle), DT Akial Byers (toe).

Physically unable to perform list: K Mason Crosby (knee), RB Kylin Hill (knee), LT David Bakhtiari (knee).

Packers Training Camp Schedule

The Packers will host the New Orleans Saints for joint practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. They are the last open practices of training camp, with scheduled starts of 10:30 a.m. After an off-day on Thursday, the Packers will face the Saints in the teams’ second preseason game at 7 p.m. Friday.

In between, the Packers must cut their roster from 90 players to 85 by 3 p.m. Tuesday. One of those moves was made on Tuesday with the release of outside linebacker Randy Ramsey, who was unable to successfully make it back from the ankle injury that sidelined him for all of last season.