The dust is still settling in the Green Bay Packers locker room after General Manager Brian Gutekunst kicked it up Tuesday by trading popular veteran starting corner Rasul Douglas to the Buffalo Bills for a third round pick next April. I had some Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame business to attend to Wednesday so I only heard some of the understandably surprised reactions from Rasul’s now former teammates. While the GM’s line was this is in the best interest of the organization and the players all understand it’s part of the business, there’s no doubt the move gave the players in their Lambeau sanctuary a jolt. Running back Aaron Jones admitted the deal brought him to tears and explained how a well mannered running back from El Paso and a slang tongued defensive back out of West Virginia by way of Jersey entered the league in the same year, became friends and eventually teammates. The sudden end to teammate relationships like this might take more than a couple of days of dust settling.
I spoke with a couple other veteran players about the brotherhood reduction. They all said as difficult as the trade was, their job doesn’t change, it’s over and done with and another opportunity to make plays awaits when the Los Angeles Rams arrive at 12:00 PM Sunday. Cold business indeed.
Jones and the rest of the 51 players on the roster practiced today, a rarity. Even in shells, the red, no contact jersey sported the white “33” again. Aaron enjoyed getting teased about it as he draws ever closer to a full recovery from an opening day hamstring pull. The other limited participants remained the same, Elgton Jenkins, Jaire Alexander, Luke Musgrave and Yosh Nijman. A new add to the list was safety Rudy Ford with a calf injury.
We heard from the coordinators after practice starting with Rich Bisaccia. He knew the question was coming, what do you make of the Las Vegas Raiders fiasco? Owner Mark Davis fired Head Coach Josh McDaniels and General Manager Dave Ziegler after just a year and a half on the job. Bisaccia was in Vegas just a couple of years ago when Davis accepted the pressured resignation of Jon Gruden and cut loose his GM Mike Mayock. It was Bisaccia who took over as the Raiders interim Head Coach amidst all that turmoil, righted the ship and even guided Vegas into the playoffs as a Wild Card. Yet when that season ended, he was never given a sniff of the full time job winding up joining Matt LaFleur’s staff here. Bisaccia said he feels badly for the guys who played for him and are still there, all of the other friends still in the organization. Firings are disruptive for not only those involved directly but their families as well. Bisaccia said he distanced himself from the Raiders the moment he got the Green Bay job, hasn’t looked back and isn’t about to consider “what ifs”.
Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry, like everyone else, spoke highly of Douglas and expects his rookie replacement, Carrington Valentine to “compete his butt off” with another opportunity to start. Barry said with the secondary shuffling taking place over the last two weeks, the IR moves with Darnell Savage and Eric Stokes, then the Douglas trade, practice reps have focused on the new lines of communication, especially with “cluster” formations of three receivers bunched together. It caused some issues last week against Minnesota and needs to be on point against the Rams motion based passing game.
Offensive Coordinator Adam Stenavich said changes in the meeting and practice routine were beneficial this week. The struggling unit is well aware of how one mistake among the 11 spells trouble they’ve had trouble overcoming. Once behind in games, the two minute and hurry up offense has at least produced some yards and points, Stenavich said they’ve considered starting a game with tempo to try and jump start the early game stagnation.
Two announcements from the corporate side today. On Monday afternoon, President and CEO Mark Murphy will welcome league executives to a press conference announcing the actual dates for the 2025 NFL Draft to be held at Lambeau Field. The Packers are also accepting nominations for the 26th member of the Packer FAN Hall of Fame. Check out nomination details on packers.com. A committee will sift through them and ultimately announce the latest inductee.
