A flipped script brought week three of training camp to a close. On Wednesday, Head Coach Matt LaFleur went easy with his veterans, Aaron Rodgers, Marcedes Lewis and Preston Smith got the day off and Davante Adams ran only a couple of drills. LaFleur wanted to make sure the second and third stringers got most of the practice reps for Saturday’s Pre-Season opener against the Houston Texans.
Today, he wanted to back off with the guys who will need to be fresh at Lambeau Field while getting most the players who won’t dress one more strenuous workout before a long weekend off.
The practice didn’t quite hit LaFleur’s two hour goal but there was plenty of plays and players to take note of.
First, the Reserve/Non Football Injury list was nearly cleaned out.
Kevin King makes camp debut.
Defensive back Kevin King, defensive tackle Kingsley Keke and rookie linebacker Isaiah McDuffie came off the list and made their first appearance of camp in uniform. All three were still limited, taking part in drills but sitting out team periods. The activations have left the Packers with two players on R/NFI, Za’Darius Smith and Will Redmond.
Linebacker Kamal Martin and wide reciver Chris Blair also returned to practice after missing a day or two with injuries.
For the second straight day, Devin Funchess hobbled out of team drills and unlike Wednesday, did not return today. He was getting attention from training staff on the sidelines. Other players still being held of practice included Aaron Jones, Kenny Clark, Equanimeous St. Brown and Juwann Winfree.
Second year tight end Josiah Deguara has made it back from ACL surgery, practicing lightly on Wednesday but getting team reps for the first time today. After practice, he met reporters in the media auditorium.
Josiah Deguara
Last year’s third round pick from Cincinnati had a terrific camp and looked like he was going to be a big part of LaFleur’s offense as a do everything, line up everywhere tight end. He made a couple of plays including a big block downfield in the season opener against the Minnesota Vikings but late in the game went down with an injury that turned out to be a torn ACL which required season ending surgery.
Whenever a player suffers a significant injury there’s anger followed by depression and eventually, acceptance. Deguara deal with all of that and also talked about whether he knew it was a serious injury at the time and if knowing the fact he was going to be a key part of the offensive plan helped fuel his recovery.
LaFleur said Deguara has looked “fantastic” in his return and he hopes he can pick up where he left off last year because he’s a very instinctive player.
Practice highlights came from several players. Adrian Amos covered a lot of ground to double a sideline route and come up with an interception of Jordan Love. Love rebounded during a two minute drill. Down 7 with just over a minute to deal with, he pump faked nicely and found DeAndre Thompkins behind Ka’dar Hollman for a 53 yard touchdown. Needing the two pointer for the win, Love’s pass at the back of the end zone just glanced off the hands of Amari Rodgers.
The other Rodgers had two plays that sparkled, the first was made just for fun. Flushed up through the pocket, Rodgers was able to spiral a 15 yard completion…..with his left hand. Later in a team drill, the master of catching defenses changing personnel wanted to practice those “freebie” plays. He caught Joe Barry’s unit subbing, got his side set and caught the 12th man on the field and still made the play downfield.
Late in the day, General Manager Brian Gutekunst announced linebacker Randy Ramsey has been placed on injured reserve with a serious ankle injury suffered last week in practice. Because he’s been placed on IR before the final 53 man roster was set, he won’t be eligible to return. To take his roster spot, the Packers have signed defensive back Dominique Martin. The 5-10, 180 played college ball at Tarleton State where he started his career as a wide receiver. He moved to corner for his senior season in 2016. His professional career began in Cologne, Germany in 2018 and was in the Spring League in each of the past two seasons.
The Packers will have a closed walk through on Friday to put the final preparations in place for the first dress rehearsal against the Houston Texans Saturday night at 7:00 PM at Lambeau Field.
