With OTA’s and minicamp in the books the Packers have five weeks off to relax, visit with family and basically go on summer vacation. Come July 30th the fun will be over and it will be time to get down to business.
In his last press conference McCarthy said that in past years players started coming back to Lambeau after the 4th of July to get a head start on training camp, especially the rookies and second year players. This is why the team is always in the hunt for a championship. I wrote a post last week about the offense and how I believe it can be even better this year. Today, I figured I should speak some about what I look forward to seeing from the defense this season.
The run defense was jump-started with the move of Matthews to ILB and Barrington replacing Jones which now looks like a permanent move for him and a part time one for Clay. With the return of Raji and Guion to solidify the middle along with Daniels this front 3 could be hard to get by. But this is not a sure thing so having Matthews and Barrington in the middle is like a insurance policy for stopping the run. This will also give second year players Bradford and Thomas plus the rookie Ryan some time to mature at the position instead of getting tossed into the fire.
Rollins was getting high praise from coaches and other teammates about his ability to cover and make plays. Randall is more athletic but is still learning the corner position as he goes so I am thinking Rollins will have the edge in camp. If Hayward is not able to play, which is highly possible since he is already nursing a injury this year. I like Casey and believe he earned a chance to start outside but I for one have no confidence in his body staying healthy so having Rollins and Randall eases my worries for the secondary moving forward this season.
Datone Jones said he turned to yoga like Raji to get more flexible which he says has helped him with his 
game but time will tell. I know that if he does not produce this year along with Nick Perry those two could be considered a bust. I believe at least Jones will step up so that will make the D line even better. If you add Neal, Boyd and sixth round pick Ringo to the mix and what was once a mediocre line could be one to be reckoned with.
Well these are a few thoughts about what I expect from the defense when they return to camp but let us know yours on facebook or comment below.
Thanks, Jeff
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