Packers Training Camp Olympics: Who Gets Week 1 Gold Medal?

Here are the three best players during Week 1 of Green Bay Packers training camp, including a veteran who was expected to be a backup but continues to play with the starters.

Rashan Gary at Green Bay Packers training camp. / Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK

 

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers training camp is off and running. So are the 2024 Summer Olympics.

In the Olympic spirit, here are the gold-, silver- and bronze-medal winners from the first week of Packers training camp.

Bronze: CB Jaire Alexander

Alexander nudged aside linebacker Isaiah McDuffie and rookie safeties Evan Williams and Javon Bullard for the final spot on the medal stand.

McDuffie is off to a tremendous start as he’s well on his way to claiming an every-down role for Week 1.

“He’s the guy that he’s going to run through a wall for you,” said defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, whose first season as coach at Boston College coincided with McDuffie’s final season at the school. “He’s a guy that when you turn on the tape and you want to show good examples of effort from a guy running from there to 40 yards down the field, you can turn any single play and see him. The cool thing is how much he’s developed.”

Williams, a fourth-round pick, has a team-high three interceptions. He celebrated his 23rd birthday with a 2-minute-drill interception on Sunday. Bullard, a second-round pick, has one interception and has shown up around the line of scrimmage in the run game.

“I’m really excited about both those guys,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Sunday.

But Alexander gets the nod because of what he hasn’t done, which is give up completions. While Bullard and Williams have been notable through their big plays, Alexander has been notable via his invisibility. He just missed what would have been two highlight-reel interceptions, but hasn’t given up many catches and he hasn’t given up any big plays.

Silver: LB Eric Wilson

Nobody shows up more in my training camp notebook than “45.” He’s the defense’s unofficial leader in tackles and tackles for losses through six days.

The Packers used a second-round draft pick on Edgerrin Cooper, the All-American linebacker from Texas A&M. Linebacker was a big need in Hafley’s defense and Cooper was a big investment. So, common sense dictated that it’d be only a matter of time before Cooper supplanted Wilson atop the depth chart.

It hasn’t happened yet, and it probably won’t happen when the Packers return to practice on Tuesday. It’s not that Cooper has been bad. Or even mediocre. It’s that Wilson – who had 121 tackles, three sacks, three interceptions, eight tackles for losses and eight passes defensed for the Vikings in 2020 – has been tremendous.

“I love the guy,” Hafley said. “You see him show up on special teams, punching the ball out, which I showed to the defense the other day. You see him showing up on defense, punching the ball out. He can play multiple positions because he’s a very smart player and he’s reliable and he’s a guy that you can trust that’s going to go 100 miles an hour and know exactly what to do and he’s going to try to finish. So, I’m very pleased with him. I’m a big fan.”

Gold: DE Rashan Gary

Gary has been a beast. Big plays win games in the NFL. Gary’s big plays have won the practice for the defense, which has been deemed the victor five times out of six practices.

Again and again and again, Gary has stormed around the offensive tackle. Or cut inside of him. Or plowed through him. He’s won from the right and left side. He’s even won a couple reps at defensive tackle.

All of Gary’s dominance comes with the caveat that a lot of his success has come against the Packers’ not-so-dynamic duo of right tackles, Andre Dillard and Kadeem Telfort. Neither of them will be confused with Zach Tom, Green Bay’s elite right tackle who is being brought back slowly from a torn pectoral. But he’s also beaten Rasheed Walker, who seems locked in for Year 2 at left tackle.

“He’s disruptive,” Hafley said. “What you don’t really find out is how hard these guys practice until you get them live. And when you see him get off the ball and you see his intensity and you see his acceleration and you see how disruptive he can be, that’s a credit to him.

“But then you see the leadership. There was an instance in practice where he thought we should be even more intense and he asked if he could grab the group. I just looked at him and said, ‘Yeah, definitely. Take ownership and if you don’t like something do something about it.’ And he did, and the intensity picked up.”

While it’s comical to hear Gary talk about the new scheme no longer requiring him to drop into coverage – he had four coverage snaps last season and 25 in five seasons – it appears the heart of and soul of Green Bay’s defense is ready to hit the next gear.  

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