Wednesday Cheese Curds: Lukas Van Ness is coming along slowly

Everyone knew that Lukas Van Ness was raw. Or, they should have known at least.

Setting aside the fake stats about how many games he started in college (which don’t matter because Iowa makes their more senior players nominal starters whether they play more or not), he did not have an extensive college resume by just about any conceivable measure. That he’s still raw now isn’t a surprise; he’s only been through OTAs, minicamp, and a couple of weeks of training camp. It’s not like he would have really remade his game in a meaningful way by now.

That hasn’t stopped the handwringing from some corners of Packers internet, though, which is to be expected. It’s not unreasonable to want some form of early impact from a first round pick, much less the 13th overall selection.

But we all knew going in that this would be a growing process, much like it was with Rashan Gary before him. Gary only played 244 regular season snaps as a rookie, and if Van Ness plays around the same amount it won’t be a huge surprise. It can be frustrating in the short term, but Gary proved the value of waiting. Hopefully Van Ness can walk the same path.

Packers rookie Lukas Van Ness feeling more ‘comfortable’ as he navigates learning curve | Packers Wire

Maybe admitting to the learning curve is half the battle?

Despite no shortage of competition, Packers safety Rudy Ford is back with the No. 1 defense | Packers News ($)

Even if Rudy Ford is back with the first team (for now), it’s hard to believe anybody really knows what’s going on at safety.

Saturday’s touchdown held special meaning for Patrick Taylor | Packers.com

Patrick Taylor’s NFL career has been a grind to this point, but his resilience paid off with a touchdown run on Saturday.

Key intel on all 32 NFL playcallers, including Mike McCarthy | ESPN

There’s a new wave of playcallers in the NFL, including one old playcaller in Mike McCarthy.

2023 NFL trade candidates: Jonathan Taylor among 12 players who could be shopped ahead of final roster cuts | CBS Sports

The cutdown deadline makes some teams into motivated sellers.

India becomes first to land on moon’s south pole | UPI

Turns out this was actually the second (unmanned) moon landing attempt this week after a Russian mission went awry.