The Green Bay Packers are done with the first week of OTAs and now head into Week 2. But before we officially cross that threshold, let's recap what happened during Week 1.

Four Takeaways from Week 1 of Packers OTAs

This ain’t a rebuild

Many people are saying the Packers are in a rebuild. Including their own David Bakhtiari.

"We're moving on from a Hall of Fame quarterback" Bakhtiari said in April on Mike Silver's "Open Mike" podcast. "I literally today talked to Jordan [Love] about this. I'm like, 'The Packers rebuilt from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers.' What are we going to say? It's not a rebuild? Like, that is what that is."

Well, Aaron Jones and Keisean Nixon, specifically, don't see it that way.

At all.

"No, not at all," Jones told reporters last week. "We have everything we need here. If you think we're in a rebuild then you got the wrong team, the wrong place. We're here to play ball, we have everything we need, like I said. Our defense is going to be ready to ball, we're going be ready to ball, special teams are going to be ready to ball. So we know it's going to take all of that and we're going to have to depend on each other in all phases. We're hungry. You know, we're ready to prove a lot of people wrong.

"We know what people are saying. Everybody has an opinion and most of them stink." 

The Packers have a young team, but they also have an extremely talented roster and they do have very good veterans at premium positions. Include a strength of schedule that's in the easier half of the league and a mid NFC North and it's easy to see why the team can compete.

At the same time, there are big questions in the trenches and among the coaching staff. Matt LaFleur and Joe Barry have a lot to prove this year.

Regardless, the players have the right mindset and it should help them tackle the upcoming season.

"Nobody in this locker room thinks of it as a rebuild. I don't even know where that speculation came from, so I said something about it. I'm gonna stand on what I believe in and who I am as a person. I talked to plenty guys that are head guys on this team and we love everybody who left and it's just how it is. It's the business side of this, but it's not a rebuild.

"We are coming to win now."

The Packers are finding new leaders

Aaron Rodgers, the face of the Packers franchise for the last 15 seasons, is obviously gone. So, the team has to find a person -or people- to take his place.

Fortunately, there are plenty of options. The Packers have plenty of good, experienced veterans who can step up and become a leader in 2023 and beyond. On offense, there are guys like Jordan Love, Aaron Jones, A.J. Dillon, David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, and even Christian Watson. On defense, there's Kenny Clark, De'Vondre Campbell, Jaire Alexander, Preston Smith, Rashan Gary, and Rasul Douglas.

So far, though, it's Jones who has really stepped up and taken charge of the leadership role.

"There are leaders, guys like Aaron Jones as well. Even though he isn't in my room [receiver room], he's a leader around the facility, around the building, to everybody," rookie wideout Jayden Reed said last week. "I think everybody is adding to that expectation of being a leader."

Jones is easily one of the best players on the team, so it's great to hear him stepping up like he has. We'll see who else takes on a bigger role over the next few weeks. 

Dontayvion Wicks is a good football player, but even better person

One of the best parts of the offseason is people really get to find out who these players are. There are no games to go over and the media has very limited access to offseason practices. Therefore, it’s more about what makes up the player instead of what the player has done so far, so to speak.

Packers rookie Dontayvion Wicks talked about his main goal off the field last week and man, was it awesome. 

"One thing I want to do in the real world… is mentor kids," Wicks told reporters Tuesday. "[I want] to start a business that helps mentor kids and gives them resources to help them develop faster. I want to help kids out because I didn't know what I wanted to do when I was young. Giving kids the opportunity to find out what they want to do at a younger age instead of getting to 10th-11th grade and not knowing what they want to do."

The fact that Wicks has his head on straight like this should only bode well for both him and the Packers. High-character guys like Wicks are crucial to an NFL roster and the Packers definitely have one, here.

Lukas Van Ness is ‘going to be a problem’

When Packers Pro Bowl defensive lineman Kenny Clark speaks, people listen.

So, the NFL needs to listen to what he said last week about the Packers' first pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, Lukas Van Ness.

"He has a lot of power to his game [and] I think him playing inside in college really helped him out with that," Clark told reporters Tuesday. "He's a really good athlete and he can get around the edge. But his power game is going going to be good for him. I believe his speed to power and all that kind of stuff – once he starts, unlocking those tools and starts understanding it, he's going to be a problem."

Hopefully that's sooner than later for the Packers. Rashan Gary is still recovering from a torn ACL, so the team needs Van Ness to hit the ground running. Kingsley Enagbare showed flashes of promise after taking over for Gary last year, but Van Ness is a whole different animal in terms of athleticism and potential. 

Even when Gary returns, the Packers need Van Ness to be an effective EDGE3 in the pass rush rotation. Either way, it's good that guys like Clark can already see what Van Ness can eventually become.

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There was plenty more to take away from last week, but these four topics took the cake, in my opinion. Some other valuable takes were Matt LaFleur's use of "call-up" periods to challenge the players, Aaron Jones learning the nuances of the receiver position, Jonathan Owens' arduous, yet successful, path to becoming a starter in the NFL, and many more.



This week should provide plenty more to chew on, as well.

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