Carrington Valentine is forcing the Packers to consider making changes
Unless you've been living under a rock, there's no way you've missed out on the Carrington Valentine developments during Green Bay Packers training camp. Valentine has been a stud ever since camp started, making play after play and taking full advantage of Jaire Alexander's recent absence and Eric Stokes' PUP status. He made his most […]
Unless you've been living under a rock, there's no way you've missed out on the Carrington Valentine developments during Green Bay Packers training camp.
Valentine has been a stud ever since camp started, making play after play and taking full advantage of Jaire Alexander's recent absence and Eric Stokes' PUP status. He made his most recent mark during Sunday's practice when he picked off Jordan Love and took it to the house for an 80-yard pick-six.
The seventh-round rookie has certainly made a name for himself and the Packers are well aware of the progress he's made.
"I think he's a guy that obviously has a lot of talent and I think he's approached it the right way," Packers head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters ahead of Wednesday's practice with the New England Patriots. "I think [defensive passing game coordinator Greg Williams] 'G-Money' and [defensive quality control coach Justin Hood] 'Hoodie' are doing a great job with him and he's getting a lot of opportunities based on you know, especially with a guy like Stokes being out. He's taken full advantage of those and every practice he makes a play.
"I mean, you guys saw at the end of the last practice we had making that pick-six and he's super-talented and he's just maximizing those opps."
Valentine's prowess has raised the question of, 'How can the Packers get him on the field with their other top secondary players,' and rightfully so. Football is all about getting your best guys on the field, as much as possible.
At the same time, no one is saying Valentine is on his way to a Pro Bowl berth, or anything. But, it'd be unwise to basically kill his momentum by sitting him once the season starts. Once Eric Stokes returns, the Packers defense will have three reliable outside corners, which obviously makes it tough for Valentine to get on the field since someone has to play nickel.
But even then, LaFleur sees some nickel ability in Valentine.
"I think we definitely have to look at something, because he's done a lot up to this point," LaFleur admitted. "Again, he's got to keep progressing – there's still a lot of ball in front of us in terms of practices. We got two more preseason games, so we'll just see how he progresses but up to this point, he's worthy of getting some snaps for sure…
"… I do think it's a little bit different in regards to, it takes a very specific person, especially to play that nickel position. However, I do think he has some of those traits and we'll just see kind of how it plays itself out."
There's another potential options the Packers could explore and that's moving No. 2 outside corner, Rasul Douglas into the safety position next to Darnell Savage. If the Packers do make the move, it would be the second straight year Douglas is asked to learn a whole new position than what he's used to playing.
But, that's the key with Douglas: He has the traits and the intelligence to pull it off. Even if it's mid-training camp.
"Yeah, potentially," LaFleur said when asked about the move. "I think, you know, it's trying to find those best five I guess. We'd sneak that in there. But yeah, we're gonna look at everything. We'll look at everything and try to put our best people [who] can make plays, and if Sul's one of those guys, I certainly know we had Sul, obviously, in there at the nickel position last year, quite a bit. So, he has a really high football IQ. And he understands the jobs of really everybody in the back end, but I think it's kind of we'll see where it goes."
Valentine has added a whole new layer to an already strong position group. And if the Packers can find a way to get him on the field – it'll certainly be one of the bigger camp stories, as a whole, in the NFL.
Featured image via Kareem Elgazzar-USA TODAY Sports
