Aaron Rodgers, facing a third-and-6 from the 16-yard line in the waning moments of a two-minute drill on Saturday at Green Bay Packers training camp, looked to old friend Randall Cobb.
Cobb took his route upfield, then veered to the corner of the end zone. Hanging with Cobb every step of the way was second-year cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles, who turned his head at the perfect time and made the “game”-saving interception.
Or so he thought. One of the officials policing practice, a local high school referee, said Jean-Charles juggled the ball before the stepping out of the end zone.
“After I caught the ball, I believe that I got my feet in,” Jean-Charles said afterward. “Only the film will tell you. I’m going to count it as a complete ball until then. It was a deep shot to Cobby in the corner of the end zone and was able to flip my head around and track the ball.”
Intercepted or incomplete, ultimately, is irrelevant. Here’s why the play matters: The Packers have a potentially dominant trio of cornerbacks with 2020 All-Pro Jaire Alexander, 2021 first-round pick Eric Stokes and 2021 breakout star Rasul Douglas. The NFL is a passing league and three corners are on the field most plays. If one of those starters goes down, someone will have to move into the lineup. Through four practices of training camp, that someone has been Jean-Charles. In fact, he was with the No. 1 defense for most of that two-minute drill.
“Oh, man, just taking every day for what it is, learning from the guys in front of me,” Jean-Charles said. “Like Coach always tells us, even if you’re not out there with the 1s, you’ve got to think you’re a 1. Your name could be called at any moment. I take that serious. Just learning from those guys and just going out there and playing with a lot of confidence is something I hold strongly to myself.”
Jean-Charles was a fifth-round draft pick last year after a shutdown career at Appalachian State. Of course, there aren’t many NFL-caliber quarterbacks and receivers coming out of Sun Belt Conference schools. Last year, perhaps not surprisingly, was a struggle. He played merely 37 snaps on defense last season.
If his rookie season was a learning experience, it’s continued into training camp. He pointed to Douglas, fellow cornerback Keisean Nixon, a free agent who spent the past few seasons with the Raiders, and defensive backs coach Jerry Gray as mentors. Even Rodgers has shared his considerable knowledge.
“Learn. Just continue to learn,” Jean-Charles said when asked about the best advice from Gray – aka Coach OG. “Especially playing nickel, Coach OG, he’ll tell us, ‘Football’s an open-book test. The offense is giving you keys on every play.’ If you can take small pieces from every play and just keep that in the back of your mind, especially playing on the inside, formation tells you a lot. When you’re able to narrow that mindset and just narrow it down, you can just go out there and make plays. The second thing that comes with it is being confident in yourself and your abilities.”
Jean-Charles has been focusing on the playing the slot. It’s not a spot he played with any regularity in college. He called the transition “smooth.”
“Biggest thing is just confidence at DB, so I feel like I could play anywhere. Being the smallest guy out there, I feel like I’m 200 pounds up here sometimes,” he said, pointing to his brain. “So, you’ve just got to have confidence. If the coach needs me to play safety, I’ll do it. Play inside and out, whether I’m with the ones, twos or threes, just have to go out there and capitalize when I have the opportunity.”
Like he (thought he) did on Saturday.
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