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Packers re-sign cornerback

2025-08-04T15:21:10-05:00

Photo by Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images

Corey Ballentine, who made seven starts in Green Bay, has been added back to the Packers’ 91-man roster.

The Green Bay Packers announced on Monday that they have re-signed cornerback Corey Ballentine, who was released by the Indianapolis Colts last week. Ballentine signed with Indianapolis in free agency, where he received nearly half a million dollars in guarantees on his one-year deal with the team.

Prior to his stint with the Colts, Ballentine played 37 games over three seasons with the Packers, including seven starts made on the defensive side of the ball. In total, he played 581 defensive snaps (488 coming in 2023) and 415 special teams reps with Green Bay.

Last season, the only special teamers to record more snaps than Ballentine were linebacker Eric Wilson, safety Zayne Anderson, defensive end Arron Mosby, defensive end Lukas Van Ness and linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper. Between Ballentine (195) and Robert Rochell (121), the Packers lost their two-most-played non-returners on special teams at the cornerback position on free agency.

Now, Ballentine will return to a team that had little proven cornerback depth. While the assumption is that Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs and Carrington Valentine will be the Packers’ top outside cornerbacks going into the 2025 regular season, the team still needs to roster two or three more players at the position to get through the wear and tear of a season. Based on how the first-team rotation worked on Family Night, next in the pecking order behind that trio are probably receiver-turned-cornerback Bo Melton and Kalen King, though, Kamal Hadden was out of practice with a hip injury.

In a corresponding roster move, Green Bay released cornerback Gregory Junior, a veteran who has NFL special teams experience, to make room for Ballentine.

Will Matt LaFleur use his smaller wide receivers?

2025-08-04T14:06:38-05:00

Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images

No, probably not.

One of the popular topics at the Green Bay Packers’ 2025 Training Camp has involved “getting Jayden Reed and Matthew Golden on the field at the same time.” I have no doubt that Matt LaFleur, who is something of a play design genius, can, in theory, design a game’s worth of plays to get Golden and Reed on the field at the same time. They would probably be super-awesome plays. However, the reason for the question, and the root of the problem, isn’t that LaFleur can’t do this, but that he almost certainly won’t do this.

And this may end up being a problem. It’s actually one of the things that lurks in the back of my mind as “a reason that the Packers might be worse than they should be.” Reed played primarily outside in college, and he was just as dynamic then with the ball in his hands as he is now, but he struggled with his catch radius and had a relatively low catch percentage compared to his larger outside peers. Now, in the NFL, he plays more than three quarters of his snaps in the slot.

Matthew Golden also played mostly outside at Texas (76.1% of the time in his final season) and was every bit as dynamic as Reed. However, Golden was clearly better overall, especially with his catch radius and his hands in general. Some will rush to explain the difference as a reflection of Payton Thorne, then at Michigan State, versus Quinn Ewers at Texas, and having watched a lot of both, I would only concede that they are both terrible in their own unique ways.

Anyway, Golden was distinct from Reed in actually catching an incredibly high percentage of his often terribly thrown targets, including over 60% of his contested catches. I would love to tell you how many contested catches Jayden Reed had, but PFF is currently only displaying the 2022 stats for Notre Dame, Army, UConn, and UMass, because it’s the offseason for everyone.

Anyway, the good news is that while Reed is probably fairly limited to playing in the slot, Golden likely can play outside. He may be small like Reed, but he plays bigger, has better hands, and just looks more along the lines of how good small-outside guys look. And so, it should not be hard to get both players on the field, and even though I spent a few paragraphs kind of ripping Reed, I absolutely do want him on the field. He has been the teams’ most productive receiver since he was drafted, and even if he’s limited a bit in the role he can play, he’s undeniably very dangerous.

But unfortunately, Matthew Golden is tiny, a fact not helped by the enormous helmet he’s been sporting.

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Here at APC headquarters, we sometimes privately refer to Matt LaFleur as a “size queen,” especially when it comes to receivers. Now, we get it, and when push comes to shove, we, too, prefer bigger receivers, and would certainly never kink-shame anyone, but you could certainly take things too far, and I think Matt will, because Matt loves to run. And because he likes to run, he also loves his outside receivers to block. It’s why Malik Heath is on the team, and probably why Savion Williams was drafted. Heck, if anything, Williams is probably even more of a threat to Reed as a “big slot” (That’s slot, you filthy people. Slot.) who can run gadget routes, and maul linebackers.

And blocking is great, and running the ball is great, but the 2024 Packers ran the ball WAY too much. Don’t get me wrong, Josh Jacobs is an asset to the offense, and they have some new beef upfront this year, and I suspect the run game will be incredibly effective, but passing is just, well, better. It’s much more efficient, and taking Golden and Reed off the field just so you can run block better is just shooting yourself in the foot.

LaFleur LOVES the run game though and hates to forfeit the potential run on any given option/check play, so I suspect we’ll continue to see a good amount of 12/21 personnel (meaning only two receivers are even on the field) with at least one of the outside receivers an above-average big blocker. And when we are in 11 personnel, and Reed gets his chance, what are the odds that Golden is ever out there with him?

If I had to rank them right now, with Christian Watson likely injured for a while longer, I would put Golden as the best receiver on the team (highly speculative, and you may fairly call me stupid for this, but early signs are promising) and Reed the second best. Even if that is the case, I think there’s a good chance that, between all the receivers and tight ends, neither of them finishes higher than fourth in targets this year.

Omar Brown emerges as contender in safety depth battle

2025-08-04T08:39:38-05:00

Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

There’s still some shuffling near the top of the depth chart to be done, but Brian Gutekunst’s 2024 rapid rebuild of the Packers’ safety group is still largely holding strong.

Xavier McKinney figures to again be a leader, if not the outright best player, on the Packers’ defense, and Evan Williams and Javon Bullard give the Packers options alongside him. For my money, McKinney’s partner on the back end should be Evan Williams with Bullard figuring things out in the slot (and based on last year, there’s a lot of figuring out to be done), but that’s a scheme question, not a talent one. Because of Gutekunst’s investment last offseason, the Packers have at least three safeties they like, and that’s a lot more than they could say two years ago.

Beyond McKinney, Williams, and Bullard, though, competition is heating up. If the Packers intend to keep five safeties on their initial 53-man roster (they haven’t kept more than that since 2016, when they had six), that means three of their five spots are already locked up. The presence of Kitan Oladapo, a 2024 fifth round pick, probably accounts for a fourth spot, meaning there’s a real chance any other safety contenders on the roster are competing for just one job.

And as of the Packers’ Family Night Scrimmage, those contenders should include Omar Brown.

Brown, a 2024 undrafted free agent who spent last season on the Packers’ practice squad, announced himself with three interceptions on Saturday night. He didn’t log any time with what passed for the first-team defense, but it’s hard to discount that kind of performance even if it was against fellow backups. Beating up the lower levels of the depth chart is the first step on climbing the ladder toward a bigger role.

Prior to his time with the Packers, Brown was a part-time starter at Nebraska after playing his first three years of college ball at the University of Northern Iowa, where he was twice named to FCS All-America teams. While at Nebraska, the bulk of his reps came in the slot; in 2023 alone, he lined up for 434 snaps as a slot defender according to Pro Football Focus, almost three times as many as at any other spot. He earned third-team All-Big Ten honors for his work there.

Coming out of Nebraska, Brown was not a particularly highly rated prospect. He was Dane Brugler’s 34th rated safety in the 2024 edition of The Beast and was prospect 292 on the NFL Mock Draft Database consensus big board. Part of that was probably due to his specialized (or small, depending how you want to look at it) role at Nebraska, but he also wasn’t a great tester in the pre-draft process. Not bad, by any means, but not great. His RAS card is pretty middling across the board, with his only elite numbers coming in the 10-yard split of his 40-yard dash time.

But Brown found himself a job in Green Bay and appeared in two games at the end of last season, logging eight snaps on defense and 16 on special teams.

Now, one Family Night explosion does not a career make, and Brown has a long way to go if he wants to unseat the other significant contender for the Packers’ final safety spot: Zayne Anderson.

Anderson is a long-time favorite of special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia (he was second on the team with 257 special teams reps last season) and has gradually carved out a bigger role on defense, even starting two games last year when the Packers were beset by injury at safety late in the year.

That may not sound like much, but that’s a pretty difficult resume for a newcomer to overcome. If Anderson is both a trusted member of the Packers’ special team units and a spot starter on defense, Brown would have to show out quite a bit between now and the end of training camp to unseat him. Three interceptions on Family Night is a good start, though. Now he’s just got to build on it.

Monday Cheese Curds: Reactions from Family Night roll in

2025-08-04T07:30:19-05:00

Photo by Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

From Omar Brown’s starring role to defensive dominance in general, Saturday was a fun night at Lambeau.

If you didn’t know the name Omar Brown before Saturday — which is understandable — you should now, after he recorded three interceptions inside Lambeau Field.

That was part of a consistent theme of the Green Bay Packers’ Family Night practice, which saw the defense keeping the offense in check throughout the evening. Young defensive backs are starting to step up — Brown is just one of them — and they are making life difficult for Jordan Love, Malik Willis, and the rest of the offensive units.

Additionally, the Packers’ pass rush seems to be picking up as well. That’s an area where the team needs more consistency, and hopefully this is a sign of improved play off the edge rather than struggles on the offensive line.

Let’s look back at Saturday’s practice before we turn our attention ahead to the start of the preseason schedule this coming weekend.

5 takeaways from Packers Family Night | Packers.com
In addition to Brown’s three picks, the Packers defense got interceptions from Kalen King and Carrington Valentine.

Packers Roster Projection After Family Night | SI.com
Perhaps the two surprises on this roster are Nazir Stackhouse over Warren Brinson and no Kingsley Enagbare.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur provides update on Tucker Kraft's groin injury | Packers Wire
Kraft doesn't really need the practice time and since he's dealing with a minor but nagging issue, the team wanted to get him three full days off to get it right before jumping back into practice on Tuesday.

Xavier McKinney doing all he can to help Packers teammates get better | Packersnews.com
McKinney is proving to be a selfless leader, and he's pitching the quiet environment of Green Bay -- with fewer distractions than many other bigger NFL cities -- as a selling point to other players.

Micah Parsons trade proposals: Analyzing 3 potential offers for the Cowboys - The Athletic
How would you feel about the team trading two first-round picks and Romeo Doubs for Parsons?

Bears' Ben Johnson calls out 'sloppy' offensive performance | NFL.com
That's a shame.

Customer allegedly stabbed bakery workers over sandwich he was sold 4 years ago | FOX 19
This guy really did not like eggplant. That's quite a grudge to hold for four years.

Packers Analysis: The team’s 1st-team snap counts on Family Night

2025-08-03T18:02:31-05:00

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

We charted every single first-team snap that the Packers had last night so you can learn who is getting real burn with Green Bay’s top units.

For the fourth straight year, we’re going to be charting the Green Bay Packers’ first-team snaps this summer. While we don’t have video of practice, we do have the broadcast of Family Night and will get the team’s preseason games, which the starters sometimes play in.

As much as I’d like to put this series to rest, it unfortunately is worth tracking because of how high the correlation is to players making the roster. Let’s go through who got first-team looks on both offense and defense on Family Night before diving into some core special teams thoughts.

Running Back

21 snaps: Josh Jacobs
14: Chris Brooks

Quarterback is obvious, so we’re just going to skip that position entirely. At running back, it’s worth noting that both Emanuel Wilson (knee) and MarShawn Lloyd (groin) were non-participants in practice on Saturday due to injury. It’s not surprising in any way that Josh Jacobs and Chris Brooks, two players who made the 53-man roster last year, were the most played backs when Jordan Love was under center, but it is worth mentioning that the three other healthy running backs on the team — Amar Johnson Jalen White and Israel Abanikanda — didn’t get a single look with “the ones.” If they’re going to make any sort of dent on this roster, it’s going to need to come in the preseason.

Receiver

27: Matthew Golden (22 wide, 5 slot)
22: Malik Heath (16, 6)
21: Romeo Doubs (20, 1)
11: Mecole Hardman (4, 7)
10: Jayden Reed (0, 10)
10: Luke Musgrave (TE) (1, 9)
4 Savion Williams (4, 0)
1: Ben Sims (TE) (0, 1)
1: Julian Hicks (1, 0)
1 Josh Jacobs (RB) (1, 0)

I wanted to point out the wide receiver and slot split here off of the rip. While there’s been some optimism that Jayden Reed can develop into a larger role, the Packers have used him in very specific situations so far in his career. Usually, he’s only on the field in three-receiver sets as the slot receiver. For example, over the last two years, Malik Heath has played nearly five times as many two-receiver sets as Reed. On Saturday, all of Reed’s snaps came with him in the slot (pre- or post-motion) out of three-receiver sets, more of the same.

A really positive sign here is that rookie first-round pick Matthew Golden is very much in the mix as a top receiver on the team, despite the Packers historically slow-playing rookies’ first-team reps. The second play of team drills was an end-around to Golden. They probably like him A LOT on the relative scale of rookies they’ve had roll through the building.

I wouldn’t make too much of Malik Heath getting a bunch of outside receiver reps here, because Savion Williams was pulled out of the game for an apparent injury, according to head coach Matt LaFleur’s press conference, and both Dontayvion Wicks (unknown) and Christian Watson (knee) missed action. I will say, though, it is interesting that Heath got more snaps than Mecole Hardman, who probably has to win the punt return job to be the sixth receiver on the 53-man roster.

Tight End

23: Luke Musgrave
11: John FitzPatrick
2: Ben Sims

I’m going to be honest here, these numbers might not be 100 percent accurate. I tried my best charting the snaps on the grainy feed I screen-recorded of the practice, but all of Luke Musgrave, John FitzPatrick and Ben Sims rolled up their jerseys yesterday, look similar from an accessories standpoint and wear the numbers 88, 86 and 89. I stress again: I tried my best.

If these numbers hold, it shouldn’t be a shock that FitzPatrick played more snaps than Sims with the first-team offense. Last year, after FitzPatrick was picked off the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad, he began to out-snap Sims on both the offensive side of the ball and on special teams. Depending on how many tight ends special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia believes he needs on his unit, the team could keep as few as three at the position. Starter Tucker Kraft was out with an unknown injury that LaFleur described as something he had been pushing through. There is no expectation that this is a serious issue, as LaFleur said he just wanted to give Kraft some rest.

Offensive Line

36: Jordan Morgan (left tackle)
36: Aaron Banks (left guard)
36: Elgton Jenkins (center)
36: Sean Rhyan (right guard)
28: Zach Tom (right tackle)
8: Anthony Belton (right tackle)

Because preferred left tackle Rasheed Walker was out with a groin issue, second-year first-round pick Jordan Morgan played every snap at left tackle on Family Night. The offensive line was consistent, from a personnel standpoint, until the two-minute drill where second-round rookie Anthony Belton subbed in for Zach Tom. Outside of the performance of the tackles (Morgan, Belton and Kadeem Telfort all struggled), the only news of note here is that Sean Rhyan played every snap as the right guard with the first-team unit. Previously, he had been rotating with Morgan and Jacob Monk in camp.

Defensive End

20: Rashan Gary
20: Lukas Van Ness
2: Brenton Cox Jr.
1: Barryn Sorrell
1: Kingsley Enagbare

It’s pretty clear that Lukas Van Ness is going to be the starter opposite of Rashan Gary. He played in 20 of the 22 defensive snaps before mass subs (more than half of the first-team defense was on the bench) entered the mix. Something must have changed between now and the trade deadline, when the Packers chose to play Kingsley Enagbare as Preston Smith’s preplacement following Smith’s in-season trade to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Collin Oliver, the team’s fifth-round rookie, has not played in camp yet due to a hamstring issue. Green Bay can probably only be able to keep five players at the position, which means one of Brenton Cox Jr. or Enagbare will end up being cut. Whichever one survives the cutdown deadline, though, will probably be the top backup at the position in 2025.

Defensive Tackle

19: Kenny Clark
18: Devonte Wyatt
3: Karl Brooks
2: Colby Wooden
2: Warren Brinson
1: Nazir Stackhouse

There wasn’t a lot of consistency here, in terms of playing time, other than Kenny Clark and Devonte Wyatt starting. Undrafted rookie Nazir Stackhouse has been building some hype lately and was on the field for one snap with the first-team unit before mass subs, but ultimately, this unit’s performance in preseason games will decide who does or doesn’t make the team.

Linebacker

21: Isaiah McDuffie
17: Edgerrin Cooper
13: Isaiah Simmons
4: Ty’Ron Hopper

Quay Walker is still rehabbing his ankle injury, but was fully suited up for Family Night yesterday. The assumption is that he and Edgerrin Cooper will be the team’s starting linebackers in two-linebacker sets this year, with Isaiah McDuffie coming off the bench in three-linebacker looks. The top backup will be special teams ace and former first-round pick Isaiah Simmons, but third-round second-year player Ty’Ron Hopper did play a couple of snaps before mass subs.

Cornerback

21: Keisean Nixon
20: Carrington Valentine
2: Bo Melton
1: Kalen King

Cornerback is another position dealing with injury. Free-agent signing Nate Hobbs (knee) was unable to play. Previously, Hobbs split time between outside cornerback (in two-cornerback looks) and slot corner (in nickel looks) this summer. With Hobbs out of the mix, it was clear that Carrington Valentine, who picked off Love and had a positive night overall, was going to be the next man up. Behind Valentine are Bo Melton, the converted wide receiver, and second-year player Kalen King. Kamal Hadden (hip), who got call-ups to play special teams over King last year, was injured on Saturday, though, so maybe Hadden will displace King for the fifth cornerback spot on the 53-man roster. Keep that in mind.

Slot

11: Javon Bullard (S)

With Hobbs out, safety Javon Bullard played every single slot rep for the Packers’ first-team defense on Saturday. The team just doesn’t seem interested in playing someone other than those two at the position this year, if push came to shove.

Safety

22: Xavier McKinney
18: Evan Williams
3: Javon Bullard
1: Kitan Oladapo

Bullard and Evan Williams have been splitting time at safety opposite Xavier McKinney this summer, but with Hobbs out, most of Bullard’s snaps came in the slot. Again, this shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone. What is a little interesting here is that second-year player Kitan Oladapo got a look over Zayne Anderson, who was previously the top “reserve” player at the position in 2024.

Special Teams

The team didn’t really work on kickoffs or kick returns in practice, so I’m not going to get into that. I’m also not going to focus on the field goal block team, as the unit mostly played “defense stay” personnel during their looks on Saturday.

What we can glean at, though, is the team’s punt protection personnel and their field goal protection units. These, generally, give us a good look at who the team is leaning toward keeping deeper on the 53-man roster, where special teams ability is absolutely a factor.

On the punt team, the gunners/fliers were cornerback Bo Melton and linebacker Isaiah Simmons. The offensive line was made up of defensive end Lukas Van Ness (guard), defensive end Kingsley Enagbare (guard), linebacker Isaiah Hopper (tackle) and linebacker Isaiah McDuffie (tackle). If Enagbare earns this job over Brenton Cox Jr., that could be enough to push Cox off of the 53-man roster, considering the team spent two mid-round picks on rookies there this April.

In the deep protection unit, the wings were linebacker Kristian Welch and running back Chris Brooks, with safety Zayne Anderson being the personal protector for the punter. Welch is interesting because I’m not sure if there’s room to keep six linebackers on the 53-man roster.

On the field goal protection team, the line of scrimmage players were tackle Anthony Belton, tackle Kadeem Telfort, guard Aaron Banks, tackle/guard Jordan Morgan, guard/center Sean Rhyan and defensive end Warren Brinson. The only roster bubble players in this group are Telfort, who might have been subbed in for either the injured Rasheed Walker or Travis Glover, and Brinson. Hopefully, we get a look at what this unit looks like when they’re healthy down the line. The wings on the protection unit were Zach Tom and tight end John FitzPatrick, yet another sign that FitzPatrick has the edge over Ben Sims at the position.

Packers Core Concepts: Middle Read Dagger

2025-08-03T17:23:02-05:00

Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

Walking through the Packers performance on their most-used passing concept

As we ramp up to the 2025 season, I wanted to take a look back at a passing concept that the Green Bay Packers have leaned on heavily over the years. It’s not unique to the Packers - it’s a concept that has been around for years - but it has become a core part of the Packers' passing offense.

It’s called Dagger, and it’s really pretty simple. It’s a two-man concept with the inside man running a vertical, clear-out route and the outside man running an in-cutting route. The idea is to have the vertical route clear out the middle, while the in-cutting route works behind it. You can get a good look at the core concept on this page from the Packers' 2012 playbook:

There are a handful of popular variations to this concept. The one we’re focusing on today is one I typically tag as Middle-Read Dagger. The overall idea is the same, but there’s an option on the vertical route depending on the safeties over the top. If the defense is in MFC (Middle Field Closed), the vertical receiver will bend the route to the inside and cross the face of the single high safety. If the defense is in MFO (Middle Field open), the vertical receiver will take a route a little skinnier, looking to split the safeties in the middle. You can see this illustrated in a page from the Packers' 2019 playbook.

The Packers ran this 51 times in 2024, making it their most-used passing concept (it accounted for 9.1% of their passing plays). When running this play, they averaged 10.6 YPA and had an explosive play rate of 29.4%. Of their 10 most used passing concepts, that 29.4% explosive rate ranks 3rd, behind High Cross (35.3%) and Verts (34.2%). The 541 yards generated off Middle-Read Dagger were the most amount of yards generated by any one passing concept in 2024, and the 15 explosives generated were also the most explosives generated by a single concept.

The Success Rate of 45.1% doesn’t measure up to the level of some of their other highly used concepts (Verts was at 55.3% success, High Cross at 52.9% and PA Boot at 61.1%), but it’s not a bad return on the concept. I didn’t chart all the drops this year (sorry I failed you), but I know there were a handful of drops on this concept. If those aren’t dropped, the success rate looks a lot better.

From a success rate perspective, this was at its best on 2nd down, coming in with a success rate of 55.6%. This was their most widely used concept on 2nd & long (7+ yards), and it was a good one. They ran is 16 times in those situations, with a success rate of 50.0% and 8.2 YPA.

Due to the option on the vertical route, some of the underneath routes and all the varied ways they can run this, Middle-Read Dagger was an effective and explosive passing concept for the Packers in 2024 and there’s no reason to believe it’ll be anything different for them in 2025.

Let’s take a look at some of the ways they ran it - and the different options on the play - before we get out of here.

As you can see from the playbook pages above, the concept is designed to hit the in-cutting route as the #1 read, so we’ve got a number of examples of that being the case.

pic.twitter.com/T1W67pwTP0
— Dusty (@DustyEvely) August 3, 2025

The vertical clear-out route is there as an Alert, so you’ll see examples of Love hitting that route if the coverage is favorable. On the last play, it acts as a hot route against the blitz of the Vikings.

There are also iso routes on the other side that the QB can take if he likes the one-on-one match-up against the coverage look to that side.

And, of course, there is the checkdown. The first clip shows the Packers running an Escort Screen on the checkdown (having a TE release in front of the RB to the right to act as a lead blocker: kind of a powered-up checkdown). Since Dagger is a vertical concept, you can find some space underneath if the defense is falling back to take away the deep middle of the field.

I mentioned how this concept can be run in a variety of ways. I won’t show all of them, but I will point out a couple of my favorites.

This play pairs Middle-Read Dagger out of Trips (three receivers spread out on the same side of the formation), with the #3 receiver (the one closest to the line) running a deep crosser. It’s kind of a marriage of Middle-Read Dagger and Cross-Country Dagger.

pic.twitter.com/GqoqOSkPug
— Dusty (@DustyEvely) August 3, 2025

They’ll also motion into Dagger, with the motion man running the dig. In 2023, we mainly saw that kind of motion-to-dig from Dontayvion Wicks, but they ran it with a handful of different receivers in 2024, including this rep where Luke Musgrave was the motion man. This can be a good way to widen the defense on that side of the field, only to cut back in front of him to the middle.

There is one version of this that I kind of hope goes away. Or, at the very least, becomes extremely scarce. They run a version of this with the vertical route coming from Tucker Kraft from his in-line TE position. It’s a tough ask, because that man needs to clear out the middle for the (speedier) receiver to run the in-cutter behind. If there’s any delay in the release from Kraft - or any bumping down the field - the spacing gets muddled.

It’s not one of the main ways we’ll see them run it, but I’ve seen it enough to know that it’s usually pretty clunky. I’m all in favor of running this concept out of different looks, but this one is messy enough that I’d be fine if it went away.

Albums listened to: Wisp - If Not Winter; Gaslight Anthem - History Books; Lord Huron - The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1; Sixpence None the Richer - This Beautiful Mess; Slowdive - Everything is Alive; Tom Waits - Real Gone

Video: All of Jordan Love’s Family Night throws

2025-08-03T05:00:00-05:00

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Family Night was a little shaky for QB1, in part because of the tackle situation.

Did you miss the Green Bay Packers’ Family Night practice broadcast? Do you still want to see how quarterback Jordan Love performed in the team periods?

Well, do I have a treat for you. Below is a video of two minutes and four seconds of Love passes from Saturday’s action.

All of Jordan Love's Family Night throws pic.twitter.com/ojHWYFxFGi
— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) August 3, 2025

To say the least, this isn’t the best we’ve seen of Love, because there weren’t many thread-the-needle opportunities yesterday. Most of the completions were of the checkdown variety, and he missed a couple of deep shots by a little.

It’s worth mentioning that these throws came from different periods, so the objective was a little different for each series. For example, there was an open “move the ball” period, a backed-up period — with the offense near their own end zone, a third-down period and a two-minute period.

That’s why you’ll see some funky clips in this video, like a throw out of the end zone. But make the decision for yourself on whether the night was a success or not.

You can also watch how the Packers’ first-team offensive line looks like in pass pro, if you’d like. Jordan Morgan, Aaron Banks, Elgton Jenkins, Sean Rhyan and Zach Tom (left to right) were the players seeing playing time with Love under center, aside from Tom being subbed out for Anthony Belton in the two-minute drill.

I don’t think Morgan or Belton played great, which is one reason why Love had some issues throwing the ball. None of them played as poorly as Kadeem Telfort, who got worked at right tackle on the second-team unit, or Donovan Jennings, who snapped the ball over Sean Clifford’s head twice, though.

Below are some Telfort clips (#76) if you want to go down that rabbit hole.

pic.twitter.com/YQVQ8YE7as
— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) August 3, 2025

pic.twitter.com/NeWnzfq9wu
— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) August 3, 2025

pic.twitter.com/s70CwRt5jJ
— Justis Mosqueda (@JuMosq) August 3, 2025

Family Night Open Thread

2025-08-02T21:02:55-05:00

Photo by Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The Packers are back at Lambeau Field!

The Green Bay Packers are streaming their practice at Lambeau Field, Family Night, on the official team website.

Join along for the conversation! We’re going to be posting updates as news starts to trickle in.

If you need a refresher on what’s happened this summer, check out our training camp subgroup, which includes all of our practice recaps from this offseason.

Updates:

Here are the players who won’t be practicing today, according to The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman:

RB Emanuel Wilson (unknown)
RB MarShawn Lloyd (groin)
WR Christian Watson (knee)
WR Dontayvion Wicks (unknown)
WR Sam Brown Jr. (ankle)
TE Tucker Kraft (unknown)
OT Rasheed Walker (groin)
OT Travis Glover (shoulder)
OL John Williams (back)
DE Collin Oliver (hamstring)
DE Arron Mosby (groin)
CB Nate Hobbs (groin)
CB Kamal Hadden (hip)

Wilson, Wicks and Kraft all practiced yesterday, but Wilson went down with an injury.

Apparently, the injury for Kraft is a groin injury. We’re up to five of those now. Someone save my players’ groins. It’s being called a knee injury for Wilson.

Starting lineup in team:

Love
Jacobs
Doubs - Golden
Fitzpatrick - Musgrave
Morgan - Banks - Jenkins - Rhyan - Tom

LVN - Wyatt - Clark - Gary
Simmons - McDuffie - Cooper
Valentine - Nixon
Williams - McKinney
— Andy Herman (@AndyHermanNFL) August 3, 2025

The hands on Matthew Golden on full display. pic.twitter.com/EtC0oFCep1
— Kyle Malzhan (@KyleMalzhan) August 3, 2025

Lukas Van Ness powers through LT Jordan Morgan for a sack of Jordan Love pic.twitter.com/9toqegH9Q3
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 3, 2025

Omar Brown picks off Malik Willis on the goal line. That’s the second-year safety’s third INT of camp. pic.twitter.com/Ou10y0MAy1
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 3, 2025

After Sean Clifford finds the bottom of the net two times in a row, Jordan Love swishes one. pic.twitter.com/dKRNYnE1UZ
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) August 3, 2025

Sean Clifford, Taylor Elgersma and Malik Willis went back-to-back-to-back into the bucket from the 15-yard line to the back-left corner of the end zone. Each QB did their own Lambeau Leap.

Jordan Love later hit one and all four QBs jumped into the stands. pic.twitter.com/lQFqSbkQmt
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 3, 2025

Romeo Doubs catches 6 punts but drops one while No 7 is on its way.

He casually catches it with one hand pic.twitter.com/YX2xnX3O4k
— Weston Hodkiewicz (@WesHod) August 3, 2025

Omar Brown has three INTs tonight. Just had his best one of the night on a deep ball from Willis to Hicks. Bounced off his helmet and caught it as he fell to the ground.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 3, 2025