The Good, Bad And Ugly From The Packers’ 6th Training Camp Practice

The Green Bay Packers held their sixth training camp practice on Tuesday — a feisty one that saw left tackle Rasheed Walker and defensive end Kingsley Enagbare get into a scuffle.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly from practice No. 6.

THE GOOD

GOLDEN TICKET: Six practices in, rookie first round wide receiver Matthew Golden has been one of the Packers’ best players.

Golden has caught almost everything thrown his way. He’s shown off his 4.29 speed time and again. And he’s practiced with a fire and competitiveness coaches love.

On Tuesday, Golden ran a double move and beat both cornerback Nate Hobbs and safety Evan Williams for a 60-yard touchdown from quarterback Jordan Love.

“Man, I think they were in man coverage and MG was on the back side,” Love said. “They did a good job guarding our front-side concept, but I just worked back and he ran a double move and he did a really good job selling it.

“It’s a play that we actually ran yesterday, a similar play, and I think he just did a great job selling it, committing to the first route before he broke out and I think that’s what helped get him open. Those are the easy ones, just lob it up there for him and let him go finish it. He’s been doing some really good things.”

During 1-on-1’s, Golden also made a tremendous adjustment on a go route from Love. There, he drew a pass interference penalty from cornerback Carrington Valentine, but still hauled in the pass.

“I feel like that was one of my best practices,” Golden said. “I felt more comfortable today. Just being able to go out there and run, knowing my assignment and my alignment. I feel like everything is starting to come along.”

MAN IN THE MIDDLE: Elgton Jenkins worked at center with the No. 1 offensive line. The rest of the first group was Rasheed Walker at left tackle, Jordan Morgan at left guard, Sean Rhyan at right guard and Zach Tom at right tackle.

Jenkins hasn’t been a full-time center since the 2018 season, his final year at Mississippi State.

Jenkins missed the first four practices of camp with a back injury, then returned for individual drills on Monday.

“It’s awesome,” Love said of having Jenkins back. “Being able to get him back out there and obviously with him moving from guard to center that’s one of those things we talked about where every rep is valuable to be able to get those snaps and be on the same page.”

Jenkins skipped the Packers’ voluntary OTA’s, then reported to minicamp in June, but didn’t practice. He now has 5 ½ weeks to get ready for Green Bay’s season opener against Detroit.

“He’s the leader of the O-line room for sure, he’s the vet in there,” Love said of Jenkins. “And anytime you get him back out there is nice.”

TEAMWORK: Left tackle Rasheed Walker and defensive end Kingsley Enagbare engaged in some extracurricular activities that ended with Walker — and many of his offensive teammates — running a lap.

After Love completed a pass to Romeo Doubs late in practice, Walker didn’t let go of Enagbare and pulled him to the turf. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was livid and told Walker to run a lap.

“I haven’t run a lap since probably like freshman year of high school,” Walker said.

Why is an incident like this in the ‘Good’ category? Because Walker wasn’t left in the middle of the ocean without a life jacket.

Tight end Tucker Kraft, running back Josh Jacobs, and offensive linemen Jordan Morgan, Elgton Jenkins, Sean Rhyan and Zach Tom all ran a lap with Walker.

All for one, one for all.

“One unit, man. If we get punished, we get punished together,” Kraft said. “That’s just the way I see it.”

Several others agreed.

“That’s never happened before. I haven’t seen something like that since high school,” Tom said. “We didn’t want him to go around alone, so we’re just like let’s join him. Obviously we have his back.”

Added Rhyan: “It was like, we’re not going to let him run alone because at the end of the day we were out there with him when the incident happened. It was a unit thing, so we just took a jog with him. Nothing wrong with it.”

Walker was certainly happy to have company on his jaunt.

“It was good. It was good,” Walker said. “Just made me want to do it more because, at first, I didn’t want to do it. But I saw my teammates running with me, so I was, ‘I’m going to run.’ So, it helped my mood get better seeing my teammates running with me.”

THIS AND THAT: Safety Xavier McKinney — who was second on the NFL with eight interceptions last year — covered a lot of ground to intercept a Love pass intended for Doubs. It was the type of play only a handful of safeties could make. … Second-year linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper has been extremely active, providing another option to what might be the deepest position group on the team. … Third-year defensive end Lukas Van Ness has had a strong start to camp. He beat Tom for a pressure of Love and went 3-0 in the 1-on-1 pass rushing drills.

THE BAD

NOT AGAIN!: Running back MarShawn Lloyd missed practice with a groin injury he suffered Monday.

Lloyd, a 2024 third round draft pick, played in just one game last year due to a bevy of injuries. He was off to a strong start this camp before his latest setback.

“I feel for him because he’s worked so far to get his body into elite shape and overcome some of these injuries,” Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said. “Sometimes you’re a little bit snakebit. I’m sure this has been tough on him, but he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and more to overcome these things, and I’m sure there’ll be a time where he will.”

Jacobs, one of Lloyd’s closest friends on the team, sounded optimistic.

“Oh he’s going to be alright man,” Jacobs said of Lloyd. “He’s not about to miss that much time. I don’t really know the extent of his injury but I know it’s nothing major. So he’s going to be alright.”

THIS AND THAT: Dontayvion Wicks missed practice with a calf injury. The only other players not practicing were guard Aaron Banks (back), wideout Christian Watson (knee), offensive lineman John Williams (back) and linebacker Collin Oliver (hamstring). … Wideout Savion Williams, who suffered a concussion last week, dropped out of practice.

THE UGLY

TICKED OFF COACH: Packers coach Matt LaFleur was about as angry as he’s been during his seven years in Green Bay after the scuffle between Walker and Enagbare (see above).

While the Packers’ support of Walker was noble, getting your head coach enraged is never a good idea.

“Definitely probably like top three, for sure,” Jacobs said of how fiery LaFleur was. “But I think we need to see that from him sometimes. I think it’s good for the team. At the end of the day, he’s the leader. Everybody is looking to him.”

LaFleur has said time and again this summer about the need to practice smart.

So when Walker refused to let go of Enagbare after a play ended and took him to the ground, LaFleur was livid. He later talked one on one with Walker.

“He just said practice smarter,” Walker said of LaFleur. “Just be better. And then he just said just be better at practicing.”

LaFleur later lit into his team after practice.

“He sets the standard and we as leaders set the standard as well,” Jacobs said. “But we got to maintain the standard that he sets. I think he said a lot of good things out there.”

FROM THE ARCHIVES

• Training camp: Day 5

• Training camp: Day 4

• Training camp: Day 3

• Training camp: Day 2

• Training camp: Day 1