Six Biggest Takeaways From First Three Practices of Packers Training Camp

GREEN BAY, Wis. – On the fifth day, they will rest.

Four days into training camp – conditioning tests on Tuesday and practices on Wednesday through Friday – the Green Bay Packers will get a one-day respite before returning to the practice field on Sunday. On Monday, the teams will put on the pads for the first time, ushering in the unofficial real start of training camp.

Here are six takeaways from the early stages of training camp.

Quarterback Jordan Love

Love is rolling. He is as aggressive as usual when firing the football. The accuracy is there but, more than that, it’s his control of the offense that stands out. It’s good to see the offense running some no-huddle. That should play to his favor.

“I think one of the things he’s been really focused and conscious of throughout the course of the offseason and on his own in the summer is just trying to play with as much balance in the pocket as he can, knowing that there’s going to be times you get moved off the spot,” coach Matt LaFleur said.

“But when you can, can you maintain that balance, because I think one thing you see from I’d say a majority of quarterbacks in the league when they are balanced in the pocket, they’re going to be more consistent and more accurate over time.”

It takes prodigious numbers to win NFL MVP. In LaFleur’s offense, Love might not get those opportunities. But, even if he falls short of 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns, he might play at an MVP level. If that’s the case, there might be no barrier too tall for this team if it can survive without Micah Parsons.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) passes the ball during practice on Friday. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Receiver Depth

The Packers ran a 2-minute drill – well, really, it was a 1-minute drill – on Friday. After getting into scoring position, Jordan Love took a shot downfield to Christian Watson. Keisean Nixon’s coverage was excellent and the ball fell incomplete. More importantly – and ominously – Watson was shaken up after trying to make an acrobatic catch.

Watson was fine but he sat out the rest of the drive as the No. 1 offense failed to score a touchdown.

That leads to this nagging question: Do the Packers have enough productive depth at receiver to deliver in key moments? Receivers get injured and miss games. Receivers get shaken up and miss the end of a drive. Receivers get tired and miss a few snaps.

Nobody from the second group of Bo Melton, Savion Williams and Skyy Moore has emerged. The most productive of the “other” receivers is undrafted rookie J. Michael Sturdivant, though he’s also dropped more passes, too.

There’s plenty of time, but the Packers need four good receivers going into Week 1. Right now, they don’t have that many.

Receiving Stars

Green Bay Packers receiver Matthew Golden slaps hands with fans as he rides a bicycle to practice on Friday. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Maybe that issue will be irrelevant because Green Bay’s top three receivers will dominate.

The Packers rightly feel good about the trip of Christian Watson, Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed.

Watson, who flourished during his 10-game return from a torn ACL last year, is off to a strong start. He hasn’t gotten behind the defense for any monster plays, but any time he gets the ball on the move, good things happen.

Twice on Friday, Watson motioned hard from left to right. Jordan Love got the snap, faked the handoff and got the ball to Watson sprinting to the perimeter. The plays resulted in a nice gain and a touchdown. That’s going to be a really hard play to defend, especially by defenses who lack physical corners.

Golden, meanwhile, has been superb. He was our Player of the Day on Friday and was in the running on Thursday. The words hopefully do justice to the catch described here. He is so much more than a speed receiver.

“I feel like we’re a tight group right now, man,” Golden said this week. “We get together outside of football. We went to Christian’s house not too long ago and we were just watching each other’s highlights from high school.

“So, we’re doing stuff like that, and it’s like man, this offseason I feel like we got real tight, and I like where we are right now. I feel like we all got a lot of confidence in each other and the things we can do, and I just know when it comes time for game time, we’ll be able to lean on each other.”

So Far, So Good for Jordan Morgan

The Packers have a new starting left tackle in Jordan Morgan. The padded work, especially any preseason work he gets and the joint practice against the Cardinals, will be the real determiner of whether he’ll be able to capably protect Jordan Love’s blind side. The early practices – no different than OTAs and minicamp – are encouraging.

On Thursday, he got beat pretty soundly by Lukas Van Ness. That play stands out because it’s the exception and not the rule.

“I thought he had a great spring,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said at the start of camp. “I’ve got a lot of confidence in him. Hopefully, keeping him in that one spot will allow him to progress a little bit quicker. He had a great spring, so we’re excited about him.”

Infinitely Better at Cornerback

Green Bay Packers cornerback Keisean Nixon catches a pass at training camp on Friday. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Packers must get better play from their cornerbacks – the reason is obvious and laid out in the final segment – and the early signs are encouraging.

Keisean Nixon is going to start again after being a full-time perimeter cornerback for the first time in his career last year.

“I think it helped a lot,” he said of the experience. “Just going over the film and watching the mistakes I made and just some of the dumb penalties that I gave up just not knowing, understanding the level of it and what it takes. I feel like I had a really strong year to start it, but definitely ready to prove myself again this year.”

Whether or not it has anything to do with the additions of Benjamin St-Juste and Brandon Cisse is anyone’s guess, but Carrington Valentine is off to a productive start to training camp. He broke up a few passes on Friday. Cisse has been solid and should get better by the day. And it’s hard to not look at the 6-foot-3 St-Juste and not see how he could make a big difference (parson the horrible pun). He had a pick-six on Friday.

“Every playoff game I ever played in, CV was on the other side of me, so you can’t take that away from him,” Nixon said. “Cisse’s a great addition. Young guy, loves football, really athletic. I like what I’ve seen, but I kind of knew it already (because) I worked out with him since he was in college.

“St-Juste, too, really big kid, played a lot of football. High IQ guy, smart guy. He’s from Canada. He likes to tell everybody that. Nobody really cares. But he’s a good football player, too. I like the depth we’ve got right now. There’s a lot of competition going on.”

Competition makes everyone better. This competition should last not just through training camp but through the entire season.

The Elephant in the Room Won’t Go Away

At the start of training camp, we said the absence of Micah Parsons could cause the Packers to finish with eight wins and miss the playoffs.

We stand by that conclusion.

We’ll get a better gauge of the pass rush as training camp continues. So far, though, the only reliable pass rush has come from defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s frequent blitzing. Mostly, Jordan Love has had plenty of time to survey the secondary.

Blitzing might beat young, unproven quarterbacks. But it’s playing with fire against experienced quarterbacks, and the Packers will face nothing but experienced passers to start the season with the Vikings’ Kyler Murray, the Jets’ Geno Smith, the Falcons’ Tua Tagovailoa (maybe), the Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield, the Bears’ Caleb Williams, the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott and the Lions’ Jared Goff in the first seven games.

Gannon is mixing and matching personnel in hopes of finding a weapon. Barryn Sorrell, who has been starting opposite Lukas Van Ness, hasn’t provided much pressure. Collin Oliver got some first-team snaps on Friday. Rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton has been used as an interior rusher on passing downs.

As it stands, the Packers’ best bet will be Van Ness and Brenton Cox rushing off the edge, Devonte Wyatt and Javon Hargrave up the middle and then Gannon finding creative ways to add another rusher.

What happened today at Packers training camp?

A lot.

Highlighted by 1-minute drills, here's the Play of the Day, Player of the Day, the winning unit, injuries, lineups, highlights and more from Practice 3. ⬇️https://t.co/Q4LvYL7L04
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) July 31, 2026

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