Packers excuse veterans from minicamp, practice with more watching from sideline

[Da-news-now]

Green Bay let veteran stars like Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews stay home for the team's three-day minicamp session.

The Green Bay Packers kicked off their mandatory minicamp on Tuesday. While the media and fans may have noticed the complete absence of veterans like Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews, the number of players present but unable to participate reached double digits.

With Green Bay receiving an extra week of offseason practice due to the team's Hall of Fame game appearance in early August, head coach Mike McCarthy decided to excuse 15 veterans players from the three-day minicamp. By doing so, the Packers shifted extra work and spotlight onto their younger players, in particular backup quarterback Brett Hundley.

Yet not all of the available players managed to take the field Tuesday. Starting center Corey Linsley headlines the list of Packers watching minicamp from the sidelines. Linsley missed time during OTAs earlier in June as well, but the team has yet to disclose why he continues to sit out.

Outside of Linsley, few of the team's non-participants play on offense. Of the others -- 2015 third-round wideout Ty Montgomery, reserve offensive lineman Don Barclay and undrafted rookie tailback Don Jackson -- only Montgomery's absence comes as no surprise, as the receiver continues to recover from an ankle surgery performed in late December.

The below list contains the full list of players present but not practicing during Tuesday's minicamp:

· OL Don Barclay

· LB Sam Barrington

· CB Robertson Daniel

· CB Demetri Goodson

· RB Don Jackson

· C Corey Linsley

· DE B.J. McBryde

· LB Lerentee McCray

· WR Ty Montgomery

· LB Joe Thomas

[BCOLOR=#FFC20E]Jason B. Hirschhorn is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and covers the NFL for Sports on Earth and SB Nation. He also serves as the senior writer and editor for Acme Packing Company, a Green Bay Packers blog.
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[realitybytes]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...14/aaron-rodgers-green-bay-minicamp/85871706/

Packers excuse Aaron Rodgers, other veterans from mandatory minicamp
Tom Silverstein, USA TODAY Sports 1:47 p.m. EDT June 14, 2016

GREEN BAY, Wisc. – Because training camp will start a week earlier than normal due to the Packers' scheduled Hall of Fame game appearance Aug. 7, coach Mike McCarthy has had to treat this off-season slightly different than past ones.

Though he and general manager Ted Thompson get an extra week to evaluate their younger players this summer, they also have to deal with the best way to handle their veterans, for whom training camp can be a repetitive bore as well as a physical grind.

To that end, McCarthy decided to give his 15 most-experienced players a pass on the three-day mandatory minicamp that concludes the off-season workout program. The entire team will have to report for training camp a week earlier than normal due to five exhibition games on the schedule and if McCarthy were to force the veterans to work this week it would have cut back their vacation time.

read more:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...14/aaron-rodgers-green-bay-minicamp/85871706/