The Green Bay Packers‘ rookies made their Lambeau Field debut on Friday night when the team hosted their Family Night practice in front of over 60,000 fans. If you weren’t able to attend Packers training camp this summer, this was your first opportunity to get a look at Green Bay in team drills — which are barred from being recorded at Packers practices.
Here are all the news and notes, from the offense, defense and special teams, including injury updates, for those of you who weren’t able to watch the practice in person, via the Packers TV Network or on Packers.com.
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Injuries
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RT Zach Bako-Bewele (knee)
The Packers were hyper-conservative on the injury front at Lambeau Field tonight. Previously in training camp, players like Kraft, Banks, Bako-Bewele, Wyatt and Hadden had at least participated in individual drills with the team. On Friday, they were dressed down and held out of practice completely.
So far, the only injuries that seem to have the potential to bleed into the regular season, at least based on the comments of the coaching staff, are Parsons, Riley (who will start on the PUP list after suffering season-ending injuries in 2025) and potentially Musgrave, who is dealing with a neck issue.
Offense
With Banks and Bako-Bewele out, the Packers used a “starting” offensive line of Jordan Morgan, Jager, Burton, Sean Rhyan, Jacob Monk and Anthony Belton. Generally, in training camp, Green Bay has played Darian Kinnard at right tackle as Bako-Bewele’s injury sub and kept Belton at right guard, but since Burton has recovered from his hamstring injury, Burton has been getting in the mix more — forcing Belton to tackle.
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Donovan Jennings, who snapped today for the second-team unit, also got looks with the first-team offense at guard. If that’s the pecking order on the offensive line, then the 10th offensive line spot, and potentially the final one on the 53-man roster, will probably come down to John Williams (who has been playing every position in camp) and Travis Glover.
Beyond the offensive line, there wasn’t too much interesting going on with the first-team lineup, in terms of the rotation. Maybe the next most notable piece of news was that Pierre Strong Jr. does seem to be ahead of running backs Damien Martinez and Jaden Nixon behind MarShawn Lloyd, Jacobs and Brooks (the latter two of which weren’t participants in practice today).
The play of the night was made when quarterback Jordan Love connected with second-year receiver Matthew Golden on a 52-yard touchdown pass when Golden was matched up with safety Javon Bullard. Golden had a good day overall, as did Love, who has only thrown two interceptions in camp — one being a screen that was run the wrong way, per head coach Matt LaFleur.
Another receiver who had a nice catch was Savion Williams, who high-pointed a ball against safety Kitan Oladapo, who has a 6’5″ wingspan. Williams appears to be the first man up off the bench in the Packers’ receiver rotation, behind Christian Watson, Golden and slot receiver Jayden Reed.
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Defense
Interior defensive lineman Anthony Campbell just continues to rack up pass breakups throughout camp and is up to five. Campbell, who was signed to the Packers’ practice squad just days before Green Bay faced off against the Chicago Bears in the playoffs last season, has been the “out of nowhere” riser so far. It’s possible that he could push for a roster spot, which could be bad news for either Karl Brooks or Nazir Stackhouse, the two linemen among the Packers’ top-six at the position who are easiest to part ways with.
Over and over again, edge defender Barryn Sorrell, who has been stepping up as the replacement “starter” in practice opposite Lukas Van Ness while Micah Parsons is sidelined, made plays in the run game on Friday night. Interior defensive lineman Warren Brinson also flashed with the first-team unit.
For those of you who want video of rookie second-round pick cornerback Brandon Cisse, here are some reps that he got against Christian Watson. Cisse was pushed into the “starting” role tonight as Carrington Valentine is out with an injury. Generally, the Packers’ pecking order at the cornerback position has been: Keisean Nixon, Valentine, Cisse and Benjamin St-Juste, when the unit has been healthy.
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Cisse cramped up late in practice and missed Green Bay’s two-minute period, which pushed St-Juste into the starting lineup opposite Nixon.
Special Teams
Rookie kicker Trey Smack went six of seven at Lambeau Field tonight, with his only miss being a 51-yarder that he hooked. Leg strength isn’t an issue for Smack, who is probably good for a 65-yard attempt, based on what he flashed in the practice warmup. Smack responded to his miss by hitting a 47-yarder in the two-minute drill, even after the kicking team was set back five yards for a false start. Overall? Pretty good night.
If you want to know who is going to make the end of the Packers’ roster, pay attention to their special teams units. For the most part, Green Bay’s kickoff team wasn’t too surprising. The two players here who probably won’t make the initial 53-man roster are edge defender Arron Mosby and safety Mark Perry.
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Mosby is pretty much a special teams-only player, and it’s tough to find room for him when Green Bay has Lukas Van Ness, Barryn Sorrell, Brenton Cox Jr., Dani Dennis-Sutton and Collin Oliver ahead of him on the defensive depth chart, and that’s before Micah Parsons returns to the team. I assume that Mosby will be on the Packers’ practice squad until the team suffers a couple of injuries and he’s called up, which is how Mosby’s situation with Green Bay has played out the previous two seasons.
On the Perry front, I think he’s essentially a placeholder for another safety, be it Xavier McKinney (who generally contributes on the kickoff team), Kitan Oladapo (who generally contributes on the kickoff team) or Johnathan Baldwin (who was out of today’s practice with an injury).
The punt catching drill never gets old for me. What a great moment for this kid. I hope they keep doing it every year.
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