Cheese Curds, 6/13: Packers secondary excited to start paying off on investment

The Green Bay Packers have one more week of OTA practices before they take their summer break. This team may not have all of its veteran players on the field this week, with several names like Aaron Rodgers and Jaire Alexander likely to sit out the final week of voluntary practices, but all were in town for minicamp a week ago and will be ready to go for training camp in late July.

Alexander’s presence at minicamp, though, was exciting, if only because it gave the Packers their first look since the playoff game at their long-term secondary. The cornerback trio of Alexander, Rasul Douglas, and Eric Stokes represents significant investments by general manager Brian Gutekunst, with two of them recently signed to big contract extensions this offseason and the other a first-round pick just over a year ago.

In a few weeks, we’ll see them all together once again as defensive coordinator Joe Barry and defensive backs coach Jerry Gray begin camp and develop their plans for the trio. For now, all of these players are looking forward to working together, but perhaps not as much as Packers fans are looking forward to seeing them all on the field together in the hopes that they will be able to thoroughly shut down opposing passing attacks.

Keep an eye out for updates from the final batch of OTAs this week, with practices on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

New deal, same determination for Jaire Alexander | Packers.com
Alexander was in Green Bay last week for minicamp, his first appearance on the field since the offseason program started, but he flew in from Florida for a big event a few weeks earlier: the signing of his new contract.

Next Gen Stats' top 10 coverage players of 2021 | NFL.com
Using Next Gen Stats metrics, Rasul Douglas comes in as the third-best lockdown coverage player in 2021.

Donald Driver, Green Bay Packers softball game at Fox Cities Stadium | Appleton Post-Crescent
Over the weekend following minicamp, the annual charity softball game took place, with the current players defeating the legends team, led by Donald Driver and James Jones.

Sammy Watkins Could Rewrite Aaron Rodgers’ First-Round-Receiver History - Sports Illustrated
Here's some more analysis of Watkins' fit with the Packers, as head coach Matt LaFleur says he expects the veteran receiver to be a "big part" of the team's offense this year.

Toure's path to Packers' final roster goes through special teams | Packer Report
On the other end of the depth chart, seventh-round pick Samori Toure will be in a battle to make the 53-man roster this summer. Not surprisingly, making big contributions on special teams will probably be his best ticket onto the team.

Google engineer put on leave after claiming chatbot can express thoughts and feelings | Sky News
Yes, he said in no uncertain terms that he believes the chatbot is sentient. This could be the first step towards building Data or the first step towards Skynet, but given the state of the world right now, this writer suspects it's probably the latter.