Highlights from Practice 4 of Packers OTAs

A rookie had a big day. So did a veteran who could be fighting for his job. Get up to speed with this quick-hitting review from Tuesday at Packers organized team activities.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The story of Tuesday’s practice at Green Bay Packers organized team activities wasn’t the absence of Aaron Rodgers or several other starters. It wasn’t an impressive day by a rookie. Nor was it the strong day by a veteran in need of a bounce-back season.

While all those things took place during the fourth voluntary OTA, it was the wind that took center stage.

Hats blew across the practice field. Passes sailed over receivers’ heads or fluttered short of their destination. During a two-minute drill, center Josh Myers’ shotgun snap bounced short of quarterback Jordan Love. Rather than it being ruled a fumble and a loss of down, the coaches gave them a mulligan – a first in this writer’s 15 seasons covering the team on a daily basis.

The peak gust was 39 mph at 1 p.m., according to Luke Sampe of WFRV-TV in Green Bay.

“It’s not a fun one,” quarterback Danny Etling said. “Luckily, in New England, we always practiced outside, so you got a little bit used to it. You just know nothing’s going to be as sharp as you want it to be. You’ve just got to make sure to calm your mind and have really good mechanics and really good read discipline. All your mistakes are exacerbated when there’s wind. It’s definitely my least favorite element to play in but you’ve got to get used to it.”

Rookie receiver Romeo Doubs joined veteran Randall Cobb as the punt returners during an early special teams period. Doubs returned punts all four seasons at Nevada with a career average of 12.5 yards per return. With the ball being fired out of a JUGS machine, Doubs looked like he had never fielded a punt in his life. But, showing his incredible potential, he quickly adjusted and caught the rest of his tries.

“It was a little crazy,” he said. “The good thing on my end, I had just a little experience in college playing punt return.”

Two-Minute Drills

The major competitive periods on Tuesday were 11-on-11 two-minute drills.

In the first, Jordan Love and the No. 1 offense went three-and-out against the No. 1 defense. After a 3-yard completion to Aaron Jones, Love’s pass to tight end Tyler Davis was almost intercepted by cornerback Rasul Douglas, who showed his superior anticipation skills and burst to the ball. After the bad-snap mulligan, Love was forced to fire the ball into the flat to Jones, who was stopped by linebacker De’Vondre Campbell for a loss of 2.

Up next was Kurt Benkert and the backups. A 24-yard completion to Doubs set up a 49-yard field goal by Mason Crosby.

Love and the starting offense got another crack and manufactured a field goal. Two completions to running back AJ Dillon and two more to Doubs set up Crosby for a 56-yard field goal that might have been good from 66 because of the wind. Love was 4-of-6 on the drive. One incompletion was a throwaway and the other went over the head of Samori Toure; the ball seemed catchable to perhaps the rookie wasn’t ready for the ball or had his view obstructed.

Play of the Day

The Benkert-to-Doubs completion of 24 was a thing of beauty. Benkert threw a perfect back-shoulder pass and Doubs, a fourth-round pick with a big-play history at Nevada, made an excellent in-air adjustment to make the grab against unsuspecting cornerback Kabion Ento. It would have been a pretty connection had it been from Aaron Rodgers to Davante Adams.

“That was definitely designed,” Doubs said. “It was a great ball by Kurt. Tomorrow’s a new day, so it’s really important that I just focus on what I can focus on.”

Player of the Day

No jobs will be won in May but Crosby is off to a fast start in his kicking battle against Dominik Eberle. Eberle went 4-of-6 in front of reporters last week; Crosby went 6-of-6 on Tuesday. With rookie Jack Coco and incumbent Steven Wirtel handling the snapping and veteran punter Pat O’Donnell doing the holding, Crosby was good from 43, 45, 45, 47, 49 and 56.

After one of his makes, Crosby and new special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia exchanged a high-five.

“I have a lot of respect and a lot of love for Rich,” said Crosby, who is coming off a dismal season. “He's done it at a high level for a long time as a coach. He's who he is every day. I love his consistency. He's going to be the same person every time you approach him and he gives everybody a fair shake. He's going to tell you how he feels and where you stand. He'll applaud you when you do it well and then he'll correct it right away whenever it needs to be adjusted. I love just the clear-cut, ‘This is what’s expected.’ That's how I operate. There's no gray area there. There’s a high expectation and you can feel it in our meetings already, just guys needing to know exactly what they're doing at a high level and be responsible for that.”

Taking Attendance

Not at practice: QB Aaron Rodgers, WR Amari Rodgers, WR Sammy Watkins, WR Allen Lazard, RB Patrick Taylor, TE Marcedes Lewis, OLB Rashan Gary, OLB Jonathan Garvin, OLB Randy Ramsey, OLB Preston Smith, CB Jaire Alexander, S Adrian Amos.

Rehab group: LT David Bakhtiari (knee), OL Elgton Jenkins (knee), TE Robert Tonyan (knee), RB Kylin Hill (knee), DT Dean Lowry (unknown), DT Hauati Pututau (unknown).

Amos was at his sister’s graduation. Some other players had travel issues, LaFleur said.

Regardless, LaFleur wasn’t exactly thrilled that so many players were absent.

“I’m not comfortable with anybody not being here,” he said. “I’d like them all here. It’s their choice. Next week is mandatory minicamp, so there’s consequences obviously for not coming.”

Extra Points

- The practice didn’t start well. During the first 11-on-11 period, which was held at a jog-through tempo, Love and Jones botched a handoff. Next, Jones dropped a pitch. On the next play, Love’s wobbly pass was destroyed by the wind.

- Receivers Christian Watson and Juwann Winfree had drops.

- Douglas and Eric Stokes were the No. 1 cornerbacks and Keisean Nixon entered as the slot. Shawn Davis stepped in for Amos at safety.

- Green Bay used its first-round picks on linebacker Quay Walker and defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt. Neither have been handed starting jobs. At linebacker, Campbell and Krys Barnes formed the No. 1 tandem. On the defensive line with Lowry out of action, Kenny Clark, Jarran Reed and TJ Slaton were the starting trio.

- The No. 1 offensive line: left tackle Yosh Nijman, left guard Jon Runyan, center Josh Myers, right guard Royce Newman, right tackle Cole Van Lanen. Watching individual drills, Nijman is so athletic and powerful. His two-hand punch (into a dummy, since these are noncontact practices) stands apart from the other blockers.

- Safety Innis Gaines made two impressive plays in coverage during a seven-on-seven drill. And, for a second consecutive practice with reporters present, receiver-to-cornerback convert Rico Gafford had a standout play. He was beaten deep by Winfree but turned on the jets to prevent the completion.

What to Watch During Week 2 of Packers OTAs

Quarterbacks

(Photo: Jordan Love and Danny Etling at OTAs. USA Today Sports Images)

During the draft, Aaron Rodgers said on The Pat McAfee Show that he’d participate in a few days of OTAs as well as the mandatory minicamp. Rodgers wasn’t at OTAs last week. He might not be there this week, either, given that he and Tom Brady will battle Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen in The Match on Wednesday.

Assuming Rodgers doesn’t fly to Green Bay for practice, to Las Vegas for golf and back to Green Bay for practice – he probably could afford the airfare – that means another week at the wheel for Jordan Love.

Rodgers “doesn’t really need this time right now, so I enjoy it,” Love said last week. “Him not being here, it just means more reps for me and more reps for everybody else in the quarterback room. So, obviously, I’m loving it.”

Last week, some of the competitive periods were split in two groups, with Love directing a group of mostly veterans and Kurt Benkert and Danny Etling leading a group of mostly younger players.

Rookie (Mental) Wall

(Photo: First-round pick Devonte Wyatt at OTAs. USA Today Sports Images)

Perhaps the most important facet of these offseason practices is the ability to get the rookies/newcomers up to speed with the scheme so they can hit the ground running and really compete during training camp.

“You can only take it one day at a time and just hope for a little bit of improvement each and every day and watch these guys go out there and play with confidence,” coach Matt LaFleur said last week. “I think a lot of young guys are just out there playing more off feel than really knowing all the intricate details.

“There’s a lot that goes into this and there’s a lot of time spent teaching and there’s just a lot going on in their mind when they're out there. So, the more they hear us and we can put them through different situations whether it’s walk-throughs or team (reps), you just hope for those incremental improvements each and every day from those guys.”

The challenge increases this week. For the rookies, they got a taste of the first two days of playbook installs during the rookie camp. Those were the focus of the practices on Monday and Tuesday last week. It was fresh material on Thursday, and will be again this week.

“That’s where it’s going to start to pile up on them a little bit,” LaFleur said. “So, I think that’s where you can really kind of see more so into next week of where they’re at.”

Knock, Knock. Who’s There?

(Photo: Allen Lazard at last year's minicamp. USA Today Sports Images)

Last week, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, receivers Sammy Watkins and Allen Lazard, cornerbacks Jaire Alexander and Rasul Douglas, outside linebackers Preston Smith, Rashan Gary, Jonathan Garvin and Randy Ramsey, and tight end Marcedes Lewis weren’t seen at Tuesday’s voluntary practice.

Watkins, the fourth pick of the 2014 draft, was signed in free agency. He played for the Rams in 2017, when LaFleur was offensive coordinator. Lazard has not signed his restricted free agent tender.

“Sammy’s done a nice job,” LaFleur said. “He’s been here throughout the majority of the offseason. I would say there’s a lot of differences between our offense when we were together in L.A. and what we’re doing here, just in terms of maybe not conceptually, but how we call things and how we coach different things. So, there’s certainly a lot for him to learn, but I think he’s done a nice job.”

With Robert Tonyan rehabbing his torn ACL and Lewis absent, Tyler Davis got added first-team reps.

If Douglas and Alexander are present, it will be interesting to see how defensive coordinator Joe Barry lines up his top trio of Douglas, Alexander and Eric Stokes.

June 1 Coming

(Photo: Dean Lowry sacks Cleveland's Baker Mayfield. USA Today Sports Images)

June 1 is a big day financially. Starting Wednesday, players can be released with the financial pain being spread over two years instead of one.

The Packers have one candidate: defensive tackle Dean Lowry. If the Packers were to release him on Tuesday, there would be $3.988 million in dead cap and $4.084 million in cap savings. If the Packers were to release him on Wednesday (or thereafter), there would be $2.122 million in dead cap and $5.95 million in cap savings.

Lowry has been a mainstay of the defensive line since being drafted in 2016 and is coming off one of his top seasons. However, the Packers did draft Devonte Wyatt in the first round and Jonathan Ford in the seventh round as well as sign proven veteran Jarran Reed in free agency. Plus, they added veteran Chris Slayton off waivers.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Lowry is on the hot seat. But the development of the depth chart – and the potential impact on Lowry – could be worth watching during training camp and the preseason.

Alexander vs. Rookies

(Photo: Jaire Alexander covers Marquez Valdes-Scantling at training camp in August. USA Today Sports Images)

In 2018, the Packers used their first-round pick on cornerback Jaire Alexander. To help get him ready for the season, he was matched early and often against Davante Adams. In 2021, the Packers used their first-round pick on cornerback Eric Stokes. Just like a few years earlier, Stokes got rep after rep against Adams to get ready for the season.

It could be role reversal if Alexander is on the field. The Packers selected three receivers in this year’s draft. At least one of them will need to contribute as a rookie. What better way to get Christian Watson (and Romeo Doubs and Samori Toure) ready than to match them against one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL?

Coming Up

(Photo: De'Vondre Campbell at OTAs. USA Today Sports Images)

This is the second of four weeks of offseason practices, with three practices slated for Tuesday through Friday. Next week, it’s the mandatory minicamp, set for June 7 through June 9. The offseason will conclude with the third week of voluntary OTAs the following week.