It was Football Ops day at 1265 Lombardi Avenue. On the eve of the first practice of the 2023 Green Bay Packers training camp, Head Coach Matt LaFleur and General Manager Brian Gutekunst held court in the Lambeau Field media auditorium Tuesday morning.
For the first time since the major renovation of Lambeau took place, resulting in the four story atrium, all of the players, coaches, scouting, equipment and training staff are all under the same roof, moving into the 90 million dollar football operations headquarters, a two year project built along the southeast corner of the stadium. It’s another interesting dynamic to what is already going to be a very interesting camp with Jordan Love taking over the quarterback reins. The communication and interaction will increase with offices and meeting rooms all on the same floor. As LaFleur joked, maybe players will be more willing to drop into a coach’s office to chat instead of feeling like it was a trudge to the principal’s office from the locker room to the third floor at the other end of the complex.
The Head Coach, always well groomed and wearing a white Packer T, was upbeat during his 18 minute session with reporters, opening with the obvious, there will be challenges in his 5th training camp with a very young team but he doesn’t plan to coach any differently.
LaFleur knows Love will be he headliner when the team takes the field tomorrow. He’s completely immersed in the offense, knows it front and back and now it’s time to take more snaps, make more reads and see more defensive alignments. Whether that comes with a heavy dose of pre-season game snaps against Cincinnati, New England and Seattle in August remains to be seen. There will be plenty of opportunity for a host of young players with promise on both the offensive and defensive lines, tight end and at wide receiver. A big fan of joint practices with other teams, the Packers, for the first time, will get two cracks at it, traveling to Ohio to work against the Bengals before the Pre-Season opener and then Bill Belicheck brings his Patriots to town the following week.
LaFleur was followed by Gutekunst who is more than ready to dive headlong into the regular season after one of the most significant off-seasons in team history. The trade of Aaron Rodgers overpowered the decisions to not bring back other senior members of last year’s team in Mason Crosby, Marcedes Lewis, Randall Cobb, Adrian Amos, Dean Lowry, Robert Tonyan and Allen Lazard, equaling more than 90 years of NFL experience. Gutekunst’s main points were hoping to see the young talent he’s assembled start to develop signs of becoming consistent NFL playmakers which will help the franchise get through a major roster transition.
Gutekunst’s foray into free agency was more intent on retaining key members of last year’s resurgent special teams and adding veterans like Tarvarius Moore and Jonathan Owens to offer help at safety. He declined to add a veteran wide receiver to maybe the youngest position group on the team but Gutekunst said he likes the room which will be led by second year pro’s Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs. He loves bringing 15 offensive linemen into camp, nearly all of them have more than a season of experience in the system. Keeping that unit stocked with backups pushing hard for starting roles is a big help, particularly when protecting quarterbacks in those pre-season games.
Defensive line snaps will be plentiful for the likes of T.J. Slaton, Devonte Wyatt, Jonathan Ford and Chris Slayton to work alongside Kenny Clark.
There will be no rush for the team’s best pass rusher though. Rashan Gary is making rapid recovery from ACL surgery a year ago but he, along with defensive back Eric Stokes, are expected to open camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. Gutekunst said it will be hard holding Gary back but it will be at least two or three weeks before his regular season availability is re-evaluated.
No thought to adding another kicker right now either. Draft pick Anders Carlson will have to give the GM reason to flip through his rolodex, perhaps to Mason Crosby’s number, only if he struggles mightily.
Where will my early camp focus be? How Love handles the circus of the media and the rail birds watching his every move? How receivers go from followers to leaders in one year flat? Who will grab the defense by the you know what and lead that unit on the practice field and in the locker room?
Come 10:30 tomorrow morning, the answers will start revealing themselves.
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