GREEN BAY – The Packers were in full gear Wednesday for their final public practice at Ray Nitschke Field before this weekend’s joint practice and preseason game in Denver.
Here are five things we learned:
- Ben Sims flashes his hands after his first full season off in Green Bay.
The 6’5″, 230-pound tight end played in all 19 games (including playoffs) as a rookie, despite repeatedly lagging behind the playbook last season.
Sims was claimed off waivers by Minnesota at the end of training camp and was immediately thrown in at the deep end along with fellow Packers rookies Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft.
While Sims subsisted on weekly installations last year, he was able to get comfortable with Green Bay’s playbook at a more comfortable pace during the offseason, which is reflected in the plays he makes in practice.
On two consecutive days, Sims made the biggest play of Two-Minute Drill No. 2. On Tuesday, he caught a 29-yard pass from Michael Pratt down the seam before overcoming the press man and breaking free for a 23-yard pass from Sean Clifford on Wednesday.
“I threw a jab and chopped my way back inside and honestly just went back to my seam landmark, found the near-high safety and found Sean,” Sims said. “We’re at a point in camp now where it’s super, super important to be on the same page with the quarterbacks (and) gain their trust in me — that’s a dangerous ball to throw sometimes. Having their trust makes me feel good.”
Sims was a productive tight end at Baylor. He holds the school record for most touchdown receptions by a tight end (12) and has the second-most catches at his position (78).
In Green Bay, Sims was used as a rookie primarily as an inline blocker in the two tight end packages of the offense and finished with four catches for 21 yards and a goal-line touchdown.
Sims hopes his better understanding of the playbook can help him fit even better into Green Bay’s game system.
“It’s cool to be able to be a part of it because I’ve been putting the puzzle together almost backwards since I was here last fall,” Sims said. “Now I’m here and I’m kind of putting the whole thing back together. It’s really cool. There are a lot of ‘aha’ moments, like ‘Oh, this makes so much sense now because I just learned it properly.'”
- Carrington Valentine was happy to be back at training.
Whether it was his handshakes with teammates and coaches or his bursts of laughter during individual drills, the second-year cornerback was easy to recognize at Nitschke Field.
Valentine missed the last two weeks after the Packers decided to be cautious with the 22-year-old cornerback while he recovered from a hamstring injury.
Valentine has yet to be cleared for team practice – and it remains to be seen if he will be cleared for Friday’s joint practice in Denver – but it was still fun to be back on the field.
“It felt good to be back out there, even if it was just Indy,” Valentine said. “(I was) out for two weeks, so it’s a little lonely just watching practice. Like a kid, when you get in trouble, you just watch out the window.”
Before his injury, Valentine was in tough competition with experienced fourth-year veteran Eric Stokes for the perimeter cornerback position.
“When I get back on the field, whenever that will be, it’s always going to be a competition,” Valentine said. “The competition aspect doesn’t go away just because you get injured. Even in the film room, it’s still a competition. We just have a competitive culture here. So it’s never gone away.”
- Sean Clifford will start in Denver, Michael Pratt will get the next chance.
With Jordan Love expected to sit out against the Broncos, head coach Matt LaFleur said Clifford will be the first to take the field against the Broncos on Sunday night.
LaFleur did not rule out the possibility of the two series alternating in Denver, although that is “normally” something the Packers do.
In Cleveland, both quarterbacks performed efficiently: Clifford threw for 111 yards and led three touchdown drives, while Pratt completed 5 of 7 passes for 46 yards in the final two quarters.
Both took turns ending practice this week in the final two-minute period with the No. 2 offensive line.
“It’s super healthy. That’s it,” Clifford said of the competition. “I’m honored to compete against Mike because I respect him a lot as a quarterback. When you come in and have a chance to get better every day and you know that if you take a day off, he’s not off, it raises the level of competition in the room. At the end of the day, we’re all here to put the best product on the field for the Packers.”
