On Tuesday, the Green Bay Packers acquired cornerback Isaac Yiadom in a trade with the New York Giants.
On Saturday, he played 42 snaps on defense and another 14 on special teams against the New York Jets.
For veteran defensive backs coach Jerry Gray, he’s been there and done that when it comes to playbook crash courses.
“We got Lawyer Milloy on a Wednesday and he played on a Sunday, in a real game,” Gray said, recalling his time as defensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills in 2003.
Yiadom was a third-round pick by Denver in 2018 and spent last season with New York. Gray didn’t know much about him until general manager Brian Gutekunst traded Josh Jackson to the Giants last week. Once the trade was made, Gray dove into the tape – including that of Yiadom facing the Jets in the preseason opener from a few days earlier.
“Once we got him, I went and did all of his point-of-attack tape from New York,” Gray said on Sunday. “I think he had like 82 plays that were point of attack and that was special teams, defense and everything. New York runs a different style than we do, so I don’t grade him on his technique over at New York. I just wanted to know were you a tough guy? Are you a smart guy? If you got beat, OK, I’m not looking to see how you got beat, I want to see what you do if you got beat, what you do coming back.”
Now that Yiadom is in Green Bay for another career reboot, he not only needs to learn coordinator Joe Barry’s defensive scheme but the preferred techniques taught by Gray.
Even with limited knowledge of both, Yiadom’s debut was promising. During the joint practices against the Jets, he flashed in special teams drills. According to Pro Football Focus and its best guess at coverage responsibilities, he allowed one catch (a coverage bust for a gain of 27 yards) in four targets in Saturday’s game. He also made an excellent open-field tackle on a running play.
The biggest challenge is time, because it’s not on his side. The Packers must cut the roster to 80 by 3 p.m. Tuesday – Yiadom has no worries there – and to 53 by 3 p.m. Aug. 31. That’s not a lot of time to show he belongs in a cornerback corps led by Jaire Alexander, Kevin King, first-round rookie Eric Stokes and veteran Chandon Sullivan. Yiadom, Kabion Ento and fifth-round rookie Shemar Jean-Charles are in the mix for the final spot or two.
“He knows that in order to get a chance to compete to get into the top four, five guys here, or even six guys, I’ve got to have great technique,” Gray said. “Then I’ve got to go compete on special teams and I think that’s really what he’s trying to do.”
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