It was a rapid fire orientation weekend for the brand new Green Bay Packers. The rookie mini-camp wrapped up Saturday after three days of meetings and a pair of brief workouts on Clarke Hinkle Field.
The 28 players were introduced to the offensive and defensive systems and on the field, got their first taste of fundamental drills and the basic formation and play design and language.
So how did they look?
Outside of judging each player’s frame and movement skills, it was hard to assess how that will translate into a football game. There’s plenty of time for that evaluation through the rest of the off-season. The top draft choices got most of the scrutiny as you’d expect, beginning with number one pick Eric Stokes, the defensive back from Georiga.
Eric Stokes in line for drills during first weekend as a Packer.
Head Coach Matt LaFleur talked of Stokes certainly looking the part.
Stokes was excited to get started and begin learning from secondary coach Jerry Gray:
Over the past two years, the Packers have stocked up on young offensive linemen, drafting three in 2020 and three more a month ago. This year’s group has a head start of getting acquainted. Second round pick Josh Myers of Ohio State and 6th rounder Cole Van Lanen from Wisconsin spent time training with each other prior to the draft. Van Lanen said it has helped create a fun atmosphere in the young OL room especially since Cole’s former Badger teammate, Jon Dietzen was among the undrafted free agents signed this spring.
Third round pick Amari Rodgers got plenty of attention too this weekend.
Amari Rodgers will go single digits with the Pack.
Again, LaFleur with first impression thoughts of the versatile receiving prospect:
Rodgers made a really nice grab on a deep route against 5th round pick Shemar Jean-Charles. He’s going to be asked to learn the wide out position, the slot routes, possibly the running back motion sweeps and the return games but Amari doesn’t think that’ll be too much on his plate:
The most humorous zoom session belonged to defensive tackle T.J. Slaton. He wasn’t sure what to expect upon his arrival to Green Bay but said he was bracing for severe climate change.
The Packers had three players in on a tryout basis for the weekend including linebacker Alvin Jones, the brother of Aaron Jones. The other two were the quarterbacks, Chad Kelly and Kurt Benkert. On Saturday, the Packers signed Benkert to a free agent contract which brings the number of quarterbacks on the roster heading into the summer up to four. One of them of course, Aaron Rodgers, might not be showing up but Jordan Love, Blake Bortles and Benkert will.
Next on the off-season schedule is the voluntary organized team activities. They’re scheduled to begin May 24 with 9 on-field days through June 17. The mandatory mini-camp is scheduled for June 8-10.
