Legendary senior writer jclombardi highlights training camp news.
2. Rookie D. J. Williams needs blocking work: No surprise, but rookie TE D.J. Williams has a substantial way to go to become a competent blocker. In blocking drills with coach Ben McAdoo, Williams seems far behind…isn’t surprising given he didn’t play in-line all that often at Arkansas and didn’t have an NFL off-season.
3. Finley & Burnett back: Wednesday, tight end Finley and safety Burnett made impressive healthy returns upon their first time in training camp. Finley made his presence felt early. During an 11-on-11 period dedicated mostly to running the ball, Finley got behind backup safeties Brandon Underwood andAnthony Levine and was hit in stride in the corner of the end zone by Matt Flynn. Burnett was in the starting lineup at strong safety. On one play, he found himself in press man coverage against Finley near the right sideline. Exercising superb positioning, the athletic Burnett managed to break up the end-zone fade. Burnett almost picked off a pass from QB Rodgers to rookie tight end Ryan Taylor. Later, though, he got suckered on a fake and was toasted by rookie tight end D.J. Williams, but Williams took one too many stutter steps and Rodgers wound up overthrowing him. “Morgan made a couple of very nice breaks on the ball,” coach Mike McCarthy said after practice. “I think our secondary is really off to a very good start as a group. Jermichael makes a difference. That first touchdown on the corner route, he’s a big target.”
4. DE Neal still limited: Defensive end Mike Neal took part in individual drills and one-on-one matchups against the offensive linemen for the first time in camp. He was extremely rusty in his first contact work in almost 10 months. He went 1-2-1 in the pass-rushing drill.
6. Rookies House and Cobb are impressive: Rookie House continued having a good camp. Rookie Cobb looks like a great wide receiver and return man.