No Surprises on Packers’ First Depth Chart
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers, getting ready to kick off the preseason against the Houston Texans on Saturday, released their first depth chart of training camp on Tuesday.
The depth chart, while unofficial, holds up fairly well with the reality of the personnel groups seen on the practice field.
On the offensive line, the listed starters are left tackle David Bakhtiari, left guard Elgton Jenkins, center Josh Myers, right guard Lucas Patrick and right tackle Billy Turner. With Jenkins replacing Bakhtiari, who is rehabbing his way back from last year’s torn ACL, Jon Runyan Jr. and Ben Braden have taken the first team reps at left guard. At right guard, Patrick and Braden have shared the first-team reps. However, the incumbent tandem of Jenkins and Patrick are listed as the starters, with Runyan and Braden listed as the No. 2 pairing.
At running back, the depth chart lists Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon, Dexter Williams, Patrick Taylor and Kylin Hill as the pecking order. Hill and Taylor appear to have vaulted ahead of Williams, though, for the No. 3 spot.
At cornerback, Kevin King remains listed with the starters. King hasn’t practiced during training camp due to a hamstring injury. First-round pick Eric Stokes has taken all the first-team reps in King’s absence.
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“My perspective, I don’t think a guy can lose his job when he’s injured,” defensive backs coach Jerry Gray said on Sunday. “I don’t think that’s fair. I think you lose your job on the football field. And if a guy takes your job, hey, you got your job taken, but it’s not off of injury.”
The receiver depth chart: Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling with the 1s, Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb with the 2s, Devin Funchess and Equanimeous St. Brown with the 3s, and Malik Taylor and Amari Rodgers with the 4s. Rodgers and Juwann Winfree, who is listed with the 5s, are probably undervalued.
Yosh Nijman is listed as the No. 2 left tackle, which is mostly true, though No. 2 right tackle Dennis Kelly has taken some of those reps. Coy Cronk is listed as the No. 3 left tackle and Cole Van Lanen the No. 3 right tackle. Mostly, they’ve played the opposite positions. With the O-line shuffling because of Bakhtiari’s absence, Royce Newman is listed as the No. 3 right guard even though he’s worked exclusively with the second unit.
The inside linebacker and safety depth charts are accurate. At inside linebacker, it’s Krys Barnes and De’Vondre Campbell with the 1s, Oren Burks and Ty Summers with the 2s, and Kamal Martin and De’Jon Harris with the 3s. At safety, Adrian Amos and Darnell Savage are the starters, Will Redmond and Henry Black the top backups, and Vernon Scott, Innis Gaines and Christian Uphoff round out the group.
As stated by special teams coordinator Maurice Drayton on Sunday, Amari Rodgers is the No. 1 punt returner and Hill the No. 1 kickoff returner.
Of course, a depth chart in mid-August is irrelevant. There are three preseason games coming up to shake things up and allow a player at the bottom to rise to one of the 53 roster spots.
“I think it’s going to really help us and our ability to evaluate those guys,” coach Matt LaFleur said of the preseason. “Generally, when you go into camp, you have a pretty good indication of who maybe your top 45 guys are or whatever. But when you start getting towards the final few, to be able to go out and see them in live action is going to make that process much easier for all of us.”
From the Packers' preseason Dope Sheet
