Intermittent rain and omnipresent cloud cover forced the Green Bay Packers’ third OTA of the offseason inside the Don Hutson Center on Tuesday. This shut out the fans but not the ever-prying eyes of the media.
Here are the highlights.
This OTA featured about the same schedule as the last one: with position drills followed by full 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 team drills. However, this OTA also involves what Mike McCarthy calls “implementation” of some of the offense and defense.
Still no Sam Shields or Johnny Jolly. No one should expect Shields to show up anytime soon. However, Jolly was supposed to participate in this OTA. His absence is a poor start to his “comeback.” McCarthy had Jolly’s back when talking to the press afterwards. He waxed on about how this country is a land of second chances, and milk and honey, and whatever. Translation: show up soon or go back to wherever you came from.
Present but STILL not participating were the usual suspects — Desmond Bishop, Davon House, Derek Sherrod, DuJuan Harris, Kevin Dorsey, Charles Johnson, Sean Richardson, and of course, Jerel Worthy. Bishop was alleged to be returning this week. Wrong. At this point, I wouldn’t expect him, House or Sherrod back on the field until training camp.
Harris has been nicked up and sitting out OTAs so far, which is great news for Alex Green, who has practiced with the first unit in his absence.
Sean Richardson seems monumentally injured. James Starks thinks Richardson is hurt a lot.
No one knows why seventh-round picks Johnson and Dorsey have been sitting out. Maybe Jarrett Boykin poisoned their food. Regardless, Boykin and Jeremy Ross have appreciated the extra reps. Ross almost certainly will win the punt return job while Boykin has the lead on the fourth receiver role.
Andrew Quarless continued to turn heads on Tuesday, and McCarthy couldn’t say enough about him. While the offense has lost a couple weapons, it also has gotten one back.
Tramon Williams appeared to be the defensive standout of the OTA, though McCarthy also had great things to say about Casey Hayward — hint, hint, Sam Shields.
Lastly, the word is that Graham Harrell outperformed B.J. Coleman this time around, after Coleman had impressed in last week’s OTA. That is a battle that will likely not be resolved until the final preseason game.