After a day of rest following family night, the Green Bay Packers hit the practice field on Monday in a shorter session.
Here’s everything you need to know from the Packers’ last session before heading to Cincinnati for joint practices with the Bengals.
Attendance/injuries – Gary is back
The big news from Monday was Rashan Gary’s activation from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, meaning Green Bay’s star pass rusher practiced for the first time since tearing his ACL in November 2022.
Rookie receiver Grant DuBose also took part in his first practice of training camp after being removed from the Non-Football Injury (NFI) list. DuBose had been suffering from a back injury.
Having missed Thursday and Saturday’s practices, David Bakhtiari returned to the field after a few rest days.
Elgton Jenkins was also back in the fold after being inactive on Family Night due to illness.
Innis Gaines missed practice on Monday with a quad injury, while Jake Hanson took part in some walkthroughs at right guard, but did not practice, still out with an elbow issue.
Eric Stokes (foot), Lew Nichols (shoulder), and Josiah Deguara (calf) remained absent from practice.
Depth chart – Two rookies get first-team reps
The battle for starting spots at right tackle and center continued Monday, with Zach Tom opening practice with the ones on the right side and rotating with Yosh Nijman. Josh Myers started at center but was spelled by Tom.
Running back Patrick Taylor and receiver Dontayvion Wicks got some reps with the first team offense during practice.
The opening first team offense: Jordan Love, Aaron Jones, Patrick Taylor, Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Luke Musgrave, David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jon Runyan, Zach Tom.
On defense, Carrington Valentine saw some time at cornerback with ones. The initial first-team safeties were Darnell Savage and Jonathan Owens, with Tarvarius Moore and Rudy Ford subbing in.
The second-team offensive line was Rasheed Walker, Royce Newman, James Empey, Sean Rhyan, and Caleb Jones.
After quarterback Danny Etling was released, Sean Clifford led the second-team offense.
Team period – Savage intercepts Love
The starting and backup offenses struggled to move the ball throughout the team period, with Love tossing an interception to Savage on the first snap of the session. He was targeting Doubs on a slant, which Savage jumped in front of.
Jones and A.J. Dillon were stuffed on three consecutive runs, with Lukas Van Ness making a stop and Kenny Clark registering a tackle for a loss. Van Ness had another run stuff later and has impressed in run defense.
Love’s best moment of the period was a perfectly placed deep pass to Doubs, who couldn’t come down with the ball which was contested by Keisean Nixon. T.J. Slaton got some push from the interior on the play, driving Josh Myers back.
Fullback Henry Pearson threw a great block on Quay Walker to spring a run by Dillon.
With the second team, Karl Brooks continued to flash along the defensive line, finding his way into the backfield a couple of times. Fellow rookie Colby Wooden impressed once again with his burst off the line of scrimmage.
Linebacker Isaiah McDuffie read and stopped an Emmanuel Wilson run, but Tyler Goodson had a nice run to the left side.
With the third team, there were two fumbled snaps between quarterback Alex McGough and center Cole Schneider. McGough missed receiver Dre Miller who was wide open after a play-action roll out.
Red zone – Love finishes strong
There were two red zone periods, one from the eight-yard line and one from the 19.
From the eight, Love threw incomplete to Watson on a quick out, with Douglas, who is having an excellent training camp, all over it.
Love then threw a jump ball towards Tyler Davis, but Savage had tight coverage and the ball fell incomplete. The offensive line held strong as Walker blitzed on the play.
On the next play, Love hit Goodson with a pass to the flat. There’s some debate over whether the play would have gone for a touchdown or if Douglas would have made a tackle had the play been live.
Love tried to scramble up the middle but was shut down by Walker, who was spying the quarterback.
In a fun wrinkle, rookie wideout Jayden Reed lined up in the backfield and caught a touchdown pass, going out on a route and beating McDuffie.
Finally, Love threw incomplete to Samori Toure, with a slightly high pass going through the receiver’s hands after the defense played it well.
From the 19-yard line, Clark had a coverage sack on the first rep, before Doubs caught a quick out, doing well to hold on through tight coverage by Douglas.
On 3rd and 3 from the 11, Love tossed a pass towards Reed, who showed great concentration to make the grab for a touchdown after it was deflected by Valentine.
Slaton met Jones in the backfield, tackling him for a loss of yards before Love ended the practice with two touchdown passes.
On the first, Love successfully diagnosed a blitz and fired the ball quickly to Doubs on a slant for the score. Moore couldn’t get there in time to break up the pass. The second touchdown was a pass to Musgrave, who beat Walker in coverage.
Special teams – Carlson continues momentum
After a stellar performance on Family Night, kicker Anders Carlson had another strong showing on a windy day at Ray Nitschke Field, going five for six with makes from 33, 44, 49, 50, and 51. The only miss was from 45, clanking off the left upright.
Nixon and Reed took the reps as punt returners.
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