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USA Today
6 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Highlights from Packers Family Night: Omar Brown steals the show
The Green Bay Packers held their annual "Family Night" practice inside Lambeau Field on Saturday night. The announced attendance was just under 60,000, and Matt LaFleur's team worked for just over two hours on the field before a fireworks and laser show wrapped up the event. The defense mostly dominated the team periods, and an unheralded safety made the most plays. Here are the top highlights from Family Night: Omar Brown steals the show The second-year safety snagged three interceptions, giving him a team-high five picks during training camp. One was thrown directly to him during a red-zone period, and another came off a deflection, but Brown also made an impressive read and finish on a throw from rookie Taylor Elgersma to finish off the Family Night hat trick. Matt LaFleur stated the obvious: "He is making plays." Kalen King gets a pick Omar Brown wasn't the only one at the interception party. Kalen King jumped a throw from Malik Willis and made the pick in front of receiver Julian Hicks for the second-team defense. Sack for LVN vs. Morgan In a battle of first-round picks, Lukas Van Ness got the best of Jordan Morgan at left tackle. Jordan Love's night Jordan Love had a mostly quiet night overall, including a couple of deep misses and an interception thrown to Carrington Valentine. Justis Mosqueda of Acme Packing Company put together a reel of Love's throws on Saturday night: McManus stays red hot Veteran kicker Brandon McManus made all eight of his kicks during team periods, including three kicks over 50 yards. He is now 36-for-37 to start training camp. Matt LaFleur press conference
New York Times
26-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
What would the Panthers be getting if they draft Shemar Stewart?
This year's draft class is loaded with game-changing talent on the defensive line. On the latest episode of 'The Athletic Football Show,' Robert Mays, Derrik Klassen, and Justis Mosqueda from Acme Packing Company broke down what the Carolina Panthers would be getting if they drafted Shemar Stewart with the No. 8 pick — and why the Texas A&M edge rusher has significant upside, despite his flaws. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on YouTube below or in 'The Athletic Football Show' feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Robert: Justis, let's say you are the Carolina Panthers. You draft Stewart with the eighth overall pick, and the first three years of his career are exactly the same production-wise as Travon Walker's (the No. 1 pick in the 2022 draft) first three years. Are you happy if you are Dan Morgan (GM) in the front office of the Carolina Panthers? Advertisement Justis: I think you're OK with it. I'm almost certain there will be a bust or two within that range where you'll say, 'Travon Walker would have been a better choice than those guys.' With Stewart, I genuinely believe he has a higher upside than those guys (other edge rushers in this class). You can look at the PFF grades on his run defense. His freshman year he had a 30-something grade as a run defender. Then it went up to 63.6, and this past year it was 88.2. He's been very good in that aspect. He's got length, and when he's in true pass rushing opportunities, he does have bend. There's plenty of tape, especially against Arkansas, where they just turned him loose a little bit, and he's bending at 6-foot-5, 260 pounds. I didn't buy that A&M listing of him at 290 pounds going into the combine … I can't believe they did that (laughs). But he has true bend at that size. He doesn't show it often, but if you're digging through the tape, you can find those clips, and you're like, 'That's what Robert Quinn looks like. Or what he looked like in his peak.' Those are the moments you say, 'OK, he can probably figure it out as a pass rusher if we just fix his hands.' And that's the least important thing. Robert: Can you do that though? That becomes the biggest question. It probably becomes a question of how a guy is wired as well. Because in a building, you're not going to have enough focus time to fix a guy to that degree. It's always a rich text here when we're talking about why guys succeed and why guys fail. If this guy wants to improve that kind of stuff and when he becomes a full-time athlete, he's able to spend time on his own in the offseason working on it. You do think he can take a big enough leap in those areas specifically where those can be learned skills? And it's not so innate that it's not something a guy can improve dramatically if he spends time focusing on it? Justis: Again, I'm coming at this from Green Bay Packers land. When Mike Smith was the outside linebackers coach for the Packers, he developed Rashan Gary, who was in a very similar position. A former five-star recruit not playing the most ideal role in his defensive scheme, and not super productive coming into football. Gary ended up signing a mega deal because he learned how to use his hands under Mike Smith. He also developed Za'Darius Smith from a situational interior pass rusher, into a guy who was contending for Defensive Player of the Year. Then, you get Jason Rebrovich in Green Bay, who they've now canned, and he wasn't able to get anything out of Lukas Van Ness. Advertisement So, it comes down to coaching to a certain extent. You should probably take a realistic look at your coaching staff and be like, 'OK, if our defensive line coach doesn't like Stewart, we shouldn't even have him on the draft board. Because if he doesn't want to coach Stewart, he's not the guy to maximize him, so let's not even go down that road.' But if the guy is super excited and has some sort of track record of developing these guys, I do think there's tremendous upside there. Because the feet are something you really can't teach. The get-off that Stewart has is seriously impressive, where he's jumping off the ball immediately. It didn't happen just once or twice, there's a dozen plays where he's at the mesh point when they're handing off the ball — you can't teach that. What you can do is teach him, 'Hey, if a guy is locking out his arms on your ball rush, you've got to knock it down, try to hit it out the elbow, get rid of those hands and get after the quarterback.' Maybe with more opportunities to rush the passer, that will develop. Again, I don't think it has to even be in the offseason. Some coaches have a good track record of this stuff. It definitely puts pressure on the coaching staff when you make a selection like this, because if it doesn't pan out right, people will be pointing fingers. Derrik: You know how with quarterbacks we always talk about, 'OK, if we're going to treat the quarterback like this where we've got to teach them the NFL game, then draft guys with tools who can run around and make some plays on their own while they're trying to figure this out.' The defensive end pass rusher equivalent is to be a good run defender and just be violent, so they want you on the field for as many downs as possible. Guys like Stewart, (Travon) Walker and Mykel Williams, they check that box. Even if it takes a couple of years of development, you know you're going to want them on the field all the time just because of the way they play and defend the run. It's not like you're only putting them out there for pass rush downs where they just get limited reps and stuff like that. You can listen to full episodes of 'The Athletic Football Show' for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and watch on YouTube.
