Day 10 Notes from Packers camp

Observational notes from the Packers 10th day of 2020's training camp.

Just some stuff I saw today during today's practice inside Lambeau, not meant to be exhaustive in the slightest.

Injuries

After the longest and probably toughest practice of camp, the Packers seemed to emerge unscathed, outside of undrafted rookie defensive tackle Willington Previlon, who left with a trainer halfway through practice.

Raven Greene continued to sit sit out as did Rick Wagner and Montravious Adams. 

Za'Darius Smith was suited up in full pads but did not participate in team stuff. 

Kamal Martin continues to shine

There's little question at this point that the Packers have found themselves a player in Martin. Again and again, he shows up during team stuff, whether its coming down the line to put a stop to an outside zone run or dropping into coverage and covering so much ground that he forces the quarterback to take the check down, Martin continues to string together good practices, and today was no different. 

At one point. Martin read the action in the backfield, made his way through the wash and knifed into the hole on a running play and absolutely stopped the ballcarrier dead in his tracks. 

There's obviously still a ways to go, but if Martin keeps this up, he's going to find himself playing a lot more snaps this season than most people probably expected coming into camp. 

Give Pettine a round of applause

It's well documented that Rodgers has been hot the last few practices, and today was much the same save for a few reps. But at one point during team, Rodgers dropped back and clearly wanted to take a shot downfield but found everything covered up. After flinging the ball into the right flat to hit his check down, he turned around to defensive coordinator Mike Pettine and started applauding. Whatever Pettine had called had taken away whatever the offense wanted to do on that particular play. Pettine gave a smile and a polite clapping back at Rodgers and they went on to the next play. Just a fun moment. 

Speaking of Rodgers, as I said, he continued to fire dimes all over the field, mostly to Davante Adams. At one point in red zone work, Adams ran a corner route into the end zone and Rodgers laid it perfectly over the top of Jaire Alexander, who actually had good coverage on the play, and Davante leapt up and snagged the ball for a touchdown. After the play, Davante threw the ball into the south end stands, he was so pumped up. 

Kingsley Keke Putting Up So Far

When we spoke withe defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery last week, he characterized Kingsley Keke's upcoming season as a "put up or shut up" year for the second year lineman. Needless to say, Keke is putting up so far. 

His solid camp continued today with several noticeable reps in team where he knifed through a gap and disrupted both run and pass plays. He's a young guy and his talent is obvious. It's going to be all about getting consistency out of him for a full season because the Packers are going to need every bit of help possible up front on defense. 

Sternberger rounding into shape

It was undoubtedly frustrating for second year tight end Jace Sternberger to have to miss a number of days at the start of camp due to Covid 19, especially after having so much of his rookie camp wiped out due to injuries. But he's really started to come on the last few practices. I thought he looked great in drill work today, including an impressive showing in one-on-ones. He also had a big grab down the left sideline to open the final period of practice which featured just the younger players in a mostly-live environment. 

Sternberger and Tonyan look like they could be a really good duo at tight end in this offense. 

Old dog, same tricks.

It's no secret that Marcedes Lewis is being kept around mostly for his physical presence in the run game and his locker room leadership. On the very first snap of team work today, he absolutely blew up Rashan Gary on a running play. I mean, it was one of the blocks that makes everyone in the stadium perk up after seeing a man as big as Gary absolutely blown up and put on his back. Aaron Jones ran right through the lane that opened up because of it. Big Dog may be somewhat limited with what he gives you in the run game, but my word can he bring the lumber when asked to block in the run game. 

That's it for today. If there's a player you're interested in that I didn't mention, be sure to check in on the Cheesehead TV YouTube channel every day for my pre-and-post practice chats. I try to answer as many questions as possible there. 

 

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Comments (3)

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oceanstrength's picture

August 25, 2020 at 03:49 pm

Thanks for the informative review of what's taking shape in camp.

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Archie's picture

August 25, 2020 at 06:46 pm

Media reports make it sound like nobody is performing disappointingly. This could be a first.

ps - Kamal Martin looks/sounds very intense/motivated.

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PatrickGB's picture

August 25, 2020 at 09:43 pm

I like what I am reading

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