It was a warm day with a big crowd for the final public practice of the week today. The Packers donned shoulder pads for one more heavy workout before Thursday’s walk through and departure to Santa Clara for Friday night’s pre-season debut against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.
Aaron Rodgers was back after a veteran rest day. He and Jordan Love split the team reps. Rodgers had a nice play action fake and delivery to Juwann Winfree. Love’s best play capped his two minute drive. Given a free play when the defense jumped, he rolled left and waited for back up running back Tyler Goodson to cross the back line of the end zone. At the last minute, Love lofted the ball into the left corner and Goodson from behind, got the jump on defensive back Kiondre Thomas. After practice, Goodson admitted he might have got away with a little nudge of Thomas. It was a big play for a guy battling to be the number three running back behind Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon. One of his competitors, BJ Baylor, made his point by converting the two point play with a hard charge over right guard. There’s also Patrick Taylor who’s been battling injuries in camp waiting for his turn.
Seems like old times, Aaron Rodgers hands off to Dexter Williams.
Now there’s a new back in the mix. Make it an old back. General Manager Brian Gutekunst announced the signing of Dexter Williams. He was Gutey’s 6th round pick in the 2019 draft out of Notre Dame. He couldn’t crack the Jones, Jamaal Williams tandem, getting only 7 carries for 19 yards in two seasons before getting released last year. He bounced around several practice squads in New York and Cleveland and got a few snaps in the USFL this spring. Williams wasn’t the only addition. Another former USFL safety, Micah Abernathy was also signed. A three year starter at Tennesse, Abernathy played with Houston this spring. Both signees were among over a dozen players worked out by the Packers on Tuesday. That group included a half dozen specialists, two kickers, two punter and two long snappers.
To make room for the additions, the Packers cut last year’s long snapper, Steven Wirtel. Heading into the Pre-Season opener, rookie free agent Jack Coco from Georgia Tech is the only snapper on the roster. The search for consistency at that position has been difficult ever since Brett Goode was released a few years back. Coco is in for a big audition night against the 49ers. Gutekunst also waived-injured wide receiver Osirus Mitchell.
The battle for backup safety is heating up between Vernon Scott, who’s been running with the ones all week with Darnell Savage down with a slight hamstring pull. Scott ran down an overthrown Aaron Rodgers ball intended for Sammy Watkins to intercept the pass at the sideline to end the starter’s two minute drive. Shawn Davis announced his presence in the fight with a pair of his own interceptions. The first one came with a smart undercut of an out route and the second was a deflection off the hand of Allen Lazard over the middle.
As the temperature climbed through the 80’s, the intensity also rose. The first dust up of camp arrived. On the last play of a team period, Rashan Gary and free agent tight end Alize’ Mack got after it following the whistle but there were a lot of peace keepers around to nip it from escalating.
These guys are ready to hit somebody else.
New players to the injury report included Randall Cobb (foot), Dominique Dafney (knee) and Devonte Wyatt (concussion evaluation) and they all sat out practice.
When the work was done on Ray Nitschke Field, Matt LaFleur called up a bunch of veterans, presumably to inform them they’ll be excused early and won’t need to attend a late day walkthrough because they won’t be dressing Friday night. There might be others in the group but it included Rodgers, Dillon, Jones, Cobb, Lazard, Watkins, Jenkins, Bakhtiari, Lewis, Tonyan, Crosby, Alexander, Stokes, Douglas, Gary, Campbell, Amos, Savage, Clark, Reed, Smith and Lowry.
There’s still plenty of bodies to suit up Friday night and on a day where the General Manager did some more roster tinkering, Brian Gutekunst also started the day with his second press conference of camp. He spoke of how he’ll be watching the first dress rehearsal, the expectations for Jordan Love and the test a good team in San Francisco, at their place, will be an excellent test for his young players.
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