Let's just hope the rookies don't learn the wrong thing from the vets that didn't make the OTA's.

Football is a team effort. As Matt likes to say it’s 11 on 11 and each person needs to do its job for the whole team. I imagine that when the whole team does well then it makes each individual look good. As a vet on a team, a winning record looks good for me as an individual. Helping a new player actually helps a veteran player as well. It’s a mindset that benefits all. That’s part of the reason that Matt likes to say that he has a great locker room.

Both young men will play a lot this year as long as they are blessed with good health. In fact, I see the 2021 Packer draft class with many contributors this year. And in 2, 3 years it may one of the best in many years.

With the NFL inducting more college rules, the time for rookies to adjust or compete to the level of expectation when and why drafted should not need the same years of waiting, as has been the rule of thumb. I've said, not long ago, players need to develop faster and coaches need to coach them up faster. The QB's that come out in the first round the last few years have adapted quickly to the NFL version of College, and that trend will grow and the other positions not doing the same will be more the failure of the QB position, than the QB himself. The QB is the number one position and dictates the rest cannot lag behind too far, on either side of the ball. Leaders shouldn't need to lead with the others miles behind when the battle comes to actual battling, they must be as equally ready or more so than the leader in their attributes and contributions. I hope they are fast learners and can contribute more than the possible new leader because he will need them to be such.

So it's not only about what a player can gain for himself by going to OTAs, but what he can contribute to his teammates. Just being there helps the team grow in terms of working together to improve combined performance. Then there's the element displayed in this article, veterans helping young guys to learn and grow.
This also carries over to the preseason. Aaron Rodgers bothers me when he says publicly he doesn't need to play all that much in preseason games, that it doesn't really help the offense to gel.
However, what if the coaches think it's important for Rodgers to get more than a little action in the preseason, not just for his sake but for the good of the whole offense growing in cohesion and efficiency? Rodgers seems to be manipulating public opinion to make the coaches look bad if they supposedly force him to play in the preseason more than he wants. He is in effect daring the coaches to play him, in the sense of discouraging the coaches from playing him.
Another possible example of Rodgers being manipulative may be him saying he really likes Jake Kumerow as a wide receiver just before the team has to decide which players to keep at the beginning of the season and which players to cut. As the Packers did decide to cut Kumerow, it looks like they are acting against their superstar quarterback. Rodgers put the front office in an awkward position by speaking up about a matter that is not his responsibility.
I could be way wrong about these things, and am quite open to other viewpoints. If I'm right, though, it seems Rodgers needs to stop interfering in matters that properly belong to the general manager and head coach. He needs to be quiet about such things, or at least a lot more careful. For example, he can compliment his teammates, but not in a way that in effect challenges his bosses to do things his way.
I write this because I would still be glad for Rodgers to come back to the Packers for one more season of going all in for a Super Bowl. However, he has to be committed to do what his superiors in the team hierarchy ask of him without trying to slyly manipulate public opinion -- which would seem to risk causing discontent and disunity amongst his teammates.
I want Rodgers back, but not as a diva trying to call the shots that are outside of his job description. As the team leader on the field, he has to set an example for following the coaches to the other players, not an example for undermining the coaches. Perhaps Rodgers has a role in making private suggestions about the team, but not publicly.
It's not about the front office or the coaches being better or more important than Rodgers, but about respecting proper roles in an organization for it to function at its best.
I still wonder if in the NFC Championship Game last season against the Bucs, Rodgers was truly heeding his coaches in the second half. With first and goal from the 8, for example, was Rodgers stubbornly doing things that more or less contradicted what the coaches were going for? Would he do so again in similar situation?
I don't know -- but a quarterback acting that way isn't going to lead us to a Super Bowl. He's too smart for his own good, the good of the team, and the good of the fans. He's stepping on the toes of his bosses in a way that will cause the team to malfunction and ultimately fail.
Maybe the Broncos would be okay with that; it would be the ruin of the Packers if they accept any player -- even a superstar quarterback -- usurping power.

That's a good piece, Gil! Thanks for sharing that.

Our WR, RB, OL, DL, CB and S positions have great mentors there to help the young guys. QB and ILB are lacking to varying extents, though I'm sure Bortles is helping with what Love is taking in these days. Maybe Campbell will be able to help Barnes, Martin, Summers and Wilborn through with helpful insights, etc.

You know Bakhtiari is willing to help all of the younger players. We have a ton of them there. Great to see Jaire and Davante sharing what they can too. I think about TJ Slaton, and how much fun he must be having picking Kenny Clark's brain...

TJ Slaton, to me, seems like an outlier who could really surprise once the games start for real. I know he wanted and was getting higher snap counts as his last season wore on, up into the 60s. He remarked how much he liked getting a bigger chunk of the workload on the DL at Florida. Would be pretty cool if he can be a solid, regular contributor here with Kenny Clark. I think the two of them together could do some serious damage.

That whole WR room has to be like, "Oh, wait. It's my turn to talk to Davante!!!"

It’s pretty simple: Great teams have great teammates (who take the time to coach up one another). So glad to hear it is happening in Packerland.