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Either of two stretches could be the hardest part of the Packers’ 2025 schedule

NFL: DEC 29 Packers at Vikings

Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

It’s tough to determine whether November or December is harder for the Packers, which means they’ll need to get off to a hot start in 2025.

If the Green Bay Packers plan to win the NFC North and get one of the better seeds in the NFC Playoffs in 2025, they’re going to have to get a lot of work done in the first half of the season.

On Wednesday evening following the release of the full schedule, APC’s Zach Rapport broke down the “easiest” portion for the Packers. This was no simple task, since the Packers face a challenging schedule overall. Not only do they face the rest of the NFC North teams twice — including the Lions and Vikings, who both finished with at least 14 wins last season — but they also have the NFC East and AFC North divisions, both of which sent two teams to the postseason.

As Zach noted, stacking a series of early wins in weeks 2 through 6 will be crucial for the Packers. That’s because their schedule from week 10 through the end of the season is an absolute gauntlet. Five of Green Bay’s six divisional games come in the last seven weeks of the season, and they probably will need to win at least three of those five to have a chance at a division title.

Practically speaking, there are two separate four-game stretches in November or December that stand out for different reasons. Let’s examine each of those to determine which is likely to be the toughest stretch overall.

Brutal mid-November​


This stretch runs from Week 10 to Week 13 and finds the Packers playing four games in the span of just 18 days — including three games against teams that won 14 or more games last season. Ouch.

Week 10: Home vs. Eagles (Monday Night Football)​


The first game of this stretch finds the Packers with an extra day of rest before playing the reigning Super Bowl champions. That’s great! Here’s the bad news: The Eagles will be coming off their bye week and therefore have a full 14 days of rest before this game. Gold Package ticket holders had better make sure that those seats are filled with the right color of green.

Week 11: Away vs. New York Giants​


This game on paper looks like it should be a win for the Packers, but we all remember the Tommy DeVito debacle the last time they played at MetLife Stadium. Plus, this is a decently long road trip, it comes on a short week, and it’s ahead of back-to-back huge divisional games. If there’s any one game you can circle on the whole schedule as a classic “trap game,” this is it.

Week 12: Home vs. Minnesota Vikings​


After the trip to the Meadowlands, the Packers return home for just their second NFC North game of the season as they host the Vikings on Sunday afternoon. Of course, we have no idea what the 2025 Vikings might look like by this point in the season, but you’d love to get a look at J.J. McCarthy earlier in the season rather than him having ten games already under his belt. Then again, you could probably put me at quarterback and win a few games with that receiving corps and defense.

Week 13: Away vs. Detroit Lions (Thanksgiving Day)​


Finally, the Packers get their second game against the Lions on Thanksgiving Day, giving them a third straight year with a game on that holiday. Detroit’s injury luck finally ran out in the playoffs last season, but there’s opportunity for some significant regression to the mean this year. By this point, we should know pretty well if Anthony Lynn is remotely able to capture the success that Ben Johnson had with the Lions offense, but this will be the cap to a brutal stretch, both in terms of the opponents the Packers will face and the rest/travel situation.

The Final Four Weeks​


Although that stretch is particularly difficult, the Packers’ final four games are just as worthy of consideration as the “toughest” stretch of the season. With just one home game in this span — and that coming against a really good opponent — Green Bay will be scraping and clawing to make it to the end of the season.

Week 15: Away vs. Broncos​


Playing at altitude sucks no matter when the game takes place, but at least the Packers aren’t heading to Denver in the first few weeks of the season. Still, the Broncos were a surprising playoff team with rookie Bo Nix at quarterback last season, and they feature the reigning Defensive Player of the Year in Patrick Surtain.

Week 16: Away vs. Bears (Saturday)​


After a fairly long road trip, the Packers have another short week ahead of a second straight road game, though at least this one will not make for a long travel day. They face the Bears for the second time in 13 days, however, having hosted them two Sundays prior.

Week 17: Home vs. Ravens (Saturday or Sunday)​


The only home game in this stretch will find the Packers hosting the Baltimore Ravens, who have won 10 games or more in six of the last seven seasons and have made the Divisional Playoffs four times in that span. That Ravens offense, led by Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, is hardly a group that one wants to see late in the season; Henry put up more than 135 yards in each of the season’s final three games last year and averaged at least 5.4 yards per carry in all of those contests as well, so the Packers’ run defense will need to be ready to go.

Week 18: Away vs. Vikings​


The Packers then finish the season against the Vikings, meeting them in week 18 for the first time since 2015. The Packers lost by two points to Minnesota in each of their two games last season, needing second-half comebacks in both contests to try to get back in the games. Of course, there’s a good chance that both of these teams will desperately need a win to either clinch a playoff spot or improve their seeding.



Which of these stretches do you see being more difficult for the Packers? Drop a vote in the poll below and a comment on your reasoning.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...ughest-stretch-november-december-thanksgiving
 
Thursday Cheese Curds: The schedule is out...so now what?

2025 NFL Draft - Rounds 2 & 3

Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images

The last big bit of NFL offseason news has come and gone, and we’re about to enter a dead zone.

The NFL finally revealed its full schedule for the 2025 season yesterday, capping off a few days of information trickling out. The league is clearly trying to make this yet another premier event in the offseason, using it to push corporate sponsorships and to drum up interest for its TV and streaming broadcast partners.

For the average football fan, the big impacts of the schedule are probably limited to a few laughs at a release video and knowing when to start planning for trips to road games. Otherwise, the whole circus around the release seems to this writer to be a bit overblown, even if I did get carried away yesterday and try to predict the Green Bay Packers’ full schedule after only 10 games or so had been leaked.

Now the league largely will go into dormancy until the start of training camp in late July. Yes, OTAs and minicamp are coming up for all 32 teams, but there’s only so many narratives that the NFL as a whole can push from a few days of practices in shorts. Look for things to finally quiet down for the next 10 weeks or so before players start reporting for training camp.

Until then, we’ll be here to cover anything notable that comes out of Green Bay and we’ll keep looking deeper into the Packers’ schedule this week to find some interesting nuggets. But know that as far as league-wide news goes, this is probably it for a while.

How an 18-game NFL schedule could work for everyone: Introducing the 1816 Compromise - The Athletic ($)
The league still seems to want to move to an 18-game schedule, so this idea proposes that no player can suit up for more than 16 games in a single season. Crazy or brilliant?

Packers quarterbacks coach Sean Mannion ready to work with Jordan Love | Packersnews.com
Ahead of the release, a handful of Packers assistant coaches spoke to the media, including Mannion, who gave his first press conference as QBs coach.

Quick hit observations from Packers 2025 schedule | Packers Wire
Here are a couple of initial thoughts on the schedule.

Packers face critical juncture with 2 high-profile games in 5 days … twice | Packers.com
The Packers have a pair of Thursday games this season, and both short weeks will be against tough opponents.

2025 NFL schedule release: NFL teams get creative on social media | NFL.com
Here are all of the teams' schedule release videos in one place ... all except the Colts, whose video was pulled down amid controversy due to depicting Tyreek Hill as a dolphin getting arrested by the Coast Guard.

Here’s an excellent thread looking at the Packers’ schedule with clips of interceptions against each team.


Here’s the Packers 2025 schedule with clips of interceptions against every opponent (in order)

WEEK 1 pic.twitter.com/R8S6bhlGBg

— CheeseheadTV (@cheeseheadtv) May 15, 2025

Fowl play: flying duck caught in Swiss speed trap believed to be repeat offender | The Guardian
Finally, The Guardian was able to quack the case. ...I'm sorry, that was terrible.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...ule-release-is-out-so-now-what-offseason-news
 
Is Jayden Reed actually the Packers top receiver?

NFL: NFC Wild Card Round-Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles

Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

And if he is, is that a good thing?

A week ago, Adam Schefter reported the Packers had met with Jayden Reed following their decision to select Matthew Golden in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. According to Schefter, the Packers assured Reed that he would remain a key part of their offense, and that choosing Golden “will not affect Reed’s status as its top receiver.”

It’s easy to see why Reed might be worried. Golden, by and large, appears a virtual clone of Reed. It’s easy to see how Reed might wonder how they could coexist, especially considering that the Packers are pretty inflexible with how they use him. There’s only so much redundancy an offense can sustain, and as our Justis Mosqueda pointed out last week, Reed’s role in the Packers’ offense is already fairly limited from a personnel perspective. Any threat to his snaps could be pretty serious.

But there’s even more to it than that. It’s all well and good to say that Reed is the Packers’ top receiver, but he actually needs to play like one for it to be true.

Reed’s stats are impressive in aggregate and disappointing on further inspection. First, the good. At his best, Reed can certainly be an explosive, dynamic receiver. He showed that in Week 1 of the 2024 season, stuffing the stat sheet with 138 yards and a score on four catches, scoring an additional touchdown on a 33-yard run. He also posted a 139-yard game in the Packers’ first matchup with the Vikings and added 113 yards in the Packers’ first appearance against the Lions.

The Lions game begins to hint at bit of a problem with Reed’s stats, though. He’s a little bit of a boom or bust player, and some of his numbers reflect that. In the Lions’ game, a good chunk of Reed’s impressive yardage total came on essentially meaningless plays. He gained 41 yards on the last play of the first half, hauling in a deep heave from Jordan Love while surrounded by multiple Lions well short of the goalline. An impressive play, to be sure, but not one that actually helped the Packers at all. The same goes for a 28-yard catch in the fourth quarter. To be sure, Reed’s catch did keep the Packers technically alive (it came on a fourth down play), but the game was well in hand by that point. The Packers didn’t score on that drive, anyway, and only made it a respectable 24-14 by scoring with a little less than four minutes to go.

If we’re calling Reed a “boom or bust” player, the second half of the season was a lot more bust than boom. After Week 9 against the Lions, Reed wouldn’t break 100 yards again — and he topped 50 just once more, with 76 yards in a blowout win over the Saints. And the second time the Packers played the Lions? Reed was shut out. He was targeted with just one pass, which fell incomplete, leaving him with a 0 in the yardage column for a key divisional game.

This is the problem with Reed. He may be the Packers’ top receiver by the counting stats, but overall volume isn’t a good metric here. Your top receiver should be consistent week in and week out, and Reed simply isn’t at this point in his career. In the Packers’ 18 total games last year (counting playoffs) Reed was held under 50 yards 11 times. Eight times, he produced fewer than 30 receiving yards. For comparison, Romeo Doubs was held under 30 yards nine times last year, but that’s including three games he missed due to concussions, one he left early (due to one of those concussions), and another game missed due to a suspension.

Reed has also skated more on drops than other receivers. Dontayvion Wicks’ drops got the headlines last year (and they were many, to be sure) but Reed actually produced more. He dropped 10 passes to Wicks’ nine last year, and was only targeted with one more pass than Wicks was for the entire season (counting playoffs).

I think it’s easy to see why Josh Jacobs talked openly about the need for a number one receiver in Green Bay this offseason, and why Brian Gutekunst mentioned needing more urgency among players already on the roster going forward. After the Golden selection, Reed finds himself at the crosshairs of both remarks.

If Reed were more consistent, Jacobs probably wouldn’t be asking for an addition at receiver. And if there were more urgency to Reed’s game, maybe consistency would follow. For all the Packers’ assurances to him, maybe a bit of a push from Matthew Golden is exactly what he needs.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...r-matthew-golden-romeo-doubs-dontayvion-wicks
 
Packers sign 1st-rounder Matthew Golden to rookie contract

2025 NFL Draft - Round 1

Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images

Golden signed a deal that will make him Green Bay’s highest-paid receiver in 2025

ESPN’s Adam Schefter has reported that the Green Bay Packers have come to terms with their first-round pick of the 2025 draft: wide receiver Matthew Golden of Texas. According to Schefter, Golden signed a four-year, fully guaranteed contract worth $17.58 million. The full guarantees shouldn’t have been a surprise, considering that second-round picks in the draft are now receiving fully guaranteed contracts now.

While sometimes agents and teams haggle over the specifics of rookie deals, like whether money will be offset if a player is released and ends up signing with another NFL club, this never appeared to be an issue with Golden, the 23rd overall pick of the draft. Golden was a participant in the Packers’ rookie minicamp last month, unlike the Cincinnati Bengals pass-rusher Shemar Stewart, whom the Bengals did not provide injury guarantees to before he was to sign. That is a rarity in today’s NFL, one reason why Stewart’s representation likely told him to sit out the rookie minicamp entirely.

With an average salary of $4.39 million per year, Golden is now the Packers’ highest-paid wide receiver. Much of that money will come in the form of a signing bonus, too, so it shouldn’t be surprising if he’ll have made more money from Green Bay before he steps on the field for a regular season game than any of Christian Watson, Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs or Dontayvion Wicks have made in their entire professional careers.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...hew-golden-signs-rookie-contract-2025-details
 
Tuesday Cheese Curds: Packers salary cap work never stops

Chicago Bears v Green Bay Packers

Photo by Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images

The Packers still have a lot of contract questions to answer.

When the Packers finally traded Aaron Rodgers prior to the 2023 NFL Draft, it signaled a new era of financial stability in Green Bay. With the quarterback’s onerous contract off the books, the Packers began the process of getting their financial house in order, and by the start of the 2024 season things had largely been set right.

Following Rodgers, the Packers also parted ways with the expensive contracts of Aaron Jones and David Bakhtiari, setting themselves up for a cleaner cap sheet heading forward.

But fast forward to 2025, and the Packers find themselves dealing with financial headaches again. Elgton Jenkins wants a new deal, and whether or not the Packers give him one, he won’t be playing the 2026 season on his current deal. And that’s just one reason the Packers are already over the 2026 cap. They need to figure out what to do with the contracts for Jaire Alexander, Kenny Clark, Rashan Gary, and others, and that’s just to get them to solvency. They’ve still got to manage their pending contract extensions — and those include two starting linemen, which are rarely cheap, though I’d bet against them extending Rasheed Walker.

The point is, even if the Packers got out from under their toughest contracts, the work never stops. But that’s the curse of having good players: you have to figure out how to pay them.

What will the Packers do with Elgton Jenkins? Contract compromise should be found | Packers Wire


Jenkins has stayed away from offseason workouts over concerns about his contract.

Packers Offseason Winners Include Jordan Love | Sports Illustrated


Jordan Love has a couple of new friends to play with this year.

Green Bay Packers submit revision of tush push rule proposal | ESPN


As the Packers try to get the play banned, the Eagles are working the phones to sway teams toward keeping the play.

Packers Foundation seeks applications for annual grants to help nonprofit groups | Packers News


The Packers doled out about $1.5 million to nearly 400 civic groups last year.

Still finding trouble in the woods: ‘Blair Witch Project’ star at center of Maine road dispute | Associated Press


In other news, the Blair Witch Project turns 26 years old this year.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...ese-curds-packers-salary-cap-work-never-stops
 
Charles Woodson becomes part owner of the Cleveland Browns

Super Bowl LIX Previews

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images

The former Packers All-Pro is now a limited partner for an NFL franchise

At the NFL Spring Meetings on Tuesday, the league approved former Green Bay Packers star Charles Woodson to become a part-owner of the Cleveland Browns. He’s being listed as a non-controlling minority interest of the team, which isn’t surprising, considering that even Hall of Fame players are priced out of owning teams in today’s day and age. For reference, Woodson made $98 million in his playing career, before tax, and the San Francisco 49ers were just valued at $8.6 billion after they sold 6.2 percent of their team earlier this month.

Woodson never played for the Browns, only the Packers and Oakland Raiders, but was born and raised in Fremont, Ohio, about an hour and a half away from Cleveland. According to the Browns’ press release, the team’s newest limited partner first met the Haslam Family, who owns a controlling stake in the franchise, in early 2024.

Woodson is an analyst for FOX Sports, which makes him the second owner that the NFL’s broadcast partner will need to work around, the first being the Raiders’ Tom Brady. How they manage that relationship will be interesting to monitor, but at least Woodson will be at a desk in the studio instead of in the booth covering games for FOX.

Woodson was an eight-time All-Pro and nine-time Pro Bowler during his playing days, with four of those All-Pro honors and Pro Bowl seasons coming with the Packers. He was also a member of the NFL’s 2000s All-Decade Team and has been inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, Woodson bought 0.1 percent of the Browns’ franchise. If the Browns’ valuation was on par with the 49ers, then Woodson would have paid around $860,000 for the title of limited partner.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...on-becomes-part-owner-of-the-cleveland-browns
 
Packers’ tush push ban falls short in NFL meetings

NFL: FEB 09 Super Bowl LIX - Eagles vs Chiefs


Green Bay’s proposal needed 24 votes of approval and only received 22

The Green Bay Packers’ proposal to ban the tush push, along with other forms of pulling and shoving, fell short at the NFL’s spring league meetings on Wednesday. According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, 10 teams voted against the proposal, meaning there was a 22-10 vote count. For rule proposals to pass, 24 clubs have to approve, so the proposal fell just two votes short.

Finally, we can put this whole tush push saga behind us.

Don’t think that the Philadelphia Eagles, the team that pushed their quarterback through piles more than any other club in the NFL over the last few years, will be forgetting about this anytime soon, though. Not only did Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and former Eagles center Jason Kelce speak during the general session ahead of the tush push vote, but Philadelphia’s social team took a pointed shot at the Packers after Green Bay’s proposal failed.


pic.twitter.com/bQh1wDWhTN

— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) May 21, 2025

The next time the Packers and Eagles will face off will be in Week 10 on Monday Night Football, a game Philadelphia will have an extra week to prepare for as they’ll be coming off a bye week. Expect to hear a lot of noise about this proposal and its failure to secure 75 percent of the league’s votes going into that mid-season matchup.

Update:

The Eagles’ YouTube page has uploaded a new video titled “26 Minutes of the Tush Push” in response to the failed proposal. It’s safe to say they’re happy with how the vote turned out, even if the majority of the league voted to ban the actions of the play.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...ls-philadelphia-eagles-2025-update-vote-count
 
Packers make cornerback swap

NFL: AUG 3 Jaguars Training Camp

Photo by David Rosenblum/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Gregory Junior has a chance to make Green Bay’s roster as the team’s fifth cornerback who specializes in football’s third phase

On Wednesday, the Green Bay Packers signed cornerback Gregory Junior and released cornerback Kaleb Hayes, who was previously under contract on a reserve-futures deal. Hayes spent most of the 2024 offseason with the New York Giants before signing with the Denver Broncos for two weeks last August. Hayes didn’t sign with a practice squad in 2024, but he was given a reserve-futures contract by the Packers, typically deals that they send to their own practice squad players, following Green Bay’s playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Junior played at Ouachita Baptist in Arkansas, a Division II program, before being selected in the sixth round of the 2022 draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was a member of both the Indianapolis Colts’ and Houston Texans’ practice squads in 2024, but had previously played in 10 regular-season games with the Jaguars. On May 13th, he was waived from the Texans’ 90-man offseason roster, where he was on a reserve-futures deal.


Greg Junior was drafted with pick 197 of round 6 in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 8.87 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 228 out of 2001 CB from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/4r7geFqB4O #RAS #Jaguars pic.twitter.com/7lK4sWTV5C

— RAS.football (@MathBomb) April 30, 2022

What’s interesting here is that the Packers have actually had their eyes on Junior for a while. Junior was brought in as a pre-draft visitor back in 2022, which is usually a sign that the team is heavily interested in drafting or signing a rookie player. Since that 2022 class, with Junior’s addition to the list, the Packers have taken 18 draft picks who were brought into Green Bay on pre-draft visits and now 13 other visitors who were brought to the team outside of the draft, be it by additions via the waiver wire, practice squad poaches or undrafted free agency.

Junior has played as many defensive snaps (111) as special teams snaps in his 10 regular-season games played at the NFL level. This is important to note here, considering that the Packers lost two core special teamers, Corey Ballentine and Robert Rochell, at the cornerback position this offseason.

With a cornerback room of Jaire Alexander, Keisean Nixon, Nate Hobbs and Carrington Valentine, all players with experience as starting NFL defenders who haven’t been significant contributors as non-returner special teams players, the Packers’ roster construction is going to heavily push them toward using that fifth cornerback roster spot on a true specialist, rather than a flier project defender.

From that angle, Junior has a leg up on his competition, which includes 2025 seventh-round pick Micah Robinson, 2024 seventh-round pick Kalen King and 2024 sixth-round pick Kamal Hadden. Both King and Hadden spent last season on Green Bay’s practice squad, where they failed to beat out Ballentine and Rochell, two players the Packers chose not to re-sign, for special-teams playing time. For perspective, both Ballentine (195 snaps) and Rochell (121 snaps) played more special-teams reps than kicker Brandon McManus (112 snaps) last season.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...erback-signed-update-2025-release-kaleb-hayes
 
All about the Brett Favre documentary

2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinment Ceremony

Photo by: 2015 Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images

Get an in-depth look at Untold: The Fall of Favre and what the documentary means for everyone involved.

Last month, it was announced a documentary covering the controversy surrounding former QB Brett Favre would be released on Netflix. That documentary, titled Untold: The Fall of Favre, dropped this week. Many sports fans, especially fans of the Green Bay Packers, are already well aware of the allegations that have been made against Favre over the past 15+ years. I decided to take one for the team and watch the doc, because I thoroughly enjoy hopping on that hate train whenever it rolls into the station. Here’s a breakdown of the doc, plus my thoughts! BUCKLE UP.

Let’s start with the names interviewed:

  • Michael Vick, former QB - I was very confused by this, until it suddenly made sense! We’ll get to that.
  • Jemele Hill, journalist
  • Bill Michaels, radio host
  • Dylan Tomlinson, former journalist
  • Rick Cleveland, journalist
  • Reggie Warnsley, former college teammate of Favre
  • Ron Wolf, former GM of the Packers
  • Don Majkowski, former Packers QB
  • Jenn Sterger, Favre accuser and former Jets employee
  • Peter King, journalist
  • Tim Andre, former Jets employee
  • AJ Perez, reporter for Front Office Sports
  • Ashton Pittman, journalist
  • Bennie Thompson, Mississippi congressman

I had a pretty good idea in my mind of how this doc would be laid out, and it went as expected. Things started by talking about Green Bay both as a city and NFL franchise, and their 20-year slump after their domination of the NFL’s early years. We then dive into Brett Favre’s college career at the University of Southern Mississippi, including how he got the nickname “The Gunslinger”. There was talk of him perhaps being drafted in the first round in 1991, but he fell to the 33rd-overall pick when he was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. They played a clip of his draft announcement, when his name was pronounced Brett “Fay-ver”. In hindsight, he maybe deserved this.

They then bring in former Packers GM Ron Wolf, who I was surprised to see make an appearance, given both his age and the fact that I think the Packers would prefer to stay away from this part of Brett Favre. The Falcons didn’t want Favre to play—he didn’t study film, he didn’t know what different formations were. Wolf mentions the Packers’ “sorry condition”, and how he, by chance, saw Favre throwing around on the field before a game. He immediately went to work on acquiring Favre in a trade. Then comes Don Majkowski, who had been the Packers’ on-and-off starting QB since 1987. His last game starting for the Packers was against the Cincinnati Bengals in September of 1992, when he suffered an ankle injury and was replaced by Favre. Favre lit up the field, the Packers won by 1, and the rest was history. He would go on to start every game for the team through the 2007 season.

Green Bay Packers v Washington Redskins
Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

We then leave the Packers discussion to introduce Jenn Sterger. She talks about being in the marching band in high school, and then her eventual enrollment at Florida State University. She said she never felt like she fit in, until a football game against the University of Miami in 2005, when someone spilled a beer on her, and she spent the rest of the night in a swim top she had underneath. She was featured on the game’s broadcast, and a clip is played of announcer Brent Musburger saying “1,500 red-blooded Americans just decided to apply to Florida State”, while the camera is focused on a 22-year-old Sterger. This is the same Brent Musburger who made similar comments on the appearance of 23-year-old Katherine Webb during the 2013 BCS National Championship Game.

After Sterger was featured on the broadcast, Deadspin wrote about her, and she became an internet celebrity known as “The Cowgirl”. She posed for Maxim and Playboy, and is quoted as saying, “I played the game.” She then wrote an article for Sports Illustrated, who ended up hiring her full-time. She mentions that when she sees young women in the stands at sporting events now, she thinks “be careful what you wish for.”

We then go back to Green Bay. The team’s Super Bowl XXXI win is mentioned, as is Brett Favre’s growing celebrity. He starts doing more advertisements. He set the record for all-time TD passes in 2007. And then: a sudden shift! Favre is mentioned as a notorious womanizer. Dylan Tomlinson, former writer for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, says that when Favre’s wife Deanna was going through a public battle with breast cancer, he was asked to write a story about the QB being a family man. He very plainly says, “I don’t write fiction.”

After this, the doc changes the subject to Favre’s father, Irvin, in an attempt to give some insight as to how Brett was raised. Various anecdotes are passed around, including one of Favre getting his dad a Super Bowl ring after their win, and Irvin never thanking his son. It is discussed that Irv would always pick out the bad, rarely celebrating the good. Bill Michaels mentions, “Once Irv passed, he was the only one in charge of him. That’s when things got a little off the rails.”

Now, we’re in 2005, which Michaels calls “the beginning of the end.” He is, of course, referring to the Packers’ drafting of QB Aaron Rodgers 24th overall. This is when the public mulling of retirement began, and it continued year after year, until 2008, when Favre publicly stated he didn’t want to play anymore. Peter King then says that days before the Packers were to report for the 2008 season, Favre asked what would happen if he decided he wanted to keep playing. King told Favre, “I don’t think they want you anymore,” to which Favre’s agent replied that he was full of it. Favre was then traded to the New York Jets, which is where we get to the meat of the documentary.

Mayor Bloomberg Welcomes Brett Favre to New York
Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images

Sterger, who was working as the Jets' gameday host at the time, says someone in the organization told her that Brett Favre wanted her phone number. She says she did not provide it, and also mentions, “I look a lot like his wife.” BOY, DOES SHE. She then receives multiple messages on social media from what we now refer to as “burner accounts”, to which she does not reply. Then, the text messages and voicemails begin, still anonymous, however, she thinks she recognizes his voice. She realizes someone gave her number out without her permission. She’s sent a lewd photo, which is attached to an email address “[email protected]”. The way the story is told, this was her first official confirmation that the calls and texts had all been coming from Favre. Sterger says she told people in the organization, who shrugged her off, and her contract with the Jets was not renewed at the end of the year. “He was very protected, and I was a 25-year-old independent contractor.”

Fast forward to Favre’s time with the Minnesota Vikings. Jenn Sterger’s story went public after she mentioned it to Deadspin editor AJ Daulerio in confidence, and he said he would run it anyway. Various news clips from that time are played, and reporters seem to find it absolutely necessary to mention that Sterger once posed provocatively for various magazines. We then see clips of football fans being asked about the story, to which they reply things like “He made some bad decisions, but you’ve still gotta respect the guy,” and “I don’t care as long as he’s performing on a football field.” Sterger’s TV show at the time was canceled 25 days after Deadspin’s story ran, and her career was effectively over. She says that, to this day, she has still never actually met Brett Favre.

At this point in the documentary, we’re about 3⁄4 of the way through, and the focus is on Favre’s post-NFL career. He’s a spokesperson for various brands, he’s very vocal about the prevention and treatment of concussions, and he’s doing philanthropic work, like getting a new volleyball facility built for Southern Miss! Then comes the evidence of the alleged welfare scandal, including texts exchanged between Favre, John Davis (Mississippi’s welfare director), and Nancy New (director of the Mississippi Community Education Center). No mention of welfare dollars is actually made, but there are texts from Favre asking “If you were to pay me is there anyway the media can find out where it came from and how much?”

In total, Favre and his various projects were granted about $8 million. It is mentioned at this point that this money is for the poorest of the poor in Mississippi, and an example is given of a single mother with two children who would qualify for about $260 of aid. For an understanding of just how much money Favre’s projects received, $8 million would total 30,769 payments of $260. The only thing we hear from Favre on this issue is a clip from an appearance on the radio show Wilde and Tausch, where he says he would “never do anything like that.”

We’re at the end of the doc, and we’re hearing multiple people summarize their opinion of Favre as a person. Mississippi congressman Bennie Thompson says he doubts you’ll find a lot of elected officials willing to talk about Favre, “because there’s still a lot of intimidation attached to who he is and who identifies with him.” FOS reporter AJ Perez mentions that Favre has people covering for him in all areas of life, and plays a call he received years ago from one of Favre’s attorneys who says, “I hope you’ve got some money saved up.”

The topic of race is then brought up when Thompson states, “When you’re a white superstar, in many instances you get a pass,” and the camera flashes to Michael Vick, who famously served prison time after being convicted of charges related to a dog-fighting ring. To date, Favre has not been charged with any crimes relating to the alleged harassment of Jenn Sterger, nor the alleged involvement in the welfare scandal.

The hour-long doc is over at this point, bless all that is holy. None of this was information that I didn’t already know, except that the harassment of Jenn Sterger was ANONYMOUS pretty much the entire time. We’re almost 20 years removed from this story, so I’m not sure if that information was reported at the time, but it was new to me. At this point in the doc, I was both disgusted and heartbroken for Sterger, who was extremely emotional during her entire interview. I can very vividly remember how she was painted by the media when this story broke, and it feels very apparent now just how unfair that was. Jemele Hill is quoted during the doc as saying, “People always think women are getting something out of it. There’s nothing to get out of it, more often than not.”

Sterger’s career was ruined, and there are still people to this day who talk about her as though she were nothing more than an attention-seeker. She gained absolutely nothing from what happened, aside from a reputation she says she does not want. I think the Jets organization, and everyone who ignored Sterger’s cries for help, should be ashamed of themselves.

I will tread very lightly on the welfare topic, as everything is still alleged, and I hear Favre is very litigious! My thoughts on this are: I am very much looking forward to new developments in this case, and I hope the appropriate parties are one day brought to justice, though we know the right people are almost never adequately punished for things like this. Welfare funds are for people who truly need them, and I think what is effectively stealing from the poor is absolutely despicable.

Onto the doc itself: Things were extremely fast-paced. It was only an hour long, which is not a lot of time to cover a story spanning over 30 years. Personally, I think it would’ve served well as a miniseries of several episodes. It’s important to note that Favre declined to be interviewed, so we are only hearing “one side” of things (from a ton of different people who worked very closely with him.)

Overall, I think the release of this documentary is monumental, as it gives his story more widespread attention. As Packers fans and sports fans in general, it’s easy for us to say, “I already know all about this; I’m not interested”, but the fact of the matter is, there are so many people who know nothing about this story. As we’ve seen in recent years, attention sometimes gets things done. As more and more people learn about the story, it’s possible we’ll see meaningful change and development in the right places. And with that, I say: I need a nap.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...rger-mississippi-welfare-untold-fall-of-favre
 
Remembering a Random Play: Tucker Kraft Rumbles Against the Rams

NFL: Green Bay Packers at Los Angeles Rams

Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

Looking back on a play from the Packers victory over the Rams.

I’m currently working on a piece about the direction I think the Green Bay Packers offense may be heading in 2025. However, as those pieces tend to go, it’s taking much longer than I had originally expected.

One of the nice things about it is that it allows me to study some other offenses around the league, but it also allows me to revisit Packers games from this past year. The further I get away from the season, the more I focus on the coming season and the less I tend to remember about the previous season, so this is a fun way to remember some of those moments.

While I work through my “Packers Offense in 2025” piece, I thought I’d just take a few minutes from time-to-time and remember a play from the 2024 season that I enjoyed.

Today, we’re going back to Week 5 against the Rams. It was a pretty ugly game that saw the Packers trailing 13-10 going into the half, with the Rams only TD coming off a horrendous Jordan Love pick-six from his own end zone.

On their first drive of the 2nd half, the Packers were still down 13-10, looking at 2nd & 6 on their own 34 yard line.

The Packers are in 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR) in shotgun. They start in a 2x2 formation, with Tucker Kraft [85] in-line on the right and Jayden Reed [11] split tight outside. Before the snap, Reed motions in front of Love, then orbits behind and releases to the right flat.

Love spins to fake the handoff to Reed while Josh Jacobs [8] crosses Love’s face to release to the left side. Elgton Jenkins 74] pulls to the right, helping to sell the handoff to Reed.

The fake to Reed gets the eyes of Christian Rozeboom [56] in the backfield. Kraft releases off the line and past Rozeboom. Rozeboom - thinking Kraft is trying to pin him on a run block - hops outside of Kraft, giving Kraft a clean release through the teeth of the defense.

After the fake, Rozeboom settles into the middle of the field and Troy Reeder [51] runs out to take Jacobs in the flat. With Dontayvion Wicks [13] and Bo Melton [80] pushing vertically on the left, the boundary is cleared out. Kraft picks his way through the middle and finds an ocean of space. Love waits until Reeder angles down on Jacobs, then finds Kraft.

Kraft takes the ball and rumbles to the end zone, giving the Packers a lead they would never give up.

Shout out to Wicks for staying with the downfield block, allowing Kraft to get down the sideline for 6.



Albums listened to: Stereolab - Instant Holograms on Metal Film

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...een-bay-packers-tucker-kraft-los-angeles-rams
 
Friday Cheese Curds: Packers ‘Nudged’ To Propose Tush Push Ban

Syndication: Green Bay Press-Gazette

Tork Mason / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

PFT sheds light on the real reason the Green Bay Packers proposed banning the tush push.

When the news broke that the Green Bay Packers were shopping a rule change to the league that would ban the tush push (the infamous quarterback-sneak-adjacent play made notorious by the Philadelphia Eagles), the reaction from many pundits and opposing fans was swift.

“Sour grapes.”

“Wimpy.”

“Hate the play? Learn how to stop it on the field.”

But the idea that the Packers’ coaching staff and front office were so annoyed by the play that they’d seek to ban it just never held water, in my opinion. It instantly reeked of back-room conversations at the highest levels, and on today’s edition of Zach Takes A Victory Lap, it turns out that was pretty much right on.

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio is now reporting that “the league office wanted to get rid of the play. For whatever reason, the league decided not to propose the measure through the normal procedure but to create the impression that one specific team decided to push for no tush push.”

Think of it this way: if you’re “the league,” or a subset of NFL owners and execs, and you happen to think a play is annoying and not in keeping with the desired NFL aesthetic, but you worry that a team would be perceived as pitiful for rallying to ban the play, who do you recruit to be the proxy?

Enter Mark Murphy, literally the only executive in the league in a position to take the heat. Why? Because not only is he not an actual owner, but thanks to age limits in Green Bay’s own governing policies, he’s retiring. Consider it one last favor before Murphy rides off into the sunset.

Sour grapes? Nah. The mechanics of political capital and back-room dealings at work? Yep.

NFL recruited Packers to propose failed tush push ban - New reporting shows that the Packers “took one for the team” when it came to proposing this rule change.

Packers OTAs Preview: Big Question at Receiver - How will 2025 draft picks Matthew Golden and Savion Williams impact the receiver corps? And is there a player on the depth chart who can catch the ball consistently?

Don’t expect reinforcements to come for the Green Bay Packers pass rush - Packers fans are still fantasy-booking pass-rush trades, and while they can’t be blamed for dreaming, there’s no reason to believe anything is going to happen.

Packers Coach Says Lions Are Class of NFC - Matt LaFleur believes the Detroit Lions are the team to beat in the NFC in 2025.

The Sexiest Bank Robber In Canada - A new documentary chronicles the ridiculous story of a news reporter, once dubbed ‘the sexiest man in Winnipeg,’ as he turns to a new gig: robbing banks.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...-bay-packers-news-tush-push-ban-nugged-by-nfl
 
Packers Week 1 Odds: Lions favored slightly in opener at Lambeau

Detroit Lions v Green Bay Packers

Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

The Packers are happy to have a home opener, but they are currently the underdogs against the division favorites.

The NFL’s schedule has now been out for a full week, and Green Bay Packers fans are still coming to terms with the gauntlet that their team will face over the second half of the season. However, it’s not much easier in week one, when the Packers will host the two-time defending NFC North champion Detroit Lions.

This is the Packers’ first home game in week one since 2018, making this a welcome change. But seeing the Lions as their first opponent results in even this being a tough draw. Indeed, sportsbooks currently have the Packers as home underdogs for that first matchup of the season.

As of the date of publication, Fanduel has the Lions installed as 1.5-point favorites for that week one contest. Moneyline bettors can get the Packers at plus odds right now as well, at +102 compared to -120 for the Lions.

This should come as no surprise, as the Lions are favored to repeat as division champions again in 2025. They currently have almost even money to win the North at +110, while the Packers come in as a distant second place at +280.

The books are also expecting a high-scoring affair in week one, with the over/under total set at 49.5 points. Only one game in week one has a higher total, with the Ravens-Bills game on Sunday Night currently going off at 51.5. Last season, the two teams went under the 49.5 total at Lambeau Field in week 9 (a 24-14 Lions win), then crushed the over in a 34-31 game on the Thursday after Thanksgiving.

Packers-Lions will be FOX’s game of the week, getting placed in the late afternoon time slot to maximize the TV audience. Look for the books to maximize their own action on this game as well leading up to the first Sunday in September.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...s-lions-favored-slightly-in-opener-at-lambeau
 
Penn State WR, initially signed by Packers, involved in deadly ATV accident

Capital One Orange Bowl - Penn State v Notre Dame

Photo by CFP/Getty Images

Julian Fleming was taken to Guthrie Troy Community Hospital following a collision with a deer

Last month, it was revealed that former five-star recruit Julian Fleming, who played receiver at Penn State and Ohio State, initially had signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent but failed his physical due to hip and back injuries. When the Packers moved on from Fleming, a local reporter in Pennsylvania stated that there was interest from the San Francisco 49ers, Washington Commanders and Baltimore Ravens to give him a shot at NFL football at some point in 2025.

According to a Pennsylvania state police report, Fleming has now suffered a “suspected serious injury” in an ATV accident where neither he nor his passenger, Alyssa Boyd, wore protective equipment. The injury severity under Boyd’s name was listed as “fatal injury.”

The police report stated that a deer “jumped out in the roadway” when Fleming was driving, leading to a collision. Boyd was pronounced dead at the scene, the deer was found dead and Fleming was taken to Guthrie Troy Community Hospital following the crash.

According to the state police, the crash is currently under further investigation.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...y-atv-accident-penn-state-ohio-state-receiver
 
NFL commish Roger Goodell questions ‘integrity’ of current salary cap system

2025 NFL Draft - Round 1

Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images

NFL owners probably do no like the Philadelphia Eagles’ financial strategy

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk wrote an article about NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s recent comments, which, among other things, include that team owners believe they should be receiving a bigger share of the financial pie. Rich people want more money. Big woop, right?

Well, also included in the article was a quote from Goodell saying that the league is looking into “the integrity” of the “cap system itself,” which could be a bigger piece of news than the percentage point of money that NFL players will receive from the league’s television contracts.

“There are no formal plans on any discussions,” Goodell told reporters. “We obviously continue to be in close communication with the union on a variety of matters, but no start of negotiations have been set or are under consideration really at this point. We did spend time today talking, at length, about areas of our Collective Bargaining Agreement that we want to focus on. The two areas that we spent time on were really the cap system itself, the integrity of that system, how’s it working, where do we need to address that in the context of collective bargaining, when that does happen. That was a very lengthy discussion.”

At this point, you might be wondering, “What integrity issues does the NFL salary cap have? It’s a hard cap.” And while that is true, the manipulation of the salary cap, via salary-to-bonus conversions, has been on the rise since the league’s salary cap ceiling initially dropped in 2020 to combat the loss of money that went hand-in-hand with the Covid season.

Prior to that year, it was extremely rare for teams to turn salaries into bonuses because of the amount of dead cap they created in future years. The only exceptions before 2020 were really the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints, the two teams that decided to go “all-in” with aging quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Drew Brees. Since the Covid year forced teams to learn how to manipulate the salary cap, though, the disparity between cash spending among NFL teams has been on the rise across the board.

For example, if I were a general manager and wanted to pay a player a one-year, $50 million contract in 2025, I could pay him that $50 million in salary — game checks — and simply pay all of that $50 million on the cap in 2025. If I wanted to manipulate that number to its extreme though, I could pay the difference between his $50 million salary and the league minimum salary, which maxes out around $1.3 million for a veteran who is at least seven seasons into his NFL career, and convert the rest of that money into a signing bonus with four “void years” attached to the end of his one-year deal to impact the salary cap as little as possible in the short term. Using that second method, the bonus could be spread up to over five years on the salary cap, meaning that the $50 million player would only cost around $10 million against the 2025 cap (though the remaining $40 million would be guaranteed to hit the cap in future years).

With the NFL salary cap rising about $25 million per team per year, this brings up two interesting questions. First of all, if the cap is rising $25 million a year, then why wouldn’t you push cap hits into the future by default, as cap dollars become more diluted over time in terms of the percentage of the salary cap? Secondly, if teams become aware of this, how soon are we entering an era where it will be impossible to win a Super Bowl without being “all-in” and putting a team on a credit card?

The recent success of the Philadelphia Eagles, a team that spent $115 million more in cash than the Las Vegas Raiders in 2024 and is set to be a top-seven cash spender in the NFL again in 2025, almost certainly is an issue for some ownership groups. The Eagles’ mantra has been to extend players early on their rookie contracts, sometimes immediately after their third year in the league is over, and to consistently convert their salaries into signing bonuses to spread the cap payments over several years, by which point cap dollars will be more diluted. The timing of their contracts all escalate up to the 2029 season, which is when the NFL is expected to opt out of their current broadcast deals and sign a massive new set of contracts with streaming services.

In the world the Eagles are operating in, it’s a legitimate strategy to be hyper-aggressive at the start of new broadcast contracts and then slowly make cap payments on those teams as you reach the end of the deal. That only works if owners are willing to pay that kind of big cash immediately, though, which we’ve seen teams like the Raiders and Cincinnati Bengals balk at over the last decade.

The game is different when people are playing the game. The idea of the “hard cap” made sense up until Covid, but now teams are well aware of how salary conversions and void years can be used to manipulate the current cap system. If I were to guess as to what Goodell was referring to, the “integrity” question that league members are asking themselves is whether how the NFL treats the accounting of signing bonus and/or roster bonus dollars on the cap should be changed under the next collective bargaining agreement.

Funnily enough, the biggest benefactor of this might be the Eagles, the team that has taken advantage of this strategy more than anyone. A change to the cap system will mean that teams will no longer be able to do what Philadelphia executed, all the way to a Super Bowl.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...dell-integrity-salary-cap-2025-quote-analysis
 
Report: Packers not among teams interested in trading for star cornerback

Miami Dolphins v Green Bay Packers

Photo by Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images

Three NFC teams are reportedly interested in Miami cornerback Jalen Ramsey, but the Packers aren’t among them

The Miami Dolphins are considering trading cornerback Jalen Ramsey, a seven-time Pro Bowler, before the start of the 2025 season. With June 1st around the corner, a key date in the NFL schedule is nearing. Any transactions made after June 1st push future seasons’ dead cap into next year, rather than having it all accelerate to 2025. This allows teams to create more short-term cap space with trades, such as one that would involve Ramsey.

For perspective, a Ramsey trade before June 1st would lead to a $25 million cap charge on the Dolphins’ books in 2025, but trading him after June 1st would only cost them $6.7 million in cap space — with the remainder falling onto the 2026 salary cap. That’s one reason why June 1st is a key date for trades involving veteran players.

Earlier this month, ESPN’s Adam Schefter claimed that there was “more interest in Jalen Ramsey than people realize.” On Friday, Jeremy Fowler, of the same network, stated the Dolphins are actively engaged in trade talks for Ramsey and named the Los Angeles Rams, Dallas Cowboys and Washington Commanders as potential suitors.

There are two reasons why this is interesting from a Green Bay Packers perspective. First of all, it doesn’t appear that the Packers are interested in trading for Ramsey, a topic we’ll dive into in a second. Secondly, all of the teams interested in the star cornerback are in the NFC, which will only make Green Bay’s path to a Super Bowl even tougher.

The fact that the Packers aren’t interested in Ramsey tells us they’re all-or-nothing with cornerback Jaire Alexander, who has been reportedly on the trade block since the start of the offseason. Green Bay, based on reports, doesn’t want to pay Alexander the $17.5 million in cash that he’s due in 2025 after missing 20 combined games with injury over the last two years. With how dry the cornerback market will be, at least following the Ramsey trade, though, Alexander may be willing to talk restructure as we get closer to the season.

If the Packers weren’t confident that they would be able to ink Alexander to a restructured deal, you’d think that they would be at least entertaining the idea of replacing Alexander with Ramsey. As of now, at least according to Fowler, that doesn’t seem to be the case. So if the front office fails to sell Alexander on a restructured contract and has to end up trading or releasing the former All-Pro, the team will most likely have to ride with the cornerback trio of Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine and Nate Hobbs, with little to no depth behind them, in 2025.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...ate-jaire-alexander-june-1-cap-space-dead-cap
 
Thursday Cheese Curds: Flag football, the tush push stays, and more from NFL meetings

US-OLY-AMFOOT-FLAG


Colts owner Jim Irsay passed away on Wednesday as well.

The big story coming out of the NFL’s late spring meetings in Minneapolis this week was, of course, the future of the tush push. For now, the play lives on for another year, but don’t be surprised if the rule about pushing a runner from behind gets changed back to the way it was before 2005 next year.

For the time being, the debate can stop for several months, and the Eagles — and their apparently very animated owner — can rest assured that they won’t be penalized for exploiting this loophole. Surely football fans will see Nick Sirianni spam that playcall in week 10 when the Eagles play the Packers, regardless of whether Packers president Mark Murphy did in fact offer to fall on the sword for the rest of the NFL by proposing the rule change on his way out the door.

That was hardly the only big news from the meetings, however. The most notable other piece of news involves the league agreeing to allow its players to participate in flag football during the 2028 Olympics, which has many of the players themselves excited about the prospect. However, not all teams were in favor of the idea, and you can count Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst among those opposed.

There is also sad news from the NFL as well, as a well-respected owner passed away on Wednesday.

Here’s a look at the big takeaways from this week’s meetings.

Sources: Tempers flare as Eagles defend tush push in heated debate - ESPN
The voting finished just two votes short of the needed 75 percent, with a final vote of 22-10, and it's possible that Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie's hour-long speech pushed a couple of teams back into the "no" column on the vote.

Brian Gutekunst has concerns about NFL players getting injured in Olympic flag football - NBC Sports
There's a good chance the Packers were not among the teams who voted to approve the NFL sending players to the Olympics in 2028, but it's happening. Thankfully, the rules involve each team only sending one player.

Flag Football in Olympics: This All-Packers Team Would Win Gold | SI.com
Sorry, linemen, you're out. The biggest player on this team is Clay Matthews, who would use his speed and quickness to close a 15-yard span in a flash.

Alex Freeman runs his own route, right onto the USMNT’s radar - The Athletic ($)
Antonio Freeman's son is one of the better young players in the MLS at just 20 years old, and he's gunning for a call-up to the national team soon.

4 Packers trending down: Several defensive players faded late in 2024 | Packers Wire
Green Bay’s safety play dipped a bit down the stretch, with Evan Williams getting banged up and Xavier McKinney simply unable able to keep up the incredible level of play he established in the first half of the season.

Jim Irsay dies at 65: NFL community mourns Colts owner | NFL.com
Irsay had been battling health problems for several years. While he was a quirky personality to say the least, the entire NFL community and particularly the state of Indiana have nothing but positive comments about him.

Girl, 3, fears John Wilkes Booth is under her bed after Ford’s Theatre visit - syracuse.com
Kids, am I right?

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...he-tush-push-stays-and-more-from-nfl-meetings
 
Jaire Alexander ‘wants to remain’ with Packers, per report

Green Bay Packers v Chicago Bears

Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images

The Packers have also reportedly offered Alexander a proposal on a reworked contract.

Jaire Alexander may yet remain a Green Bay Packer in 2025, and according to a report on Tuesday, that is his wish. The Athletic published a report this morning stating that the Packers have offered Alexander a restructured contract for the upcoming season, the clearest sign yet that the team is willing and open to him returning this fall.

While that bit of news is notable in its own right, the item that follows it is even more interesting. Reporter Matt Schneidman says that Alexander “wants to remain in Green Bay,” the first clear reporting about what the cornerback’s preferred outcome would be. If Alexander’s first choice is indeed to return to the Packers for the upcoming season, then that further indicates that an amicable settlement between the two sides is the most likely result.

Additionally, Schneidman’s sources say that Alexander plans to attend the Packers’ mandatory minicamp in June, even if he does not have a new contract settled. Depending on the stipulations of his existing contract and whether he arrives earlier, he may not earn the $700,000 in workout bonus money for which he is eligible, but showing up for minicamp would at least ensure that he avoids any fines and would be a sign of good faith on his part and an indication that both sides are actively committed to coming to an agreement before training camp.

On the other hand, the Packers’ position has become relatively clear over the last several weeks. It appears that they would also like Alexander to return, but they have significant concerns about his availability, as he has missed more than 20 games over the past two years. Therefore, the details of the proposed restructure likely consist of shifting more of Alexander’s significant base salary ($16.15 million this season) to incentives, particularly based around games played.

Still, the team’s only notable reinforcement to their cornerback group this offseason was the addition of free agent Nate Hobbs, who could be in line to play either in the slot or on the boundary. Alexander returning to the cornerback room for 2025 would be a massive boost to that unit, at least for whatever amount of games he would be able to play.

After all, Alexander earned second-team All-Pro honors in each of the two most recent seasons where he did not miss significant time (2020 and 2022). He continued to post very good numbers in his limited action last fall, allowing a completion rate of less than 57% while intercepting two passes and allowing a passer rating of 86.9 over seven games, numbers that were all an improvement over the statistics he posted in the same number of games in 2023.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...negotiations-wants-to-remain-green-bay-report
 
Wednesday Cheese Curds: Packers off and running at OTAs

NFL: NFC Wild Card Round-Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles

Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The soft launch to the 2025 season is here.

The Packers are in the midst of their first set of Organized Team Activities this week, and there’s plenty to watch. New players will be hitting the field for the first time, veterans will be either returning to the fold (in the case of Jaire Alexander) or staying away (in the case of Elgton Jenkins) as they try to get their contract situations sorted out, and the team as a whole will begin its quest toward a Super Bowl.

Is that a realistic goal? It’s as realistic for the Packers as for just about anyone else. On a surface level, they’ve got all the pieces to make a deep playoff run: a franchise quarterback and a good supporting cast, a creative playcaller, a defense that can make up for enough of the offense’s shortcomings to carry them through a game. There’s little reason not to be optimistic.

But on the other hand, Matt LaFleur’s tenure has been largely defined by underachieving in the playoffs. Two trips to the NFC Championship game yielded zero Super Bowl appearances, and twice his teams have lost winnable games in the Divisional Round. Is LaFleur capable of getting his teams to stay out of their own way? That might be the real question surrounding this year’s Packers team — and every team to follow as long as LaFleur is in charge of the Packers.

But of course, we can’t know the answer to these questions until we see how this season is going to play out.

Packers OTA preview: 5 questions to ponder | Packers.com


It’s OTA time, let’s all dial in for OTAs.

What to watch at Packers OTAs: Contract situations, lineup decisions, WR vibes | The Athletic ($)


Tracking OTA storylines boils down, in large part, to following contract developments.

Packers OTAs Preview: Big Question at Safety | Sports Illustrated


What do the Packers’ safeties do for their next trick?

Continuity should be an asset for Packers in 2025 | Packers Wire


The Packers bring back a big chunk of their 2024 roster for 2025. Is that a good thing?

NFL Football Power Index: 2025 projections, Super Bowl chances | ESPN


What do the numbers say about the Packers’ chances for 2025?

Swimmer circumnavigates Martha’s Vineyard for shark conservation | UPI


This is a noble cause, but man, what a huge missed opportunity for a shark to do the funniest thing.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...-cheese-curds-packers-off-and-running-at-otas
 
Packers Practice News and Notes, 5/28: OL Jacob Monk works with 1s

Baltimore Ravens v Green Bay Packers

Photo by Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images

Jacob Monk got the nod over Jordan Morgan, Anthony Belton, Kadeem Telfort and Travis Glover on Wednesday

The 2025 Green Bay Packers debuted as a group today when the team held its first full-team practice in front of the media on Wednesday. It’s only Phase Two of organized team activities, which means it’s voluntary and players didn’t have pads on, but there was still plenty to be learned about what the coaching staff thinks of their players early on in their pursuit of Super Bowl LX’s Lombardi Trophy.

Let’s dive into the news and notes from today’s practice.

Participation​


The players who were not seen at the Packers’ voluntary OTAs today were offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins, offensive lineman John Williams, cornerback Jaire Alexander, cornerback Tyron Herring and kicker Brandon McManus. While Jenkins and Alexander are having ongoing contract disputes with Green Bay, the reasons for the other three players not reporting are not yet known.

Working with the rehab group today were running back MarShawn Lloyd, receiver Christian Watson, tight end John FitzPatrick, defensive end Collin Oliver, defensive end Jeremiah Martin, defensive tackle Warren Brinson, defensive tackle Nesta Jade Silvera and linebacker Quay Walker. According to head coach Matt LaFleur, Watson is ahead of schedule on his ACL recovery, though, he admitted he wasn’t a doctor in the post-practice press conference. Watson was seen stretching with the team before practice, which is a positive.


Christian Watson is far enough into his ACL rehab to at least go through stretch before the OTA field work began outside. pic.twitter.com/JZ4vJavu0S

— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) May 28, 2025

The limited players in practice were receiver Savion Williams, defensive tackle Kenny Clark and safety Javon Bullard. Neither Clark nor Bullard participated in team drills, while Williams was wearing a non-contact red jersey. Between injuries to Williams, Oliver and Brinson and Williams’ absence, only four of the Packers’ rookie draft picks were full participants in practice on Wednesday.

Offense​


#Packers second-round rookie Anthony Belton doing some footwork. Zach Tom on the bag. pic.twitter.com/kN9rZvTuq4

— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) May 28, 2025

With Jenkins out, the first-team offensive line was comprised of Rasheed Walker at left tackle, Aaron Banks at left guard, Zach Tom at right tackle and Sean Rhyan and Jacob Monk rotating between right guard and center. Interestingly, Monk got the nod over both Travis Glover and Kadeem Telfort, two players who got playoff looks as Jenkins’ replacement versus the Philadelphia Eagles last year. Monk was often a healthy scratch in 2024, but it appears that the staff is still a fan of the fifth-rounder out of Duke.

2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan worked as the left tackle with the second-team offense, which shouldn’t be a surprise. The Packers have long talked about how they believe that Morgan, who mostly played right guard last summer, has the potential to develop into a starting left tackle at the NFL level. They’re giving him the opportunity to specialize there, so don’t be shocked if he ends up rotating in at left tackle in place of Walker for some practices during camp.

Second-round rookie Anthony Belton received reps with both the second-team and third-team units as a right tackle. The only news on the Belton front is that he isn’t immediately being asked to rotate in for the right guard job, which is still a possibility down the line. For whatever reason, Monk got that nod today.

One rookie who did get immediate snaps with the first-team offense on Wednesday was first-round receiver Matthew Golden. According to the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s Ryan Wood, Dontayvion Wicks didn’t have a drop today, which is hopefully a sign of things to come.

Defense​


Edgerrin Cooper and Isaiah Simmons coming in hot pic.twitter.com/DZS7qcj2aa

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) May 28, 2025

Despite not being a participant in team drills, Bullard rotated in at safety with Evan Williams opposite of Xavier McKinney in limited looks. Elsewhere in the secondary, with Alexander out, Keisean Nixon and Nate Hobbs held it down as the team’s outside cornerbacks with Hobbs kicking into the slot and Carrington Valentine coming off of the bench in nickel looks.

If Alexander does end up coming back to the team, it’s bad news for Bullard’s chance to get looks in the slot for this team. As we’ve written about before, the NFL has treated Hobbs’ $48 million contract as one the Packers inked for a slot corner, not a true outside cornerback. In all likelihood, Hobbs was paid to replace Bullard, after just one season, in the nickel position. For Bullard to solidify that he’ll get any playing time on defense in 2025, he probably needs to win the starting safety job over Williams.

It doesn’t help Bullard’s case, either, that Hobbs posted two pass breakups in 7-on-7 drill today.

Without Clark in team drills, the starting defensive tackles were Colby Wooden (listed at 273 pounds) and Devonte Wyatt (listed at 304 pounds). Under 600 pounds collectively, that combo would be inviting the run from pretty much any cromulent ground game in the NFL.

Walker’s injury replacement today was TyRon Hopper, who got to play the Mike, allowing Edgerrin Cooper and Isaiah McDuffie to stay limited to true outside linebackers in 4-3 looks. This is similar to the team’s plan from last season, where Eric Wilson replaced Walker as the “green dot” off the bench. Wilson signed with the Minnesota Vikings this offseason, so Hopper is apparently his replacement. LaFleur also noted that Cooper is up to around 240 pounds after playing as low as 220 last year.

One player whose stock seems to be trending up is cornerback Gregory Junior, who worked with the first-team defense as a nickelback after being signed just a week ago. Junior is a former draft pick who had a pre-draft visit with the Packers back in 2022. He also has played special teams at the NFL level, which is something Green Bay desperately needs from their fifth cornerback. This offseason, the Packers lost both Robert Rochell and Corey Ballentine, who played more special-teams snaps than kicker Brandon McManus. None of Alexander, Nixon, Hobbs or Valentine has been a significant special-teams contributor outside of Nixon’s impact in the return game.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...ry-junior-matthew-golden-jaire-alexander-5-28
 
Packers to sign WR Sam Brown Jr., former college teammate of Matthew Golden

Tulsa v Houston

Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

The two-time transfer spent two years at Houston with Golden, the Packers’ first-round draft pick in April.

If the Green Bay Packers’ wide receiver room was not already crowded enough, there will be a new face in the room on Friday. According to Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post, the Packers are set to sign undrafted rookie Sam Brown, Jr., which will bring the total number of wideouts on the roster up to 13.

Brown comes to Green Bay after a five-year college career that featured a pair of transfers. After spending two years at West Virginia University, he transferred to the University of Houston for the 2022 campaign. He spent two years with the Cougars, joined in their receiver room by one Matthew Golden. Both Brown and Golden transferred to blue-blood programs for 2024, however, with Golden headed to Texas and Brown enrolling at the University of Miami.

Golden had a more productive season as a true freshman in 2022 than Brown did that season (38 catches for 584 yards and 7 scores compared to Brown’s 41/471/4 line). However, Brown was a more consistent threat in 2023, with 62 receptions and 815 yards against Golden’s 38 and 404.

While Golden became a star at Texas, Brown caught passes from #1 overall pick Cam Ward in 2024, but he served as a tertiary receiving option. Brown finished fourth on the team in receptions with 36 and fifth in receiving yards with 509.

The Packers reportedly will add Brown following a workout that he had with the team on Thursday morning, where he presumably showed off his impressive athletic abilities. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Brown has exceptional straight-line speed and leaping ability, as demonstrated by a 4.41-second 40-yard dash and a 41.5-inch vertical at his Pro Day. The team will need to open up a roster spot for Brown, however, which means that someone on the team’s 91-man roster is likely headed back to free agency.

Source: https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/...-wr-former-college-teammate-of-matthew-golden
 
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