Early in training camp, the Green Bay Packers’ coaches kept saying the rookies were swimming in new information and not playing full speed because they were trying to avoid mistakes.
Well, in the Packers’ third preseason game, at Indianapolis on Friday, we saw some of those young guys playing more freely.
Based on the game videotape, something clicked with linebacker D.J. Smith, a sixth-round draft pick as an undersized (5-foot-10 5/8) linebacker out of Appalachian State. He started the second half at inside linebacker and finished with five tackles and a sack.
Smith looks like he has a pretty good feel for the game and was out of position on only one play. The Packers drafted him probably because of his explosion to the ball. When he sees the ball he doesn’t let it come to him, he attacks it. Impressive.
Another rookie who’s now a dark horse to make the team is undrafted outside linebacker Vic So’oto out of Brigham Young. At 6-3 and 263, he was a defensive end in college, and early in camp I thought he couldn’t play his new position. I still don’t know if he’s the answer as a backup now that Frank Zombo is out for a while because of a broken shoulder blade, but So’oto has come around. He had a sack, put on consistent pressure and was good against the run.
So’oto is unnatural in coverage — that’s part of the deal when you make that position change. But he brought some physicalness to the edge. Brad Jones, on the other hand, didn’t show much as the first outside linebacker off the bench. He’s not explosive.
Ricky Elmore, another sixth-round pick, is out of the picture at outside linebacker for sure. Undrafted rookie Jamari Lattimore had a sack in the second half, but against the backups, whereas So’oto did it against the Colts’ starters. The Packers threw in So’oto with the No. 1 defense to see if they should hang on to him, and his deal will be whether he can hold up in pass coverage. I don’t know if he has the niftiness to do it, but he can rush and is physical against the run, so he has two of the three.