Quarterback Benkert gets a tryout Hello, Newman
GREEN BAY – After signing six-year veteran quarterback Blake Bortles to a one-year deal midweek, the Green Bay Packers apparently added quarterback Kurt Benkert to the room Saturday.
Benkert, 25, tweeted a photo of him signing a contract in Packers gear.
“The best advice I can give anyone is to believe in yourself. @packers,” Benkert wrote. “I’m so thankful.”
The Packers will now have four quarterbacks under contract in Aaron Rodgers, Jordan Love, Bortles and Benkert. The recent signings come in the wake of reports surrounding Rodgers’ discontent with the team. However, head coach Matt LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst said at the NFL draft that the team planned on adding one to two more arms for training camp regardless of their situation with Rodgers.
Benkert and Chad Kelly were the lone quarterback tryouts at this weekend’s rookie minicamp. After signing Bortles on Wednesday, the Packers had one open spot left on their roster for the tryout players to earn.
Kelly, the nephew of Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly, spent less than a season on the Denver Broncos before his arrest on suspicion of first-degree criminal trespassing and subsequent release from the team. He signed with the Indianapolis Colts on May 20, 2019, and was later cut on Sept. 30, 2020.
Benkert appears to have beaten out both Kelly and linebacker tryout Alvin Jones, Jr., twin brother of running back Aaron Jones, for the last spot.
“I thought both of those guys did a nice job,” LaFleur said of Benkert and Kelly after the first day of rookie minicamp Friday. “Kurt had some experience in this league and Chad, he’s ... I’m sure you’re all familiar with his past, but I think he’s overcome that. It was just great. He’s a talented thrower. You can see it’s very effortless and natural.”
LaFleur lauded Benkert’s and Kelly’s qualifications despite them seeing limited action at rookie minicamp. This year’s roster only featured 28 players, which is smaller than those of previous years due to COVID-19 protocols limiting the number of tryouts.
Even though the rookies had limited capabilities during team periods and seven-on-seven work with fewer players, the Packers got enough of a taste of the two quarterbacks’ talents to aid them in their decision to sign Benkert.
Benkert spent the past three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons after signing with the team as an undrafted free agent in 2018. He sat out the 2019 season on injured reserve with a toe injury and hasn’t seen any regular-season action. The Falcons released him Feb. 18.
A native of Cape Coral, Florida, Benkert took a redshirt year at East Carolina in 2013 and appeared in three games the following season. Prior to the start of his redshirt sophomore year, he tore his ACL and transferred to Virginia. There, he played for two seasons and 24 total games. He completed 526 passes for 5,759 yards and 46 touchdowns.
If the Packers move Billy Turner to left tackle and need a fill-in on the right side early this season, fourth-round pick Royce Newman could get a chance at early playing time.
The Packers will need to reconfigure their offensive line if All-Pro David Bakhtiari misses the start of this season as he recovers from a torn ACL in late December.
Turner slid to left tackle late last season, but that would leave right tackle open.
That’s where Newman could fit in. Newman played all four positions at Ole Miss – everything except center – but he started his senior season at right tackle. Though he has versatility, Newman said right tackle is his main position.
“I’ve probably got to work more on guard,” Newman said, “just because I didn’t play it last season. I started there a couple years ago. Once I was starting at guard, I was very comfortable doing it. But this past year I started at tackle, so just kind of getting used to playing back at guard again and the different changes of speed. So just getting used to that again.”
With the Packers, Newman said he expects to work at each of the four positions he played in college.
“Getting experience at those four positions right there really helped me out for this next level here,” Newman said. “Just feeling it out. Throughout practice, anywhere I go somewhere, I’ve got experience at a spot. So just all that experience in college really paid off.”
Building Bulldogs connections
When the Packers drafted him in the seventh round, rookie running back Kylin Hill knew he would have plenty of familiar faces in his new locker room.
Hill is the fifth Mississippi State alum on the Packers’ roster. He joins Pro Bowl left guard Elgton Jenkins, outside linebacker Preston Smith, safety Will Redmond and long snapper Hunter Bradley.
Hill’s locker will be near Smith’s. He never played with Smith, but Hill said the two know each other “very well.”
“I treat him like he’s my big brother,” Hill said. “Whenever he’s around, he hits me up, I hit him up. It’s just really a mutual, friend thing. Even better, we both went to the same school, and God blessed us to be here again.”
It didn’t take long for the Mississippi State connections to be mentioned when Smith called Hill shortly after the draft.
“He just told me they want to put the ‘Dogs together,” Hill said. “A lot of Mississippi State guys here. So we’re trying to keep it going. Trying to do what we do. Trying to win here and keep it going.”