Lukas Van Ness hitting checkpoints for a breakout season with the Green Bay Packers in 2025

Lukas Van Ness hitting checkpoints for a breakout season with the Green Bay Packers in 2025

Lucas Maness is starting training camp exactly the way we asked him to. You are Locked On Packers, your daily Green Bay Packers podcast. Part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. You were locked on Packers, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Hey, I’m Peter Bukowski and I cover the Packers for the Leap, a newsletter I would love for you to subscribe to. Follow me on Twitter, peter_bukowski. Follow the podcast on Twitter, locked on Packers. Like us on Facebook, subscribe to the podcast, iTunes, Spotify, wherever you find podcasts, you will find Locked on Packers, the number one Packers podcast on the internet and the show for fans who know what happened. They want to know why and how. Thanks to everyone who makes Locked on Packers their first listen every day. We hope you like starting your day with us as much as we like starting our day with you. At every checkpoint so far, Lucas Vaness has done exactly what we’ve asked of him. And by we, I mean us here on the Locked on Packers podcast and of course the fans presumably also the team. Remember uh the team he plays for heading into training camp. What did I say in the off season? I said we are going to know right away and if not the first day, within the first week or two if there is anything here with Lucas Vaness in terms of a jump. Okay, first couple days of practice, it’s just shells. Matt Laflur called it underwear. And they’re doing some scrimmaging. you’re doing some 11 on 111, but it doesn’t mean the same thing. Especially in the trenches where the the pads just make it so fundamentally different. You don’t have the one-on- ones as a measuring stick. You don’t like it’s really a lot more grabbing, holding. It’s much less physical when you don’t have the pads. But it seemed like Lucas Vaness was making some plays, creating some pressure for Jordan Love. A lot of the Jordan Love highlights were like, “Oh, he evaded pressure and made a throw.” And inevitably that pressure was coming from Lucas Vaness who it it is over. He is the starter. Like there is it is done. There is no he’s competing with Kings. No, no, it’s over. He is the starter. Period. end of story. So, that’s a good sign. And then what did we say just what two days ago? Who is going to benefit the most or who are we going to learn the most about when the pads come on? I gave you two names, Jordan Morgan and Lucas Veness. And guess who has been showing out the last two days? Lucas Vaness beat Rasheed Walker the first day in one-on- ones yesterday. Had a pair of wins against Jordan Morgan. Now, we don’t know if Jordan Morgan is any good, but he was a first round pick. He’s expected to compete to start. He did platoon as a starter last year. I said he can’t be beating Travis Glover and Kadem Telfort. Well, he’s playing the good players and winning when it’s one versus ones. Once again, every time you see a Jordan Love highlight, you read the caption in the tweet or the ski or whatever, it is inevitably again, Lucas Vaness created the pressure. We and this is important when you hear oh Lucas Vaness created the pressure or love had to step up away from pressure. Don’t do the thing that I know a lot of Packer fans do. It’s like oh great another pressure. No, in practice you have to hold up around the quarterback and you let the play finish. So, like there was a a a tweet that got a lot of play of Shador Sanders and he’s throwing a, you know, a deep ball, but he gets to the top of his drop and the rushers are in his lap. He takes a hitch. There’s another rusher in his lap. He takes another hitch and then throws the ball. And yes, it’s a nice throw, but like he sacked three times on that play. So when you hear, okay, Jordan Love evades pressure, we don’t know truly how even like watching it, you don’t know how truly close it was because again, you still have to finish those plays. Like Devonte Wyatt struggled to finish those plays. So pressure is not everything. It’s not going to be until we see and it probably won’t be fully live, but some more live opportunities in joint practices. I don’t know how much he’s going to play in preseason. I don’t expect a ton if he’s the no doubt starter. Like maybe a little bit, but he can only show opportunities he’s given at this point. Like he can’t he can’t take down quarterbacks. He can’t go any harder toward Jordan Love or Malik Willis or whomever. So, he can only do what he’s allowed to do right now at this point. And so far, he is hitting every checkpoint you want. Be be the no doubt starter. Okay, that can be dismissed, right? Because he’s a first round pick. The front office sees the potential. The coaching staff likes him. He’s a hard worker. You know, Matt Laflur a set of Baron Serell. Like, I don’t have any any questions about Baron Serell reaching his potential because of his character. Those are the kinds of players the Packers want to draft. But they don’t hand out opportunities. You still have to go earn them. So, Lucas Vanessa is going to be the starter. Then in the shells, you want to see the flashes. doesn’t need to be dominant. You want to see the flashes. Can you be an impact player? Remember, if you get a sack a game, you’re an allp pro in the NFL. You play 17 games and you get a sack every game. That’s one play. One play out of between 40 and 60 plays that you might play. probably not going to play 60, but let’s just say you just need to make the one. If you make a sack every two games, you might be a Pro Bowl player. Like, if Lucas Vaness has eight and a half sacks this year, I mean, they might build a statue for him in in Cheese Head Nation. Eight and a half sacks this year for Lucas Vaness. You go unequivocal win for that first round pick. First year as a starter, eight and a half sacks. Those are Rashan Gary numbers. No, they don’t love the Rashan Garry numbers. But so, okay, the flashes in the shells, translate that to the pads, okay, and not just against Kadeim Telfort and, you know, Anthony Belton and Travis Glover. You want to see it against Zack Tom, against Rasheed Walker, against Jordan Morgan. And it’d be nice to see against Anthony Bolton just for fun. He’s he’s giving that so far. Now, I don’t I don’t generally want to ascribe too much to the qualitative play, especially a lot of the play that requires nuance. Um, just because you can’t see it. Um, I can’t see it. It’s much easier during the regular season when we all watch the games. We’re all on the same pl page. I can watch the tape. I can watch the all 22. I can go back and and find cutups of specific plays I want to see. That makes it easier. So, I try not to make too many qualitative judgments about training camp. In part just because like we’re not all on the same page, right? Um, and because training camp is only valuable to a point, but you are seeing a player who we on this show and I know among Packer fans, the ask has been just show progress, show real meaningful progress. And so far now there’s more boxes to check and then it’s got to translate to the regular season. But we that can’t happen yet. We’re not there yet. So don’t don’t ding Vaness because he hasn’t done anything he hasn’t been able to do yet. He has not had the chance to carry this progress forward. So don’t ding him. Well, I want to see it. He hasn’t done it in the regular season yet. No, that’s true. But let’s let’s understand that this part is a process. last year happened. We know what that looked like. It wasn’t it wasn’t good enough. Frankly, you hope he can carry this momentum forward. So, don’t ding him for something he hasn’t had the opportunity to prove yet. That’s all I’m saying. Speaking of, um, look, uh, I’m just going to have to take the L, I think, on Matthew Golden. That’s where we’re headed. We’ll talk about that next on Locked on Packers. This episode is presented by Yahoo Fantasy. Fantasy football is back. Fire up the group chats. Get your draft board ready and buckle up for a season filled with breakouts, busts, and all the overreactions we live for. It’s all going down on Yahoo Fantasy. This year, me and Lockdown Packers are playing Yahoo Fantasy. And you should, too. Whether you’re a first-time or a veteran making your millionth league, for as long as I have been playing fantasy football, for as long as we have had smartphones, I have had the Yahoo app on it. And I’m pretty sure I had the desktop product that I was using even before I had a smartphone. Like, I’m an I’m an OG on this Yahoo stuff. To celebrate 28 years of fantasy greatness, Yahoo Fantasy is dropping 28 big new features on 28 days, giving you more ways to play, more ways to draft, and more ways to win. It all begins August 4th. Stay tuned and get started by creating or joining a Yahoo Fantasy Football League at yahoofantasy.com/lockon NFL. That’s yahoo fantasy.com/lockdon NFL. And let’s make this fantasy season the best one yet. everydayers will remember when the Packers drafted Matthew Golden. I did not love it. I did not receive it the same way everyone else did. And it it’s not just because I I said pretty unequivocally that if the Packers do break their streak and draft a first round receiver, which by the way, I ultimately said they would do. I predicted they would draft a receiver, um it would not be an undersized receiver, at least by their standards. and he was a player that I thought was a second round type prospect. Someone who would be great value right where they drafted Anthony Belton. Now I had him I had him like you know low 50s I think. I’m happy to be wrong because it seems like right now. I mean, Romeo Dobs made some plays yesterday, but it’s every day there’s something. And I don’t I don’t know how to react to any of it. I really don’t because first of all I can’t remember a first round pick for the Packers where it was just obvious in camp right away this guy is different like you may like Jy Alexander was was had some hurt some injuries in training camp he was hurt but Josh Jackson was the guy who was popping in training camp in the preseason not Jarro Alexander it wasn’t that Jaw was bad it was just that everyone was excited about Josh Jackson which turned out to be wild in retrospect Um, Darnell Savage was a day one starter and there was excitement around him. That’s cheating a little bit because they had two first round picks that year. I still don’t recall it being like this. Rashawn Garry certainly was not like this. Jordan Love, we didn’t get any information. He didn’t really get to practice that much. Um, Eric Stokes was not like this. There was a lot of like, oh, he’s going up against Devonte Adams and Devonte Adams is lighting him on fire. He had some good reps, but there was also some bad ones. That’s not to say every Matthew Golden rep is perfect, but I just I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to react. They’ve had draft picks pop in camp before. It’s not usually their first round pick and it’s never been a receiver because they haven’t drafted one of those in 25 years in the first round. He is the best receiver prospect they have drafted since 2011. Um and and probably before that the highest receiver they have drafted since Jordy Nelson. the best the the highest receiver since Jord Nelson was right Devonte Adams 2014. So we we don’t really have a comparison point here. Receivers come in more ready than ever. Brian Gutin talked about this. Hey, you know, he was at Houston, he transferred to Texas, had to get up to speed at Texas and Gutens thought, hey, that is actually helping him acclimate to the NFL, the transfer portal. And I had never heard the transfer portal piece framed like that. I thought what an interesting perspective. And I was talking to our pal Jason Hershorn and America’s guest, my co-founder at the leap about this and he mentioned that good against talked about this with quarterbacks in the past as well that the transfer portal you’re you’re learning a new offense. You’re having to pick it up. Okay, you’re going to transfer and you got to start all over again just like teams have players do when they come to the NFL from college. Matthew Goolan has already done that. And you add in the fact that even before NIL and the transfer portal and all of that, receivers especially were coming in more ready than ever because of seven on seven, because of all the camps, because of all the emphasis in the passing game in college. For a long time, you were coming to the NFL from a college system where you were just not getting the ball that much. And that’s still, you know, the case a lot of places, but there’s there’s much more emphasis on the spread, on option routes, on on understanding what defenses are doing because the defenses have gotten more sophisticated. These guys are generally more ready to come in, but the Packers love to draft projects. Rashan Garry, Lucas Vaness, and and all these guys are projects. Jordan Love was a project. So, we’re not used to seeing them pop right away. And and I saw one Packers media person um now I forget who it was, but someone suggests is Matthew Golden already their best receiver now. He was getting more reps than normal with the first team because of Dante Wix’s injury. Dante Wix dealing with a calf injury. Um and so more opportunities for Matthew Golden, but he’s making the most of them. And you heard Jordan Love talk about his ability to go and win and high point the ball and and on this show for weeks and and really months going back 12 18 months. I’ve talked about the value because I we you know this was like a T. Hagens conversation. Get someone who Jordan Love the guy doesn’t have to win doesn’t have to be you know routeded Justin Jefferson getting wide open because Jordan Love will give his guys a chance for better and sometimes for worse. And there was, you know, there was a clip that that popped on social yesterday, a go ball that Jordan said as soon as he threw it, he thought he was going to get picked, left it low and inside, short and inside. And Matthew Golden undercuts the ball, goes up and grabs it over Keshan Nixon. The Packers posted later a 60 plus yard touchdown on a big crossing route from from Matthew Golden. Or I guess it was I think it was a double move. and he said it was a move that he didn’t run as hard. Jordan Love said Matthew Golden didn’t run it as precisely the day before in practice. They call it again. He runs it, gets open, and it’s a touchdown. Again, talking about Lucas Vaness, the check marks, the progress that you want to see. He just is already doing the things you you need from him. and on that just give him a chance point. I didn’t expect a 5’11 190lb receiver to be able to be that I’ll just I’ll just win at the catch point kind of guy. But when you have ball tracking, when you have body control, and when you have strong hands, it doesn’t matter how big you are. Like Stfan Diggs can win in adversity situations, not because he’s going to just be bigger and stronger than everybody else, but because his ball tracking hand eye is incredible body control. And and I mentioned this on Jordan Nelson. Now, he was 6’3, 217 listed officially. But think of the best play I think he’s ever made, the gamewinner against the Giants in what was that 2010. 2011 I think it was 2010 hard you know the play I’m talking about late game situation twisting and on the sidelines it’s not that he was 6’3 or or big and strong the ball is away from the defender giving him a chance to make the play and with body control ball tracking and strong hands. He makes the catch, they kick the field goal, they win the game. If that can be Matthew Golden with the speed like there is a a Jord Nelsonesque arc here potentially someone who you know he ran fast but can win vertically can win in in body control situations in adversity plays. We that is on tape. I I wanted him to get open more, but you may recall Jordan Nelson was not getting wide ass open unless it was schemed up like those circle posts, play action, hard play action shots. He where he’s running to grass. Yeah, Matthew Golden can do that stuff, but you remember Jordan Nelson was not like shaking corners at the line of scrimmage. He was able to body them at times. There were good concepts, but it was it was a lot of, hey, he’s kind of open or he ran by somebody because somebody didn’t think he was going to run by him. I don’t want to underell what Jordy Nelson was as a route runner because he was a good route runner and he did use his body effectively against corners. I don’t know if Matthew Golden is going to be able to do that to shield defenders the same way. But, and those are those were some of the reasons why I was not as high on him as some of the other receivers in this draft class. But I look wrong so far. I really do. Now, we mentioned Lucas Vaness and the pads coming on and the impact that can have for him. What about Jordan Morgan? What about this offensive line? I don’t I don’t quite get what’s going on right now. And I’ll tell you why next. 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Plus, if you’re at work and you hit the transfusion 5 hour energy and then you you’re transported in your mind to the golf course. How fun is that? This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Whether you’re meeting up with friends or trying to turn 18 holes into 36, get the energizing boost you need to power through. Order transfusionflavored 5-hour energy shots today. Thank you for making locked on Packers your first listen. For your second listen, check out Locked On Bets. Betting experts Lee Sterling and Kevin Rogers have daily MLB locks and can miss football futures. Find Locked on Bets on YouTube or wherever you get podcasts. We we mentioned this a little bit yesterday with the with the Elton Jenkins bit of this, but I thought it was worth reiterating here. I don’t I don’t quite understand what’s happening with the offensive line and it’s not that I I think that there’s some gross mismanagement here, but ostensibly the Packers are having Jordan Morgan compete at left tackle. One would think that if you are competing at left tackle, it would necessitate you actually playing some snaps at left tackle. And now I understand Aaron Banks has been hurt and Ellen Jenkins wasn’t practicing, so you need some guards. Okay, let Kadim Telfort do that. Let Travis Glover, they they need the refs. Let them do it. If Jacob Monk is going to train at guard, let him do it. Or let Jacob Monk play center and let Shawn Ryan be the right guard and then give one of those backups a shot at left guard. Give Anthony Belton a shot at left guard with the ones and let Jordan Morgan play left tackle. And and I thought of this when at the end of practice yesterday, there’s a dust up. Matt Laflur sends Rasheed Walker to take a lap. Something is not stirring the Kool-Aid here. Rasheed Walker is a nice player. They are not going to pay him. I don’t think. And so what what are we missing here? Why if Anthony Belton is staying at tackle, which it sounds like that’s what they want to do, why is he not getting an opportunity? Why is Jordan Morgan, if you think he can play anywhere, they they they keep telling us, “Oh, we think he can play anywhere. He want He’s competing at tackle. He’s cross trainining at tackles. He can play tackle so he can compete to be the left tackle. You can’t compete to play left tackle if you’re not playing left tackle. So why is he not? Now, I gave you my theory as to why, but it it can’t be over. Like if you’re giving him a chance to prove he can’t, then you have to give him a chance to prove he can’t. He doesn’t he hasn’t even had a chance to prove that he can’t do it. It doesn’t make sense to me. And and waiting doesn’t make sense either. Like, okay, once Aaron Banks comes back and everybody’s healthy, then you start why if what you want is for him to be the left tackle of your future, what why why is the future not now? Why not give him a chance now with the ones? And it doesn’t seem to be happening enough. I I don’t understand it. He’s playing left guard. left guard. Now, instead of tackle, you have other guys. You don’t, and by the way, you don’t really have other backup tackles because we don’t we don’t know what Anthony Belton is. So, it doesn’t make sense to me, unless he’s not really competing at left tackle, and I I don’t think he ever really was. if he’s compete like you look at last year when he was competing at guard. He was playing guard. Like that seems obvious, right? If you’re going to if you’re going to compete somewhere, you have to play there. You have to have reps there. But I don’t think they think he’s a tackle. I think they think he’s a guard. and they’ve abandoned this already. What I think they wanted to do was to light a fire under Rasheed Walker’s ass and say, “Lock in, go in your contract, and if you play well, you will get $25 million a year from someone. It just is not going to be here.” The problem is that doesn’t work if everyone knows you’re full of it. and you’re full of it if the guy you say is competing is not actually competing because you’re not letting him for whatever reason. Like I the the guard excuse is nonsense like the oh we got in injuries here. You have other players, you have other backups. It is more important if you want him to play left tackle, if you want him to compete even at left tackle. It is more important for you to see if he can play left tackle than to get him reps at left guard where where where you just signed Aaron Banks to almost $20 million a year. He’s not going to play left guard unless there’s injuries. So why are you wasting time doing this? I understand. Far be it for me to say anything about the development plan for this for this offensive line. The Packers draft and develop offensive linemen better than any other team in the NFL. But I will tell you, and I’ve said this over and over, they are not infallible when it comes to this stuff. We have seen in the Matt Laflur era them make key mistakes on positional changes and matchup changes in big games late in the season. They did it in 2020. They did not play the right lineup on the offensive line in 2020, and they did not play the right offensive line in 2021. Now, I was critical of what they were doing in 2023 with Yash Nim. It was clear he was better than Rasheed Walker right up until it wasn’t and they kept playing Rasheed Walker kept playing Rasheed Walker and Rasheed Walker took that job. The next time we saw Josh Yash Nim on the field, he stunk and was not engaged and they let him go and he’s done nothing in the NFL since that was the right call. But this does not make sense to me. I would love for someone to ask Malafur about it. We’ll see if they do. All right, back tomorrow. Uh, more to come as we head toward family night, as we head toward the preseason opener, as we head toward joint practices. These are more check marks to hit on on the uh the old rookie worksheet there. Touchstones, if you will. We’ll see if guys like Matthew Golden can hit them. Follow me on the socials. Follow the podcast on the socials. Wherever you find podcasts, go subscribe. Go watch us on our YouTube page. The views are way up on the YouTube the last couple days. You can tell football is back and you can hang out with us every day to stay locked on Packers.

There’s still a long way to go, but the early returns have been good for Lukas Van Ness and a potential breakout campaign in 2025. Plus, it may already be time to take the L on Matthew Golden, and what’s going on with the offensive line exactly?

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