Tuesday’s top takeaways
Say this about Kevin King: He has the height and length to get his hands on the football. The fourth-year cornerback had a team-high five interceptions last season and got his first one of camp in team drills Tuesday against Aaron Rodgers in a red-zone period. On a third-and-6 from the 14, Rodgers held the ball and then tried to drop a pass over King to tight end Robert Tonyan in the front corner of the end zone. King is one of the tallest cornerbacks in the NFL at 6-31⁄4 and also has an outstanding vertical jump (391⁄2 inches) plus 32inch long arms that rank in the top 76th percentile of cornerbacks who have attended the NFL scouting combine, according to MockDraftable. The pass was a little underthrown, but Rodgers also might have misjudged King’s length and leaping ability. The Packers could face a tough decision in the offseason with King, who’s in the final year of his contract. When healthy, he’s played good football, and the past two years has shown that the team’s defense is noticeably better when he and Jaire Alexander are on the field together. But King missed more than half the games (17) his first two seasons because of a recurring shoulder injury and pulled leg muscles before playing in 15 of 16 games last year. The Packers have several starters hitting free agency in the offseason — David Bakhtiari, Aaron Jones, Corey Linsley and King — and could have a salary cap as low as $175 million (it’s $198 million this year) because of the expected pandemic revenue decline. So, GM Brian Gutekunst will have to make some hard decisions. With King, the issue will be more his durability than his play.
With Kyler Fackrell departed in free agency, the Packers have an opening for rotational playing time at their No. 4 outside linebacker, behind Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith and Rashan Gary. The leading candidates are Tim Williams, a 2017 third-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens who split much of last season between the Packers’ roster and practice squad, and first-year pro Randy Ramsey, who spent all of last year on the Packers’ practice squad. Williams appears to have an edge at least at the start of camp. With Za’Darius Smith sitting out team drills Tuesday, Williams worked as the No. 3, and while his play didn’t jump off the field, he did make a stop in team drills and won a rep in one-on-one pass rushing against a right tackle (Rick Wagner) who’s competing for a starting job. Williams’ best play in team drills was when he beat fullback John Lovett’s block and met Dexter Williams for a loss on an outsidezone run.
QB watch
Rodgers threw his second and third interceptions of camp. One was King’s, the other by safety Adrian Amos along the sidelines when it appeared one of two receivers (Allen Lazard and Davante Adams) ran the wrong route and ended up in the same area.
Tim Boyle is off to a good start in camp and had some sharp throws Tuesday, including hitting TE Josiah Deguara on a slant for a 20-yard touchdown. But Boyle also threw his first interception of camp, on a third-and-goal from the 6, when he tried to fit a throw to receiver Reggie Begelton in too tight a window. Stanford Samuels, an undrafted rookie, made the pick.
Injury report
New injury: C Corey Linsley (undisclosed).
Still on COVID list: LS Hunter Bradley, LB Greg Roberts.
Non-football injury list: RB Patrick Taylor, OL Simon Stepaniak.
PUP: LB Curtis Bolton, OL Yosh Nijman.
Dropped out: OLB Za’Darius Smith took part in individual drills then dropped out of practice. LT David Bakhtiari dropped out late, as did DL Montravius Adams, who was carted off the field.
Bits and pieces
Tight ends Jace Sternberger and Marcedes Lewis dropped touchdown passes in red-zone team drills. Sternberger was wide open at the goal line but dropped Boyle’s strike. Lewis dropped an uncontested pass from Rodgers inside the 5 that probably would have been a 25-yard score.
NFL rules restrict the first practice in pads to 90 minutes, but LaFleur went about 20 minutes shorter than that.
With Linsley out, Lucas Patrick took most of the first-team snaps at center but occasionally switched positions with LG Elgton Jenkins.
Quote of the day
“I thought the tempo was good. I thought guys were competing hard. I heard some pad-smacking, but until you go back and look at all of the film, it’s really tough to give you too detailed of an account of how it went.”
— Coach Matt LaFleur on the Packers’ first day of camp in pads.
Practice schedule
The Packers’ next practice is Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.