GREEN BAY — Josh Jacobs and Zach Tom didn’t understand why the question was even being asked. To them, the answer was self-evident.
Toward the end of the Green Bay Packers’ sixth practice of training camp — and their second in as many days in full pads — at Ray Nitschke Field, left tackle Rasheed Walker and edge rusher Kingsley Enagbare had become embroiled in what seemed to be a typical summertime offense-defense disagreement.
Only this time, as Engabare disengaged, Walker slammed him to the turf.
Head coach Matt LaFleur went ballistic. Already irritated by two days of his players — cornerback Nate Hobbs in particular — endangering their teammates with overly aggressive physical play, LaFleur booted Walker out of practice and told him to run a lap around the field.
“He said, ‘Take a lap,’ and I was like, ‘What?’” Walker recounted. “I haven’t run a lap since probably like freshman year of high school.”
When the confused Walker hesitated for a beat, Jacobs took the lead.
“I think we all were of the same mind. I just started running. Like, ‘C’mon, let’s go!’” Jacobs said. “I just grabbed him and said, ‘Bro, I’m running with you.’ And everyone else started running, too.”
Or, as right guard Sean Rhyan put it, “One of us runs, we all run.”
When Jacobs and Tom were asked separately why they felt the need to run with Walker, they both wore the same look of incredulity.
“It’s just one of those things where, he made a mistake. He was wrong. It’s camp. Frustrations get high,” Jacobs replied. I didn’t want him to feel like because he got singled out, that he was by himself. You made a mistake, but I’ve still got your back. I just wanted to let him know we’ve still got his back.”
Added Tom: “Matt told him to run, and we just felt like we didn’t want him out there running alone. We do everything as a team, as a unit. So if one guy has to go through something, we’re all going to go through it. It meant something to ‘Sheed, too — knowing we all have his back. If the same thing happened to me, I know they’d run with me, too.”
The impromptu Packers Track Club consisted of Jacobs, Tom, Rhyan, center Elgton Jenkins, left guard Jordan Morgan (who was playing in place of Aaron Banks), and tight end Tucker Kraft — and, of course, Walker.
“At first, I didn’t want to do it. I was trying to gather my breath and then I saw my teammates running. So I was, ‘I’m going to run,’” Walker said. “It helped my mood get better seeing my teammates running with me.”
Walker took a second lap around the field “just to get my thoughts together” before returning to practice. The workout ended shortly thereafter, and LaFleur proceeded to lay into his players for their failure to protect one another — especially in the aftermath of running back MarShawn Lloyd’s injury a day earlier, which may or may not have been caused by Hobbs hitting him low on a running play.
“The message [was], ‘Practice smarter. Always have that team-first mentality,’” quarterback Jordan Love said of LaFleur’s speech, leaving out some of the expletives his coach had used. “Obviously, everybody’s out there competing and football’s a very violent sport, a lot of things go on. But just have that mindset where we’re taking care of each other in practice.”
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