The final practice of the spring saw more shuffling on the offensive line and a nice day for one of the team’s budding stars.
In recent years, the Green Bay Packers have skipped one of their regularly-scheduled days of minicamp practice, instead preferring to send the team out for a team-building exercise. This year, however, they were on the practice field all three days of camp, a bit of a balancing act after cutting a week out of the OTA schedule.
The third and final practice of minicamp came and went on Thursday, though it was a shorter session than usual. The Packers got an early dismissal thanks to one of their own delivering a strike from long distance, but there were still some newsworthy items to note before the adjourned for the day.
Packers players are now headed out to get their summer break, which will see them off for roughly five weeks. Here’s what happened before they got their marching orders.
Participation
The Packers got cornerback Nate Hobbs back for Thursday’s practice after he sat out earlier in the week. That gave them a full complement of cornerbacks for the first unit, as he worked as the starting slot corner between Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine.
Among the players who worked in the rehab group on Wednesday, Hobbs was the only one who returned to practice on Thursday. Meanwhile, three new names joined that group on the sidelines: reserve defensive backs Omar Brown and Kamal Hadden, plus third-year wide receiver Jayden Reed, while rookie 7th-round pick John Williams was back with the rehab group once again after just one day on the field.
That left the following big names as non-participants on the final day: Reed, Rasheed Walker, Aaron Banks, Elgton Jenkins, Quay Walker, and Christian Watson, among others down the depth chart. Matt LaFleur is holding out hope that most of these players will be able to be 100 percent for the start of training camp, however:
Packers HC Matt LaFleur when asked if Aaron Banks, Jayden Reed, Quay Walker, and/or Rasheed Walker could miss the first day of training camp.
“I would say hopefully not.”
— Jason B. Hirschhorn (@byjbh.bsky.social) 2025-06-12T17:05:02.542Z
Offense
With no Walker, Banks, or Jenkins, the Packers went with backups at left tackle, left guard, and center for the second straight day. The starting unit consisted of Jordan Morgan, Kadeem Telfort, and Jacob Monk at those three positions; this was a change from the past two days, which had found Donovan Jennings in with the ones at left guard. Jennings instead got some work at center on Thursday as the team continues to explore versatility among their interior linemen.
Another wrinkle for the offense came about thanks to Bo Melton, as the coaching staff continues to get creative in finding ways to utilize him. Melton was in the lineup with the starters on offense for the first team snap of the practice, but he was aligned in the backfield with Josh Jacobs in a pseudo-two-back set. Per Andy Herman, the “starting” group consisted of those two, Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks at wideout, Tucker Kraft at tight end, and a line of Morgan, Telfort, Monk, Sean Rhyan, and Zach Tom. (And Jordan Love behind center, of course.)
The biggest play of the day from the #1 offense was a touchdown by Tucker Kraft, who managed to slip free of Isaiah Simmons in coverage for a catch-and-run score. Kraft would have a big day as he also beat Xavier McKinney for a score later to close out minicamp with a bang.
However, some other highlights on offense came from the backups. In particular, Taylor Elgersma and Cornelius Johnson are developing some chemistry, and the two hooked up for a pair of touchdowns in red zone drills on Thursday.
Defense
Although Melton was in with the starters on offense, he also continued to split time between receiver and corner. Andy Herman notes that most of his reps on defense have come as a boundary corner rather than in the slot, while adding that Melton “looks like he can hang so far.”
Still, Hobbs’ return gave the team 10 of its 11 preferred defensive starters available, missing only Quay Walker. Isaiah McDuffie continued to man the middle linebacker position in his stead, while Hobbs playing the slot meant that Javon Bullard was relegated to backup duty again, splitting time between safety and the slot. Hobbs did make his presence known as well, breaking up a pass for Matthew Golden with an athletic play on the football.
Special Teams
Normally, the special teams don’t get much attention during minicamp, but Matt LaFleur gave kicker Brandon McManus a chance to send his teammates home early on Thursday. LaFleur told McManus that if he hit a 58-yard field goal attempt, practice would be over; If he missed, the team would head to two-minute drills, which would have extended the session by another half-hour or more.
To the delight of his teammates, McManus nailed the kick, sending the team into their summer break a bit early. Following that kick, LaFleur then brought Mark Murphy out to huddle with the players, and the outgoing team president led a chant of “1, 2, 3, Super Bowl!” to close the book on minicamp.
What’s Next?
The Packers’ full roster will report to Green Bay no later than July 22nd ahead of the team’s first training camp practice the following day. LaFleur did say, however, that rehabbing players, rookies, and quarterbacks will be in a bit earlier.
Two days after that first practice will be the Packers’ annual shareholders meeting, set for 3:00 PM on Friday, July 25th. At that event, Mark Murphy will officially hand over his title as team president and CEO to Ed Policy, who will steward the franchise moving forward.
The team then has Family Night scheduled for the following Saturday, August 2nd, before opening up their preseason schedule on August 9th at home against the New York Jets.