Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
PLAYBOOK ON DANNY VITALE
Fullback shines in expanded role against Raiders
Green Bay — After the Green Bay Packers’ walk-off victory over the Detroit Lions on Oct. 14, a weary Danny Vitale had no desire to celebrate.
With just five days to prepare for the Oakland Raiders, all the second-year Green Bay fullback wanted to do was depart the locker room and get home to his 18-month old Labrador and relax.
“I’m not a huge celebrator anyway,” said Vitale, donning a black “Make Fullbacks Great Again” baseball hat by his locker. “I finally got my dog back up here. So I’m definitely going to be spending time on the couch with my dog. I haven’t seen him in like a month or two. He’s a Fox Red lab, weighs about 78 pounds. He was with my parents, until we got in the groove of things.”
Vitale’s wife, Caley Chelios, just took a job as a reporter for the Tampa Bay Lightning. She flew up for the Raiders game, and her husband was in a more celebratory mood after Green Bay’s 4224 win Sunday to improve to 6-1 on the season.
“Well, with my wife in town, I’m thinking we might go out tonight and celebrate a little bit,” Vitale said. “She’s probably more excited to see the dog than me. I don’t blame her. I’m excited to see her — it’s been a while. This win feels pretty good, so maybe celebrate a little bit tonight with some of the guys and their families. This team is very connected and it’s been a fun ride.”
The 6-foot, 239-pound Vitale entered the game with four receptions for 51 yards and one rush for three yards, seeing most of his action on special teams. Against Oakland, Vitale had two receptions for 43 yards in the first half as Aaron Rodgers distributed the ball to eight receivers in his masterful five touchdown, 429-yard performance.
Vitale said gaining the trust of Rodgers is paramount.
“When my number does get called like that, I’m always hoping to make those plays and I know I can do it,” he said. “No. 12 trusts that I can do it too. When you can get in those two-back sets with a tight end and play with bigger people, we can wear those linebackers out and take advantage of some of those mismatches against their personnel.”
Vitale’s career is coming together in Green Bay.
“There’s nothing quite like the Packers tradition,” he said. “Obviously being here people are going to say nice things about the fans. But genuinely these are the best fans I’ve been around in my life.
“I jumped around a couple times in my career. I started in Tampa in 2016 (sixth-round draft choice) and then after Week 4 ended up in Cleveland. I started there for two years and did pretty well. Unfortunately had a calf injury and was put on IR for six weeks. As soon as I cleared IR, came here and been playing in Green Bay.”
Vitale was signed to the practice squad Oct. 22, 2018, and added to the active roster Dec. 1, appearing in five games and recording one catch for two yards.
As he walked off Lambeau Field on Sunday, Vitale stopped to swap No. 45 jerseys with Oakland’s Alec Ingold, a Green Bay native and former Wisconsin Badger standout.
“I never met him before, but reached out to him earlier this week,” Vitale said. “A young guy, from Wisconsin, from Green Bay, a special day for him. I love seeing those fullbacks, we’re a fraternity. There’s only a couple of us left. Anytime you can swap with one of those guys it’s pretty cool. I have Derek Watt’s... the more fullbacks I can get the merrier.”
Danny Vitale playbook
Full name: Dan Michael Vitale III Born: Oct 26, 1993, in Wheaton, Ill. Residence: Tampa, Florida College: Northwestern Major: Economics
My favorite meal: My wife makes a Greek dish called helopites. It’s a Greek version of pasta. She throws chicken in there too.
Movies I enjoy: You’re talking to a big movie guy. I would put Goodwill Hunting and Forrest Gump for sure are in my top two. I just saw Joker, the one with Joaquin Phoenix. Loved it, thought it was a great movie.
Music I jam to: I play guitar, so music is a big part of my life. I’ve been playing since seventh grade and I’ll see if I can talk him (Aaron Rodgers) into playing with me a little bit. I’ve recently been listening to a lot of Colter Wall, he’s kind of a country, folk, bluesy sound. He’s a younger guy, but kind of has that Johnny Cash outlaw country kind of sound. Game day, I’m a big Metallica guy. . . total change in genre there. Throw the headphones on and kind of drift away and get focused on the game.
What I read: I’m big into Navy SEAL stuff and good friends with a lot of the Navy SEALS guys. I read American
Sniper and that’s definitely my favorite book. I actually do a lot of work with the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation. Obviously Chris has passed, but Taya’s (his wife) a good friend of my mind and I’ve been working with their foundation for the last couple years. Got to know his kids a lot. His son will text me every once in a while and ask me for football advice and it’s a family I’ve gotten close too.
My best friend from college (Tom Ruby) was a SEAL for eight years and then joined our team at Northwestern. Actually my brother just enlisted and is going to go through that soon. He got his special ops contract so he’ll get to do that challenge as soon as he gets through basic. Just the kind of people we are.
My first job: I grew up in Wheaton. All I did was shovel driveways and cut grass and everything like that because I was in sports pretty much year around. My brother and I used to shovel snow all winter long.
NFL team I followed growing up: I was a Bears fan, but as soon as I came here I changed pretty dang quickly. My dad was a huge Bears fan and a big fan of ‘Sweetness’ so I grew up loving him and idolizing him. And a big fan of (Mike Ditka). He has a great cigar party down at the Super Bowl every year.
My first car: A Mazda 3. I was 16 and my younger brother (Tommy) is still driving it today.
My ride today: I drive a 2018 Jeep Rubicon which I love. I’m actually considering getting the new Jeep Gladiator that just came out.
If I could dine with anyone: Really good question. I’d love to ask questions about philosophy and way of life to John Lennon. A music guy, so nice to pick his brain and get his point of view on it all.
My aspirations after football: I was an economics major, but I don’t think I want to do that. I’m looking into some type of federal law enforcement, FBI. I’d have gone same route as my brother if I didn’t make it in the NFL and wasn’t married.