The curtains went up around Ray Nitschke Field today for the third practice of training camp. Head Coach Matt LaFleur feels badly every camp practice isn’t open for fans to attend but he’s also thinking of the railbirds, believing they may not be an enthused over a shorter, lighter, half speed installation workout.
The team spent about an hour on Nitschke after spending the usual first 20 minutes stretching and going through snaps inside the Don Hutson Center, even off limits to the media.
Around the typical individual and group drills, LaFleur said splitting the squad in two is a valuable way to maximize reps. He has the front line units working against each other in team drills while on the other end of the turf, the 2’s and 3’s are going through the same set of plays.
Aaron Jones is the lead horse in the RB stable.
Railbirds won’t have to wait long, public practices resume Saturday morning at 10:30.
Hard to pick a player of the day but I’m leaning toward 10 year veteran punter Pat O’Donnell. The main special teams period of the day may have been a record breaker. The punt unit was out there for 15 consecutive snaps. The usual field goal drill has that unit out for 3 kicks and they’re done. From a backed up snap inside his own 20, the protection team kept lining up, O’Donnell kept kicking the ball (with returns fielded by Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed and Samari Toure) and they moved forward 5 to 10 yards to do it again until there were a handful of Aussie style pooch punts toward the goal line. O’Donnell took every rep and after practice he thought it might have been a record breaker for the most consecutive practice boots in one session. O’Donnell told me Special Teams Coordinator Rich Bisaccia likes to ramp things up like this, especially early in camp.
It was learned during practice and later confirmed by the team, edge rusher Jonathan Garvin was released by General Manager Brian Gutekunst. Garvin was drafted by Gutekunst in the 7th round out of the University of Miami in Florida back in 2020. He arrived a defensive end and this spring, was getting a look at outside linebacker. Garvin was just never able to make a serious run into the edge rushing rotation. In three years, he played in 38 games, mostly as a special teams participant. He had one start, recorded 32 total tackles, he had 1 and a half sacks, 7 quarterback hurries and a couple of pass deflections. Garvin didn’t help his case by staying away for nearly all of the voluntary off-season program. The drafting of Lukas Van Ness in the first round was another clear signal the team was in need of an upgrade behind Preston Smith and the mending Rashan Gary.
Still on the roster in back up roles are former LA Ram veteran Justin Hollins and two young players who have gotten a taste of bringing pressure in regular season games, LaDarius Hamilton and Kingsley Enegbare.
I caught up with Enagbare after practice and he’s well aware the window of opportunity for more playing time has been opened a little wider with the transaction.
It was nice to see Albert Breer make his first pilgrimage to Lambeau Field. Sports Illustrated’s MMQB author looked a bit weary, with good reason. He’s embarking on an NFL training camp blitz over the next couple of weeks, telling me he hopes to hit at least 24 camps. He was on the phone making arrangements to visit three sites over the next couple of days, a ridiculous car driving, airplane hopping circuit.
Happy as well to see Mike Holmgren, Sterling Sharpe and even Steve McMichael all make the latest cut to become finalists for election into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Holmgren is among the 12 remaining candidates in the Coach/Contributor category, Sharpe among the Senior Player committee finalists, as is “Mongo”, the former Chicago Bear defensive tackle who spent the 1994 season in Green Bay.
