For the second of three times this offseason, the media was allowed access to film and document various portions of Packers OTAs. Today we will breakdown and analyze what the media was able to witness from the Packers’ May 31st practice.As we know, OTAs are voluntary, and a number of players were still absent from practice. Jaire Alexander, Rasul Douglas, Jonathan Garvin, and Keisean Nixon, who was at practice last week, were all absent for this practice. A number of players have returned to practice in some capacity. David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Preston Smith, and Dallin Leavitt were all present and practicing. Some players were present but limited, focusing more on individual drills and remaining on the sideline for 11-on-11s. Rashan Gary, Grant DuBose, Jake Hansen, Tucker Kraft, Dontayvion Wicks, and Devonte Wyatt are in this group.
Offense
The first team offense for 11-on-11s was as follows:QB: Jordan LoveRBs: Aaron Jones and AJ DillonWRs: Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, and Jayden Reed in the slotTE: Josiah Deguara, with Luke Musgrave getting snapsO-Line: Bakhtiari at LT, Jenkins at left guard, Josh Myers at center, Jon Runyan Jr at right guard, and Zach Tom at right tackle. Yosh Njiman and Caleb Jones rotated in at right and left tackle respectively.
Takeaways
Similar to what was seen last week, Love had an up-and-down practice. He looked fantastic in the short passing game. His connection with Romeo Doubs will be a problem for the league this year. Love’s deep passing game is getting better but still has room for improvement. Love had a beautiful deep post pass to Watson, but also had multiple poor throws. He had one deep pass picked off in 11-on-11s and another nearly picked off and taken for a touchdown, but was luckily dropped.Love also had a couple poor throws, one overthrow of Jayden Reed and another that was slightly behind Watson on a deep slant. This pass was still catchable however, but Watson couldn’t haul it in. As for the newly drafted players, Jayden Reed and Luke Musgrave looked stellar. Reed showed off his crisp route running and Musgrave showed off his ability to fly down the field. For a guy his size, Musgrave is agile and quick. Musgrave also made an excellent adjustment on a poor throw by Sean Clifford and secured the catch through outstretched arms. Both of these rookies are already proving themselves to be promising weapons in this offense.Some final notes: Outside of a drop, Watson made some great plays in individual drills, showing off his ability to keep his balance and tightrope up the sideline on a corner route. Samori Toure looks much improved and leaner this offseason, to the delight of the coaching staff. In his post-practice press conference, head coach Matt LaFleur praised Musgrave, saying that “he is different … a really, really intelligent player” who can “flat [out] fly”. High praise for a young player, look for him to contribute right away to the offense.
Defense
The first team defense in 11-on-11 was as follows:DL: Kenny Clark, TJ Slaton, and Colby WoodenEDGEs: Preston Smith and Justin HollinsMLBs: De’Vondre Campbell and Quay WalkerCBs: Shemar Jean-Charles and Corey BallentineSafety: Darnell Savage and Rudy Ford
Takeaways
This practice saw the return of Walker to the starting lineup, a great sign as he was battling injury beforehand. With Nixon out of the lineup, the Packers had a very light secondary to work with in 11-on-11s. Ballentine still played well in the starting lineup, but was responsible for the dropped pick-six mentioned earlier.Savage had a great day in practice, most notably picking off Love on the deep pass attempt intended for Doubs. With his struggles last season, it’s refreshing seeing him perform well in practice.Rookie Colby Wooden saw plenty of time in the starting lineup as well. Other rookies Lukas Van Ness and Carl Brooks had great days as well, each recording multiple would-be sacks. Van Ness is already impressing coaches with his athletic ability and his ability to rush the passer in team-drills.Rashan Gary, who is still recovering from a torn ACL, was on the field for warmups today but didn’t participate in much else after that. According to the team, he is ahead of schedule on his recovery and could potentially play week one. If he does he likely won’t play as many snaps as before as a precaution, but with Van Ness living up to the hype that may not be an issue.Finally in his presser, LaFleur was asked about Eric Stokes’ recovery process. He had some positive news, saying “hopefully before the end of this thing he’ll be out there for individuals” but stressed we likely wouldn’t see Stokes do any team drills in these OTAs.The third and final media day for OTAs will occur on Tuesday, June 6th. The following day we will take one final look at what we see in practice.
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