Here is a recap of the fourth practice of this year.
GENERAL/PERSONNEL:
No new injuries and no one else off the injured list today. Demovsky
TE Robert Tonyan catching passes during his ACL rehab. 2) LT David Bakhtiari working outdoors for the first time in camp. Good sign for him. 3) OL Elgton Jenkins working on his footwork during ACL rehab. Wood [There is video of all three players. Bakh and Tonyan look healthy to my uneducated eye. Maybe they are ahead of schedule, maybe not. Jenkins did a little less in this video, but ditto for him. At least they are on the field. TGR]
With full disclosure that I have no idea medically what it should look like – Kylin Hill to the untrained eye looks phenomenal moving and cutting. I’d have no idea he was coming off an ACL. Still rehabbing to the side for now. Herman [No video on Hill. TGR]
WR Sammy Watkins won’t do any team reps today in his second practice back from hamstring injury. He’ll get about 25 minutes of individual drills before being shut down. Next week, LaFleur said, Watkins will start taking some team reps. Wood
Packers offense held to a pair of 3-and-outs in team period. A reminder defense gets paid too. Especially this defense. Wood
Defense just showed a presnap look during move-the-ball that featured every single defender within 10 yards of the LOS on 3rd & 3. Absolutely no one deep. Rodgers tries to go deep to Deguara but it falls incomplete. That’s some aggressive stuff from Barry. Nagler
QUARTERBACKS/WIDE RECEIVERS:
Another false start by the offense. Looked like Winfree this time. Herman [Winfree had a drop noted under DB section as well. TGR]
Aaron Rodgers lobs a fade into the left end zone on 3rd & 6 from the 16, and Allen Lazard soars over Eric Stokes to catch it for a TD ending an impressive 2-minute drive. Heck of a catch from Lazard in the corner and zone. Wood [Seems like a lot of WRs are soaring over Stokes in contested catch situations. Not worried, but it simply is. LOL – just ran across Aaron Nagler’s answer to this very question posed by someone else: No. You only hear about the plays guys make on him (Stokes). You don’t hear about all the other plays where he’s locking guys up, of which there are plenty. Don’t be a prisoner of Twitter. TGR – rebuked!]
Start getting used to the Etling to Hyman connection. Unstoppable on that slant. 2) Love with some zip on an out route to Toure. Short gain but nice read and throw. 3) Doubs working with the ones, twos, threes, doesn’t matter. He keeps coming up with catches. A nice catch on a slant from Etling there. Herman [Maybe Etling throws a good slant pass? TGR]
Jordan love with his longest completion to camp and it was to… Romeo Doubs. Doubs had a couple steps but he had to wait up for it a bit. Still a big play rolling out to his left for Love & Doubs. Kid is unreal. Herman
RUNNING BACKS:
Some impressive burst today from Tyler Goodson with the ball in his hands. 2) Several opportunities for Jones to line up out wide today. Bretl
TIGHT ENDS:
Good pickup by Tyler Davis on Preston Smith, allowing Rodgers to step into his throw. Amos had a nice PD to breakup a pass for Cobb. Hodkiewicz
Tyler Davis very much holding his own as a blocker. Bretl [Not sure if this was just in general or if it was due to the pickup of Preston tweet above by Hodkiewicz. Good to read, either way. TGR]
OFFENSIVE LINE:
Tom – Menet – Hanson – Rhyan – CVL the second team OL. 2) Starting (1st team) OL: Tom – Runyan – Myers – Newman – Yosh. Bretl
rookie Zach Tom getting first-team reps at LT with Yosh Nijman at RT. Nijman has been LT, but the right side is the open spot when David Bakhtiari returns. Wood
Really nice patience and recognition by Zach Tom picking up a stunt up front. Herman
Like what I’ve seen from Tom at LT today. Looks stout, balanced against GB’s ones. Hodkiewicz
Great rep by Jarran Reed meanwhile who handled Zach Tom and made a “stop” in the backfield. [Not sure where Zack Tom was lined up. Sorry for 4 separate tweets on Tom, but they were from different folks. TGR]
A fumbled snap exchange between Aaron Rodgers and Josh Myers. Rodgers had some things to say to Myers. The QB wasn’t pleased. Wood
Jordan Love rolls left and finds rookie Romeo Doubs breaking right across the field away from safety Shawn Davis, delivers a perfect ball across field for a long catch. Another impressive catch from Doubs, and Love continues what has been a promising camp. Wood
DEFENSIVE LINE:
TJ Slaton deflects Love’s pass at the LOS. Bretl
Rico Gafford has been showing up today. That’s his 3rd forced incompletion in coverage. Meanwhile a nice pass rush from Devonte Wyatt. Herman
Kenny Clark lined up outside. Always a good sight. More one on one opportunities for him. Bretl
LINEBACKERS:
Rashan Gary has spent of camp in Rodgers’ face. He’s off to a great start. Huber [and every other observer at TC. TGR]
Offense finally gets something going with a Texas route from Rodgers to Dillon. Got the rookie Walker on that one. Herman
Matt LaFleur says it was good to see Randy Ramsey return from ankle injury in time to compete for OLB spot: “He’s one of the guys who are going to be in competition. Right now, it’s pretty clear cut who are 1 and 2 are, but as for 3 through 5 it’s anyone’s guess.” Wood
Tipa Galeai has had some good rushes the first few days, had another in team just now. 2) Amos with a near pick of Rodgers, pressure by Preston forced the throw. 3) Enagbare double teamed and washed out of his gap on a run. I’ve had a lot of questions about him – I think he has a bright future ahead of him but it’s going to need some time. And as I’m typing this he just drew a would be holding call on Cannella. Herman
Play-action roll out for Rodgers, Preston did an excellent job of staying home. Would have been a sack. 2) As it has been, Tipa and Hamilton the 3rd and 4th edge rushers. Bretl
DEFENSIVE BACKS:
I have Rico Gafford down for three really nice coverage reps at CB against Love/Hyman, Love/Amari and Love/Amari. Two PBUs in there, but the last one should’ve been caught by Amari. Speedster Gafford having a good day after recent switch back to CB from WR. Schneidman [Multiple such tweets from different folks. TGR]
Kabion Ento with an impressive PBU on left sideline vs. Osirus Mitchell on a deep out from Danny Etling. Ento has always shown a knack for playing the football. Just hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Wood [Health and tackling. TGR]
CB Donte Vaughn with a pbu. 2) And Romeo Doubs is human after all. A rare drop from the rookie with tight coverage from Ento who had a nice day. 3) Ok Shemar. A huge pick in the end zone to end two minute drills. Covering Cobb on the play. Huge play for him. 4) Etling throws one up that should have been picked by Leavitt but Osiris Mitchell plows right through him for a would be OPI. 5) Gafford with a nice pass breakup on a pass attempt from Love to Hyman. Herman [So, this is the second good play from Ento, to be clear. TGR]
Offense gets one of its bigger completions of the day, Rodgers to Cobb with SJC in coverage. 2) Just another practice with no passes going Jaire’s direction. Paul Bretl
Shemar Jean Charles appeared to have a pick in end zone in two minute but ref says he bobbled it. Hodkiewicz [Other persons tweeted that he was out of bounds. IDK. TGR]
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Coco snapping on FGs. Brkic misses from 45 and 47. 2) The one from 47 looked good to me and others on sideline but was signaled as no good by one of the officials (a local high school ref). The players, for what it’s worth, thought it was good. Ultimately doesn’t mean much but lest you think the rookie shanked a couple … not true. Huber
Romeo Doubs with the first reps at PR. Coach is right you can feel a different intensity on teams. Players look much more almost excited when team portion starts. Herman
We’re not allowed to tweet exact quotes from coaches or players during practice, but let’s just say Rich Bisaccia is gonna bang some heads if Amari Rodgers fair catches another punt. Schneidman [Not sure of intent: is Bisaccia upset with the blockers or the returner? Aaron Nagler noted it in a tweet – have to listen to the podcast to learn this answer. TGR]
Matt LaFleur confirms that, yes, Aaron Jones’ availability as a kick returner would only be in an “emergency situation.” That said, he says Jones has been going to the special teams meetings, and “setting a tone” for the importance of that phase for rest of the roster. Wood
The entire starting defense is in on field goal block unit. That’s new. Herman
Pat O’Donnell hitting some bombs today. Hodkiewicz
First extended punting period of camp and Pat O’Donnell averaged 4.43 seconds of hang time and only had one sub-4.0 time. Demovsky
Dallin Leavitt working as the personal protector. Again, the fourth year safety played a whopping 73% of Raiders ST snaps last year. Hodkiewicz
Andy Herman wrote this article summing up today’s practice. Paul Bretl summed up this practice in this article.
The defense definitely “won” today’s practice.