5 Things To Watch During Training Camp & Preseason

The Green Bay Packers will started practice this week and it will be one of the most important training camps and pre seasons in most fans' lives due to the departure of Rodgers and the new era of Love. Training camp and the preseason will be highlighted with Family Night on August 5th, joint practices and a preseason game with the Bengals, joint practices and a preseason game with the Patriots, and the last preseason game with the Seahawks on August 26th. So Packer fans, what will you be looking at this preseason? Every preseason I try to concentrate on 3-5 things as I watch games and follow the squad on social media. Here are my top 5 focus areas for this year:

1. The Safety Battle:

Probably the biggest question mark on the defense is the safety position and if anyone remembers week one last year against the Vikings it was miscommunication after miscommunication as Jefferson ran wild. To be elite an defense you must have play-making safeties and since the injury to Nick Collins it seems the Packers have been searching for the next great Packer safety. When Darnell Savage was drafted and after a solid rookie season the Pack seemed to have found the answer but Savage has regressed to a point of being benched last season. Green Bay seems to be rolling the dice and giving Savage one last chance to prove himself as free safety #1 followed by the Iowa State draft pick Anthony Johnson Jr. The preseason depth chart has free agent signee Jonathan Owens, Rudy Ford, Tavarius Moore, and Dallin Leavitt as strong safeties. We all know that Leavitt is only a special teamer but I will be watching this battle to see who becomes the starting safeties this year. Will Savage live up to his potential? Can hard hitting Johnson turn heads?

2. Keisean Nixon:

You are probably wondering why a special teamer made this list but if you know anything about the Packers special teams over the last 20 years I am praying that Nixon can continue his magic performance from last year. Not only can Keisean continue to shine on special teams but he will win the starting slot cornerback position on defense. This position has become one of the hardest spots to fill on defense and if Nixon can handle the position the defense will take a significant jump. We know Nixon has the confidence to do it but will his skill match the bravado?

3. Tight Ends:

Look no farther than last year's super bowl between the Eagles and Chiefs to see how important the tight end position has become in the NFL. Exit Big Bob and Big Dog - enter Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave. And I get it, tight ends seemed to take a couple of years to show out in the NFL but how long have Packer fans been waiting for a replacement for Jermicheal Finley? The talk of OTA’s was how good Musgrave looked and the promise of Kraft blocking and receiving. These two seem like the perfect complementary tight ends. Jordan Love, unlike his predecessor, seems to be more willing to go to the tight ends. I cannot wait to see not only the two rookies but also the role of Deguara and Davis and how LaFleur will use these guys.

4. The Defensive Front:

We all know how frustrating it has been to watch Kenny Clark wear down as he seems to be the only interior defender that can stop an opposing team's running game. Will this be the year that Slaton and Wyatt can take a jump and give Kenny some help? Or will Green Bay go to a more penetrating philosophy with the additions of rookies Karl Brooks and Colby Wooden? What will the rotations look like? Will Van Ness be used in the interior? Can Jonathan Ford make a push for playing time? Will Wyatt be as dominating as fans hoped when he was drafted? As you can see the interior line has the most questions to be answered this preseason and I for one will be watching to see if we can finally improve the run defense.

5. Jordan Love:

Talk about Captain Obvious – All eyes will be on #10 this preseason for obvious reasons. As a Packer fan you cannot help but root for a kid that has handled all the off the field stuff and drama as well as possible. Teammates all seem to like the kid and who hasn’t smiled seeing him train with his teammates in the off season? But now we will see what he does on the field. While we will all be watching that play out I am fascinated to see how the offense changes, how he uses the tight ends, and how much LaFleur will play him in the preseason games. Will Love run more? Will the coach play him in shotgun or under center? Will they roll him out more? Will he take more chances than Rodgers across the middle? Will he turn the ball over more? How will the team react to the ups and downs of a first year starting QB?

Soccer Player Colin Kazim-Richards said “Preseason isn’t just about conditioning but also getting used to each other as a team and a group of men. You spend more time with these people than you do with your own family. Preseason is the time when we get used to each other and work out how people work. It can be a lot of fun. Hard, but fun.” So Packer fans, let’s all watch and have fun!