The 2025 Green Bay Packers debuted as a group today when the team held its first full-team practice in front of the media on Wednesday. It’s only Phase Two of organized team activities, which means it’s voluntary and players didn’t have pads on, but there was still plenty to be learned about what the coaching staff thinks of their players early on in their pursuit of Super Bowl LX’s Lombardi Trophy.
Let’s dive into the news and notes from today’s practice.
Participation
The players who were not seen at the Packers’ voluntary OTAs today were offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins, offensive lineman John Williams, cornerback Jaire Alexander, cornerback Tyron Herring and kicker Brandon McManus. While Jenkins and Alexander are having ongoing contract disputes with Green Bay, the reasons for the other three players not reporting are not yet known.
Working with the rehab group today were running back MarShawn Lloyd, receiver Christian Watson, tight end John FitzPatrick, defensive end Collin Oliver, defensive end Jeremiah Martin, defensive tackle Warren Brinson, defensive tackle Nesta Jade Silvera and linebacker Quay Walker. According to head coach Matt LaFleur, Watson is ahead of schedule on his ACL recovery, though, he admitted he wasn’t a doctor in the post-practice press conference. Watson was seen stretching with the team before practice, which is a positive.
Christian Watson is far enough into his ACL rehab to at least go through stretch before the OTA field work began outside. pic.twitter.com/JZ4vJavu0S
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) May 28, 2025
The limited players in practice were receiver Savion Williams, defensive tackle Kenny Clark and safety Javon Bullard. Neither Clark nor Bullard participated in team drills, while Williams was wearing a non-contact red jersey. Between injuries to Williams, Oliver and Brinson and Williams’ absence, only four of the Packers’ rookie draft picks were full participants in practice on Wednesday.
Offense
With Jenkins out, the first-team offensive line was comprised of Rasheed Walker at left tackle, Aaron Banks at left guard, Zach Tom at right tackle and Sean Rhyan and Jacob Monk rotating between right guard and center. Interestingly, Monk got the nod over both Travis Glover and Kadeem Telfort, two players who got playoff looks as Jenkins’ replacement versus the Philadelphia Eagles last year. Monk was often a healthy scratch in 2024, but it appears that the staff is still a fan of the fifth-rounder out of Duke.
2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan worked as the left tackle with the second-team offense, which shouldn’t be a surprise. The Packers have long talked about how they believe that Morgan, who mostly played right guard last summer, has the potential to develop into a starting left tackle at the NFL level. They’re giving him the opportunity to specialize there, so don’t be shocked if he ends up rotating in at left tackle in place of Walker for some practices during camp.
Second-round rookie Anthony Belton received reps with both the second-team and third-team units as a right tackle. The only news on the Belton front is that he isn’t immediately being asked to rotate in for the right guard job, which is still a possibility down the line. For whatever reason, Monk got that nod today.
One rookie who did get immediate snaps with the first-team offense on Wednesday was first-round receiver Matthew Golden. According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s Ryan Wood, Dontayvion Wicks didn’t have a drop today, which is hopefully a sign of things to come.
Defense
Despite not being a participant in team drills, Bullard rotated in at safety with Evan Williams opposite of Xavier McKinney in limited looks. Elsewhere in the secondary, with Alexander out, Keisean Nixon and Nate Hobbs held it down as the team’s outside cornerbacks with Hobbs kicking into the slot and Carrington Valentine coming off of the bench in nickel looks.
If Alexander does end up coming back to the team, it’s bad news for Bullard’s chance to get looks in the slot for this team. As we’ve written about before, the NFL has treated Hobbs’ $48 million contract as one the Packers inked for a slot corner, not a true outside cornerback. In all likelihood, Hobbs was paid to replace Bullard, after just one season, in the nickel position. For Bullard to solidify that he’ll get any playing time on defense in 2025, he probably needs to win the starting safety job over Williams.
It doesn’t help Bullard’s case, either, that Hobbs posted two pass breakups in 7-on-7 drill today.
Without Clark in team drills, the starting defensive tackles were Colby Wooden (listed at 273 pounds) and Devonte Wyatt (listed at 304 pounds). Under 600 pounds collectively, that combo would be inviting the run from pretty much any cromulent ground game in the NFL.
Walker’s injury replacement today was TyRon Hopper, who got to play the Mike, allowing Edgerrin Cooper and Isaiah McDuffie to stay limited to true outside linebackers in 4-3 looks. This is similar to the team’s plan from last season, where Eric Wilson replaced Walker as the “green dot” off the bench. Wilson signed with the Minnesota Vikings this offseason, so Hopper is apparently his replacement. LaFleur also noted that Cooper is up to around 240 pounds after playing as low as 220 last year.
One player whose stock seems to be trending up is cornerback Gregory Junior, who worked with the first-team defense as a nickelback after being signed just a week ago. Junior is a former draft pick who had a pre-draft visit with the Packers back in 2022. He also has played special teams at the NFL level, which is something Green Bay desperately needs from their fifth cornerback. This offseason, the Packers lost both Robert Rochell and Corey Ballentine, who played more special-teams snaps than kicker Brandon McManus. None of Alexander, Nixon, Hobbs or Valentine has been a significant special-teams contributor outside of Nixon’s impact in the return game.