(Why was Ryan Pickett limited today?)
Ryan Pickett has a slight hamstring strain. It happened last week working out, so we're just, as I always say, being smart.
(Will either Pickett or Justin Harrell be on the PUP list?)
Oh, no. They are going to be...I think their situations are both in the, I would say Ryan is more day-to-day and Justin would be week-to week.
(Are you still offering 50 dollars for non-Brett Favre related questions?)
I'm broke.
(What have you said to the team as far as handling this situation?)
I just think, number one, they have an opinion. I tell them all of the time to be positive with the media, have a plan of the types of questions that you're probably going to be asked, and just trust your heart.
(How was the first practice?)
I thought it was good. I thought it was a good, solid practice. We had too many pre-snap penalties. We had six pre-snap penalties, but the tempo was excellent. We finished plus-10 as far as our timing of getting in and out of the drills. I thought the instruction periods were very good, as good as I have seen this early in training camp. Very pleased with the work we had this morning.
(How strange was it to have a practice with Favre not out there?)
How strange? I haven't thought about it. We practiced all spring without Brett, so I'm sure it's different more for the people that haven't been here. Once again, I thought it was a very, very good practice this morning.
(How many players will be one-a-day guys?)
Just the older guys. (Chad) Clifton, Kabeer (Gbaja-Biamila). Kabeer feels fine. They're just not the youngest guys anymore, so we'll just watch guys like Mark Tauscher and some of the older guys.
(Any update on Ryan Grant's contract and how important is it for him to be here?)
Number one, just like I said Saturday in here, it's important for Ryan to be here. These practices are important. I think everybody realizes that. My understanding is both sides are working diligently to make this work. I appreciate the way Ryan went about the offseason and kept on top of everything we did here. I'm just looking forward to getting Ryan back here.
(Are you concerned about him getting behind?)
I don't concern myself with business matters. I can't control it. His is a business situation. Like I have stated, he did a very good job in the offseason program of staying on top of everything that was added, just doing all of the little things, the one-on-one time with his position coach, Edgar Bennett. I think Ryan will be fine. Once again, we are looking forward to getting him back here.
(Which position has the most competitive battle going on?)
I think throughout our team, really I wouldn't say any position. I would say special teams as a whole because our depth has really improved. You could see our second- and third-year players have really stepped up, so I think the biggest competition you'll see throughout the preseason will be on the special teams units.
(You have three quarterbacks, one kicker, one punter, are you comfortable with the lack of competition there?)
Part of it is the 80-man roster. I think every team in the National Football League is experiencing that this year. The three quarterbacks, frankly, is by design. It's something that I wanted to look at and Ted thinks it is a great idea obviously to go with three quarterbacks. With the type of training camp that we have, I've talked about it in here before, we don't have as many practices that we have in the past. All three of our quarterbacks are extremely young so they need those reps, and just being smart with them. The three quarterbacks is something that we wanted to look at and I think it's going to be a benefit and probably something that we'll continue to do in the future.
(Were you taken aback by the bitter tone of some of Brett's comments?)
I'll just say this; I spoke about it some on Saturday. Brett Favre and I didn't agree on things, whether it was the game plan and this and that. I don't agree with what was in quotes. I couldn't see Ted Thompson making those statements, but I'm not going to sit here and referee articles and interviews. That's not my place, that's not my focus. It's something that has gone on. We're all in this position and we're all dealing with it the best we can and staying on the high road.
(Now that camp has started, do you still have a role in the resolution of this whole situation?)Yeah, I would definitely say I'm still involved. Conversations between Ted Thompson and I happen throughout the day, so I would say I'm definitely involved.
(Would he be doing this team a disservice by showing up at camp and creating a distraction?)I don't view it that way. It's an option. Once again, this is a very unusual situation that we're in. It really falls under the terms of a business decision. Those are one of his options. We have a very strong locker room. I have great confidence in our players. If you look at the makeup of our locker room, 25 percent, 21 players, have never even met Brett Favre. There are a lot of things that we talked about, I wouldn't say a lot of things. We talked about it as a team yesterday. I don't foresee Brett Favre coming in here as a problem. Brett Favre is a big part of the Green Bay Packers history, and he may be a part of the future as we move forward, and that's an option that he has if he reinstates.
(Have you addressed the team about how to handle the situation if Brett does report?)
I don't want to tell them how to handle it. We're all men here. I think everybody has an understanding of what's going on. I just outlined it yesterday in our team meeting. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of time on it. We'll deal with it. We're a football team, and football players play football, and they've handled it better than anybody. And it's time for the coaches to coach and the players to play, and at the end of the day, that's what our guys are excited about.
(Do you have a plan for the reps at quarterback if he does show up?)
We'll have a plan if we cross that bridge, I can promise you that.
(Was part of only keeping three quarterbacks because that you thought Brett might come back?)
I would say the three quarterbacks in camp is by design because of a number of different factors. Their youth, the 80-man roster. It's something we wanted to look at.
{sportsad300}(How did Aaron Rodgers handle things today?)
How did he handle it? I thought Aaron had a very good day today. I thought he was very sharp in the meetings. I thought he's done a very good job of detailing the finer points of our offense, and just the communication between Tom Clements - I think Tom Clements is doing a great job with our younger quarterbacks, and also the job he's done with Aaron to this point. I thought they had a real solid day out there today. He had the one pre-snap penalty. You do not want that, obviously. But I thought he had a very solid day today.
(Has he kind of ignored all of this outside stuff?)
How can you ignore all this? I think he's dealing with it fine. These are external things that we have to deal with it, and he's doing everything he's supposed to do internally, I can promise you that.
(Has he talked to you about the whole situation?)
We spoke briefly about it yesterday.
(What did he say?)
We spoke briefly about it yesterday.
(How would you compare this offseason to past years?)
We had a great offseason, but the offseason ... the summer was different, if that's what you're referring to. Our offseason program was the best we've had here in three years. That's something that was the main focus for our football team coming out of the meetings yesterday, to pick up where we left off on June 19, and I thought we did that this morning. So I'm very pleased with that. But the summertime, ... just watch ESPN. It's well-documented. That's my summer.
(When did Shaun Bodiford get hurt and when did he have surgery?)
I would say about 10 days ago. It's something that's been bothering him.
(Did he flunk his physical?)
We're still working through that.
(Was Johnny Jolly doing some long snapping today?)
Johnny has done that before. He has that ability, and this is the time of year, training camp, you're always trying to make sure you have as many people repped in those types of skill positions.
(Is he full go with his shoulder?)
Just limited reps. I'd like to see him go through every practice. But he's limited reps right now.
(Brandon Jackson stepped into the number one spot early last year after Vernand Morency got hurt. How better prepared is he this season to step in?)
I think he looks like a different player from this time last year, and I think you could say that for a lot of rookies. But I talked about Brandon last week. I think Brandon Jackson is one of the players as we went through the offseason program that you would expect to have an impact on our season, whether it be at the running back position, also special teams. He never played special teams until almost the end of last year. I think he's definitely going to be a factor as we move forward as a core player there. He's had a great offseason.
(As tough as it was for him last year, is it paying dividends now?)
Clearly, the value. Just, number one, being a young player, but then when all the injuries happened to the running back group, and then taking all the reps, and then he gets hurt the week of the Philadelphia game, and then he didn't have a lot of success early, because of where we were with the run game, I think those are all tough lessons he can draw from.
(Any guys who were out of shape or couldn't do the run test?)
No. Of the three years, this was our lowest number of players either from a medical standpoint who did not go through the run test, so that's pleasing. That's probably something that has to do with the youth of our team. But as far as the conditioning part of it, we had an excellent turnout. We had one guy that cramped, something minor.
(How was DeShawn Wynn's offseason?)
Very good. I think he's done an exemplary job in the weight room. Very powerful, gifted young man. He's another one I look forward to step up and take advantage of the opportunity he's going to be given.
