GREEN BAY — Matt LaFleur’s exaggerated, slo-mo nod said it all.

The Green Bay Packers head coach had been asked before Sunday’s fourth practice of training camp — the final helmets-jerseys-shorts session before Monday’s first in-pads practice, which was conducted in 90-plus degree temperatures — whether veteran cornerback Nate Hobbs had to tone down his overly physical play during what were supposed to be essentially non-contact practices.

“The answer is yes,” LaFleur eventually said.

Not only had Hobbs, the Packers’ prized free-agent addition on defense, crashed into running back Josh Jacobs during the first practice of camp on Wednesday, but he’d gotten aggressively physical with wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks on multiple occasions during Friday’s practice.

“This is what I told him: I don’t think it’s malicious,” LaFleur continued. “One of the qualities that we really admired about him is how he competes.

“We talk about competing for the football. We just don’t want to go through a person — whoever that person is — to make a play on the ball. Because that’s how you end up with people on the ground. We’d all be sick to our stomach if somebody got hurt.”

Hobbs’ reputation for physical play preceded him to Green Bay, and after going through Sunday’s practice without incident, he didn’t seem overly contrite about his style of play.

“I mean, that’s football, you know what I’m saying? Things like that are going to happen,” Hobbs said “I just feel like it’s the nature of the game and if you’re playing it the right way, they going to have to tell you slow down. Obviously you’ve got to be a pro about it, but I’m a football player, man. I’m not going to stop being a football player.”

Asked if he was looking forward to Monday’s in-pads practice, Hobbs replied, “Oh, man. I thought we had ’em on today. My mind was right. I was a little hurt when they said we didn’t have ’em on, but I think it’s just a mentality. (In) pads tomorrow, we going to see who’s who.”

Hoop dreams | Not only was Packers tight end Tucker Kraft a successful high-school quarterback, he was also quite the prep basketball player, too. And Kraft put his rebounding skills to work on a touchdown from Jordan Love during end-of-game period — 9 seconds left on the clock, no timeouts, ball on the 12-yard line — near the end of practice.

During the 1s vs. 1s play, Love found himself under heavy pressure and threw the ball up for Kraft in the middle of the field just inside the goal line. While safety Evan Williams looked like he was in position to break up the pass or even intercept it, Kraft boxed him out and reeled in the pass for a touchdown.

“I can go up and get the ball. I’ve shown that time and time again. It’s just getting the opportunity to showcase that,” said Kraft, who averaged eight rebounds per game and was a second-team all-state selection at Timber Lake High School in South Dakota. “I wanted to play basketball more than football when I was growing up. Hooping was my first true love. But it was after my junior season I realized that football was going to be my thing.”

Line dancing | Although starting left guard Aaron Banks was back at practice after a back injury on Thursday sidelined him for the remainder of that practice and all of Friday’s session, the medical staff held him out of the 11-on-11 periods.

“It was great [to be back],” Banks said after practice. “[I] hate, hate not being out there and working with the guys, so it was great to get back out there and get work in.”

With Banks not doing team drills, the Packers offensive line continues to be jumbled while left guard-turned-center Elgton Jenkins remains on the non-football injury list with a back issue of his own.

Although Zach Tom took all the No. 1 right tackle snaps and Rasheed Walker took all the No. 1 left tackle snaps, 2024 first-round pick Jordan Morgan worked at left guard in Banks’ place. Morgan has also taken right guard snaps.

Sean Rhyan worked at both right guard and center, and when he was at one of those spots, Jacob Monk manned the other one.

Rhyan got a scare late in practice when he collided with a defender during a Jacobs run and came up limping badly. He jogged it off, though, and was back in the lineup shortly thereafter.

“Just a little scare, a little dead-leg. When your whole leg goes numb, it’s like, ‘Uh-oh. What’s wrong?’ And then once you run on it a little bit, it feels better,” Rhyan said. “I just caught a knee to the quad. So, normal stuff.”

Extra points | In addition to Banks being back at practice and wide receiver Savion Williams (concussion) also returning on a limited basis, the Packers got rookie running back Amar Johnson (hamstring) out there for the first time after he was activated off the non-football injury list. … Seventh-round pick John Williams remains on the physically unable to perform list with a back injury that required surgery after the offseason program ended. “They had to do an operation and I’ve just been recovering since then,” said Williams, adding that he expects to be cleared for practice “in the next few weeks.” … Rookie kicker Mark McNamee, an Ireland native who was added to the roster as the team’s International Player Pathway program player, still hasn’t arrived to join the team. McNamee, who had goalkeeper in Gaelic football for Ballyboden St Endas in Dublin, had been in the Canadian Football League before the Packers signed him. Asked when he is expecting McNamee to join the team, LaFleur replied, “It’s a great question that I don’t know the answer to. He had to fly back. There was something with the visa or whatever.”

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