Packers practice news and notes, 8/14: The Carrington Valentine show

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was in Green Bay today to host a joint press conference with Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy about the 2025 draft, which will be held in Title Town. Due to the rain, practice on Monday was forced inside the Don Hutson Center, the Packers’ indoor practice facility. That didn’t stop Goodell, though, who attended the practice in person — which was closed to the public but open to the media.

Here’s what Goodell was able to see live on Monday.

One of the most important pieces of news from today came on the injury front, where we finally got an injury designation for defensive end Kenny Clark. According to The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman, Clark was officially listed with a back injury and did not participate in practice today. Clark and cornerback Jaire Alexander (groin) were two “precautionary” holdouts in the Packers’ preseason opener. The defensive lineman wasn’t even listed on the pre-game inactives, meaning that either the injury happened during warmups or it was a game-time decision to keep him off the field in Cincinnati.

Alexander was in practice today, but he only practiced in individual drills and not team looks. That has been the story of Alexanders’ status for about the last week.

Per Packer Report’s Andy Herman, rookie cornerback Carrington Valentine — the star of preseason Week 1 for Green Bay — replaced Alexander in the lineup, once again. On the offensive line, which seemingly gets adjusted every day, the starters were Yosh Nijman, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Jon Runyan Jr. and Zach Tom (left to right) with David Bakhtiari out. Bakhtiari typically doesn’t miss back-to-back practices, even with his “modified” schedule, but it’s worth remembering that the Packers’ indoor facility is a turf surface — which Bakhtiari has struggled playing on in the past.

On Sunday, when Bakhtiari was also missing from the field, second-year seventh-round pick Rasheed Walker got the “starting” nod at left tackle. Here’s what head coach Matt LaFleur had to say about Walker’s run with the first-team offense in the pre-practice presser today:

“Well, Sheed’s been playing really well and, you know, everything is earned. We all know Dave [Bakhtiari] is going to hold that side down, but we’re trying to find our best five.”

Per the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s Ryan Wood, the first-team offensive line did play multiple lineups today, with the second line moving Tom to left guard, which allowed Walker to get a look at right tackle. Based on the last two practices, you can safely assume that Walker is currently the fourth tackle on the depth chart.

In other lineup news, safety Jonathan Owens — who struggled in the preseason opener — remains the starter opposite of Darnell Savage. Owens has been “starting” with the team for about two weeks, though, there is still a healthy competition between Owens, Savage, Rudy Ford and Tarvarius Moore for playing time at the position.

First-round rookie outside linebacker Lukas Van Ness also got the “start” opposite of Preston Smith today, as the team continues to rotate players at the position. At different points this summer, Van Ness, Justin Hollins and Kingsley Enagbare have all been featured as Rashan Gary’s injury replacement. With Gary officially off of the PUP list now, though, it’s only a matter of time before he returns to the practice field and retakes his starting role.

On the kicking front, rookie Anders Carlson flashed more inconsistency in practice today. Carlson, who missed two PATs with wide-right kicks against the Bengals on Friday, also missed a PAT wide right on Monday. Still, he was able to manage to hit on six of seven field goal attempts on the day.

The coaching staff seems committed to giving Carlson these developmental reps, as he’s the only uncontended specialist on the roster. Let’s just hope he gets these missed PATs out of the way before the regular season.

By all accounts, quarterback Jordan Love had another solid day of practice today, but Valentine once again stole the show by ending practice with a pick-six interception on Love in the competitive portion of practice. To call Valentine a star of training camp is an understatement. You can read what Herman has thought of Valentine’s summer in the tweet below.