Hopefully training camp crowd favorite Jared Abbrederis is ok, got his knee hurt in practice yesterday. He had a great practice the day before proving he belongs; No surprise here at CF! Coach does not know extent of the injury;....Jeff Janis has been out because of an illness; hopefully to be back soon...Frustrating! Both of the rookies are more than capable of cracking the Opening Day 53-man roster!
McCarthy says he doesn't know extent of Abbrederis injury
Packers coach Mike McCarthy said WR Jared Abbrederis missed practice Friday because of a knee injury, but he was not able to provide any specifics on the extent of the injury.
McCarthy became testy when pressed on Abbrederis' injury and repeated that he had not met with the medical staff and didn't know whether the injury was serious.
"I haven’t had time to sit down with the medical staff," he said. "Right now, he has a knee. He completed practice yesterday."
Abbrederis was at practice Friday with a sleeve on his right leg. McCarthy said the injury occurred on Thursday, but he provided no details.
The fifth-round pick from Wisconsin and a crowd favorite at training camp, Abbrederis had a very good practice on Wednesday and was starting to show he belonged. He was receiving reps on the punt return team and was being worked in with a host of other young receivers such as Davante Adams, Kevin Dorsey, Chris Harper and Alex Gillett.
It was not obvious to reporters that Abbrederis got hurt in practice Thursday. He was able to jog from the field to the sideline, but on Friday mostly stood around or threw the ball with fellow rookie Jeff Janis, who is on the non-football injury list because of an illness.
McCarthy said he was hopeful that Janis would be back soon.
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How many NFL Teams have 4 white WR's in Training Camp?
Alex Gillett's QB-to-WR transition running smoothly
The best play of training camp to date came from one of the most unlikely sources. A second-year, undrafted, former Eastern Michigan quarterback.
During Thursday’s practice, Alex Gillett ran a “go†route deep up the left sideline, Matt Flynn aired it out and Gillett made a circus catch over cornerback Demetri Goodson.
“You’ve got to make a play,†Gillett said. “Our coach talks about going up and getting the ball — high-pointing it — and I just try to go up in the air and get it at it’s highest point.â€
Gillett has been somewhat of a forgotten man on the Packers’ wide receiving corps. Beyond Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Jarrett Boykin and second-rounder Davante Adams are seven wideouts competing for two, possibly, one spot. Gillett was cut from Packers camp last summer and then spent the final nine weeks on the team’s practice squad.
The redshirt year helped. This summer, Gillett said he is finally feeling like a wide receiver.
A three-year quarterback at Eastern Michigan, Gillett switched to wide receiver midway through his senior season and caught 14 passes for 132 yards with one touchdown.
“Last year in training camp, I felt like I had that quarterback in me," he said. "But now I’ve gotten more reps, and more into it, I’m more comfortable out there.â€
Gillett has the right receivers to work with day to day. Nelson, Cobb and Jared Abbrederis all have strong backgrounds at quarterback. And this background can give receivers an edge — both Nelson and Cobb have excelled on broken plays with Aaron Rodgers and can spot glitches in coverage.
Nelson was a second-team all-state selection in high school at quarterback in Kansas. Cobb played quarterback in high school and college at Kentucky. Gillett completed 52.9% of his passes for 4,453 yards with 35 touchdowns and 34 interceptions in three-plus years at Eastern Michigan.
Benched as a senior, he asked his coach if could play receiver and is now in Packers camp. Five days in, he’s been fairly consistent.
Gillett bounced back from his first drop of camp with the deep ball on Thursday.
Growing up — through Pop Warner, high school, college — he had always been a quarterback. In switching it up, Gillette did have to swallow his pride.
“A little bit,†Gillett said. “I always liked having the ball in my hands, which I assuming every quarterback did. It’s a new challenge, it’s a new thing for me to get better at. It’s working out.â€
Still, he believes the experience helps. “When you’re a quarterback, you have to see the whole defense,†Gillett said. “So when you’re playing receiver, most times people think you’re just playing out there, but looking in and seeing the whole defense and seeing what’s going on definitely helps you, yourself, out there.â€
He faces an uphill climb the rest of camp.
Of the young wideouts, Myles White has probably stood out the most. Again on Thursday, he flashed ability after the catch, turning two short passes into long gains.
The other receivers in camp are bigger, faster --- Gillett may remain a long shot. On Thursday, he did dot the radar.
“You don’t want to end your day with a drop or something like that," Gillett said. "So it was nice to get that one in, and keep that fresh in mind instead of the drop.â€
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