Packers: 5 takeaways from Day 1 of training camp 2021
An eventful Day 1 of training camp is in the books for the Green Bay Packers.
After what’s been a challenging offseason for the most part, today was a good day for Packers fans. The mood of the fanbase was reflected by the sunshine at Ray Nitschke Field.
It’s been a busy day so let’s look back at the top five takeaways.
Welcome back, Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers made his return official and was in attendance for the first day of training camp. Rodgers practiced and then spoke to reporters about his situation.
Rodgers was open and honest and went into detail about what he was thinking during the offseason. He also helped give a timeline of when it all happened.
Lombardi Ave’s Christian Borman has a great breakdown of Rodgers’ press conference, looking at the top takeaways.
An early look at the offensive line
There are a couple of interesting notes about the offensive line today.
The first is that, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Packers are expected to sign tackle Dennis Kelly. Kelly started all 16 games for the Tennessee Titans last season and was on the roster when Matt LaFleur was offensive coordinator there.
It will be interesting to see whether Kelly is brought in as a backup or to compete for a starting job in David Bakhtiari’s absence.
On the note of Bakhtiari’s injury, we got to see the first glimpse of how the offensive line could look if he misses any time. According to Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, the starting five on Wednesday was Elgton Jenkins at left tackle, Jon Runyan at left guard, Josh Myers at center, Lucas Patrick at right guard, and Billy Turner at right tackle.
A long way to go, but it’s interesting to see the initial starting five. Stay tuned.
Eric Stokes gets starter reps with Kevin King out
With Kevin King not practicing due to injury, first-round pick Eric Stokes got first-team reps opposite Jaire Alexander, according to Ryan Wood.
This is a huge opportunity for Stokes. It remains unclear who will be the starting CB2 when both are healthy, but Stokes has the chance to make a case for the starting job while King is out. This will be a training camp battle to watch closely.
Randall Cobb returns home
After rumors earlier in the week that the Packers could trade for Randall Cobb, it finally happened. Cobb tweeted that he was “coming home”, before it was reported by Tom Pelissero that the Packers were sending a sixth-round pick to the Texans to make it happen.
De’Vondre Campbell, Krys Barnes starters at LB
One positional battle to watch this summer is at inside linebacker. According to Cheesehead TV’s Andy Herman, it was free-agent addition De’Vondre Campbell and Krys Barnes getting first-team reps on Wednesday.
This seemed to be the most-likely scenario going in as Campbell has been a starter throughout his career and Barnes started 10 games for the Packers last season.
It will be interesting to see whether Kamal Martin, Ty Summers, Isaiah McDuffie, or Oren Burks can compete for a starting job in the coming weeks.