Green Bay Packers: It’s Been a Quiet Camp for Jace Sternberger

Green Bay Packers’ second-year tight end, Jace Sternberger, is expected to play a significant role this season, but it’s been a quiet training camp for him.

For the Green Bay Packers to take a step forward in 2020, they are relying on the internal development of several of their younger players. One player in particular who is expected to play a much more significant role and is also considered a breakout star by many is second-year tight end, Jace Sternberger.

Sternberger would miss about half of last season with an injury, and upon his return, he was primarily used as a blocker, which was an area that he was effective in. This, of course, is a good sign for Matt LaFleur and the Packers’ offense.

While he was targeted just once in the passing game during the regular season, there were several instances where Sternberger was able to get open, but Aaron Rodgers was looking in the other direction. Once again, another encouraging sign from Sternberger.

As the Green Bay Packers’ passing game looks to become more consistent in Year 2 of the LaFleur offense, Sternberger is someone who can play a major role in doing just that. With his ability to line up just about anywhere on the field, as GM Brian Gutekunst put, he’s a “matchup problem.”

The LaFleur offense is predicated on running multiple plays from different formations, but with the same personnel to give the offense that “illusion of complexity,” as he calls it. And with Sternberger’s speed, along with his catching and blocking abilities, he is a player that can create mismatches not only for himself but his teammates as well.

However, while several young players, including Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Rashan Gary, and others, have put together solid training camp performances, one name that we haven’t heard much of is Jace Sternberger.

Andy Herman of Packer Report, who has been in attendance at many of these practices, had this to say about what he’s noticed from Sternberger up to this point:

"“One player who you did not hear from on Sunday and haven’t heard from for almost all of training camp, is Jace Sternberger. It’s been a very slow start to practices for Sternberger, who many (myself included) expected to have a breakout second season.This isn’t to say that Sternberger won’t have a breakout season, or that he can’t be a major factor for Green Bay moving forward, but he’s done next to nothing noticeable throughout camp so far. He did have a really nice block a few practices back, and a catch down the sidelines from Jordan Love during the last practice at Lambeau, but that’s about it.It’ll be very interesting to see how Green Bay uses their tight ends this season, but if Jace Sternberger wants to see more of the field, he’s going to need to start making some more plays.”"

As Andy said, this doesn’t mean that Sternberger won’t be a factor or that he isn’t going to put together a breakout season. But for a player with high expectations surrounding him in 2020, his lack of playmaking in practice has been noticeable.

Although in the days of Mike McCarthy, the Packer offense could find success without a ton of production from the tight end position, that isn’t the case with LaFleur. In addition to Sternberger, the Packers have several other options in Marcedes Lewis, Robert Tonyan, and rookie Josiah Deguara, but of that group in 2020, it is Sternberger who can provide the biggest boost.

In a Zoom call with reporters, Rodgers mentioned that he expects Green Bay to play out of 12 personnel (one RB, two TEs) much more this season. So as we expected, the tight end is going to play a significant role in the offense. But how those snaps are divvied up remains to be seen, especially if Sternberger isn’t consistently making plays.