News and notes: 1) The first day of pads, sort of – players wore shoulder pads only – meant the first batch of meaningful 1-on-1 pass rushing/pass blocking drills. The most anticipated matchup between All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari and free-agent edge rusher Za’Darius Smith saw both reps go to Bakhtiari.
1a) However, that wasn’t the most impressive thing Bakhtiari did. After practice, he pulled aside first-round pick Rashan Gary and gave him some points for several minutes on the field following the workout. Gary, who won both of his reps on the 1-on-1 against practice squad tackle Gerhard de Beer, said later that it was cool of an All-Pro to take the time to help a rookie.
2) Coach Matt LaFleur wants his players getting off the snap quickly but pre-snap penalties were abundant during one part of the red-zone drill. “That’s something I stressed to the team afterwards is we have got to be more disciplined,” he said.
3) Aaron Rodgers carved up the defense during the final red-zone period with three touchdowns on three plays. He stayed alive and hit Aaron Jones, who made a diving catch for a 9-yard TD; threw a 6-yarder to Robert Tonyan and a 2-yarder to Jimmy Graham against tight coverage from Adrian Amos.
4) With Tim Boyle (personal reasons) gone, rookie Manny Wilkins saw his reps spike. He ended practice with a 2-yard TD scramble.
5) For all the balls that J’Mon Moore has dropped since the start of last training camp, it’s worth noting that he made one catch with a high degree of difficulty for a 25-yard touchdown from DeShone Kizer against tight coverage from Tony Brown.
6) Sam Ficken, who missed two of six field goals on Thursday, made all four – from 25, 30, 33 and 37 – while Mason Crosby (calf) remains out.
7) New to the DNP list: RB Jamaal Williams (hamstring), RT Bryan Bulaga (veteran rest), DT Fadol Brown (calf) and Boyle.