Throughout Packers training camp, we’ll bring you the five things each day that caught our attention — whether it’s a play at practice, something someone said in the locker room, a nugget of news or something offbeat that took us by surprise. 

Welcome to The High Five.

GREEN BAY — Kamal Hadden didn’t start the fight, and he didn’t really end it, either. But what the Green Bay Packers fun-loving defensive back did with wide receiver Jayden Reed while their teammates rumbled certainly beat the alternative.

“Everybody else was fighting so we were like, ‘Let’s get us in a little scuffling too,’” Hadden said of the fake fighting he and Reed engaged in. “But it’s all right.”

And while head coach Matt LaFleur probably wouldn’t consider the brawling “all right,” it’d better not happen on Wednesday, when the Packers host the Arizona Cardinals for a joint practice with the NFL cracking down on fighting.

The league fined the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints organizations $500,000 each for their fighting during their joint practice, and LaFleur wants to make sure there isn’t a replay between the Packers and Cardinals, who are coached by LaFleur’s younger brother, Mike.

LaFleur said he informed his Packers players that engaging in fighting could result in him changing playing-time plans for Friday night’s preseason finale. He said if starters who aren’t slated to play in the game get into a fight, they could be punished by having to play. And fringe-of-the-roster players who need to play in the game to boost their chances will be withheld from the game if they get into a brawl.

And if those deterrents don’t work?

“If there is an issue, [I told them], ‘Hey, you come tag me in,’” LaFleur joked. “[The Cardinals] can tag in my brother. And we’ll throw down on the 50.”

While a LaFleur-versus-LaFleur fistfight seems unlikely, the fight that sparked Monday’s practice fracas also featured two unlikely combatants: Wide receiver Matthew Golden and edge rusher Barryn Sorrell — two guys who are locker-room neighbors, former college teammates, 2025 NFL Draft classmates and fishing buddies.

“We were just being competitive, man, going out there and playing football,” Sorrell explained afterward. “Things happen. Emotions get high. [We] got into it a little bit. That’s my boy. I’m his boy. We’re still cool. It’s football.

“You know how it is when you’ve got a brother-type thing Me and Matt are always getting into it. It’s just how our relationship is.”

As Sorrell-Golden was winding down, it appeared linebacker Zaire Franklin re-ignited the fray, and at one point, it looked like edge rusher Lukas Van Ness took a swing at left guard Aaron Banks.

And then Hadden and Reed got involved — in their own way.

“I mean, it’s never good to have green-on-green crime,” Hadden said of the actual fighting. “But it’s a high-energy game, and things can boil over a little bit. It happens. I was just glad how we got to get back on track and got to doing our thing back in practice.”

Here’s our look at the five things that stood out on Monday:

1️⃣ Usually, early-camp talk is about how the defense is ahead of the offense. This summer, new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s crew has been ahead of the offense virtually every day — and the D was especially dominant on Monday.

Not only did Gannon & Co. have all three quarterbacks — Jordan Love, Tyrod Taylor and Kyle McCord — under siege throughout every 11-on-11 period.

Toward the end of practice, Love threw a ball into the sideline without even looking where he was throwing it — seemingly out of sheer frustration. (Love was not scheduled to speak afterward, so it’s unclear if that was truly his intent.)

Much-maligned cornerback Keisean Nixon had his best day of camp with an interception and multiple pass break-ups, while the Packers run game went next to nowhere, too.

“Every time we go out there, we [are an] aggressive defense,” Sorrell said. “We’re trying to compete. It starts with our play style. We try to have a really good motor out there and we try to play violently.

“Obviously, whoever’s across from us might not like that and whatever happens, happens after that. At the end of the day, we’re going to go out there and we’re going to play our brand of football.”

2️⃣ Banks’ knee might still be sore, but the veteran left guard has now managed to do team 11-on-11 work in three consecutive practices.

The Packers coaching and medical staffs will likely have to collaborate on some sort of plan for Banks, who is dealing with tendinitis in his knee, to get through each game week once the season begins.

Banks took part in 11-on-11 work last Tuesday and Wednesday, and while he did not play Friday night in Denver and the Packers didn’t hold full-fledged practices on Saturday and Sunday, it was still noteworthy that he practiced close to fully.

The Packers were planning a jog-through style practice on Tuesday heading into Wednesday’s joint practice with the Cardinals, so Banks should be able to take part.

“I think he’s made good progress,” LaFleur said, adding that he believes Banks is on track to start the Sept. 13 opener at Minnesota. “Ultimately, he’s got to continue to put those days back-to-back-to-back. I think that he’s definitely getting better. He’s trending in the right direction.”

3️⃣ LaFleur was surprised as anyone at what might be becoming a new trend: Going back to college if your NFL dream is deferred.

News over the weekend that Cleveland Browns tight end Dae’Quan Wright is hoping to return to college football at LSU if and when he’s released by the Browns caught LaFleur’s eye.

Amid ongoing legal wrangling about whether FBS players are owed a fifth year of eligibility if they started their playing careers during 2022-‘23 academic year, there’s now a potential loophole for those players to explore returning to the college game after going undrafted this spring.

LaFleur said he’s gotten no indication that any of the Packers’ undrafted rookies are exploring a back-to-school backup plan, but you never know. And he figures general manager Brian Gutekunst is monitoring such remote possibilities.

“That’s not something that I haven’t put too much thought into,” LaFleur said. “I think Gutey’s probably put more thought into that. But it’s kind of crazy to even think about.”

4️⃣ Trey Smack will put his in-game perfection streak on the line on Friday, having gone 10-for-10 on kicks at Pittsburgh and Denver. On Monday, Smack wasn’t perfect — he was 4 for 5 — but one of those makes was epic.

Smack has hit 51-, 58- and 59-yard field goals in the two preseason games, and he also had another 58-yarder nullified by a Steelers penalty. On Monday, he booted a 60-yarder on the same Ray Nitshcke Field practice field as he’d struggled earlier in camp.

“I thought I hit the ball well, judged the wind right — I guessed right on it,” Smack said after practice. “We were messing around with that out there today and it was moving a little bit from right to left. Kicked the ball well and it goes in.

“It makes it more fun when you hit the long ball, but I just treat it like a PAT, really. It’s like, I’m going to try to hit the ball as best as I can on a PAT and on a 60-yarder.”

5️⃣ With Javon Bullard still working his way back from a foot injury, Hadden and Kitan Oladapo continue work at the nickelback position. Both are showing potential.

Oladapo had an interception Monday against McCord during an 11-on-11 period, and Hadden, who had never played the inside slot position before training camp, seems to have found a new home.

Bullard is expected to be good to go for the opener, but Hadden, who has overcome a devastating ankle injury suffered in December, has made a very convincing argument for a roster spot because of his special-teams skills and defensive versatility.

Hadden, though, isn’t assuming anything with final cuts set for Sunday.

“No, no, no, no, no. Ain’t no hay in the barn yet. Ain’t no hay in the barn yet,” Hadden said. “I just feel like I’ve got so much more that I can show, if I really take heed of everything that comes with the nickel position and learning it more and deeper. I only just started playing it, and I know a lot, but there’s so much that I could have did more in the game, so many plays that I left out there in game, and so many plays that I left in practice.

“I just know that I could be better, and I know I could have a lot more plays to be made out there. Nothing for me is guaranteed.”

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