Green Bay Packers: 13 Quick Observations from Preseason Finale
By Paul Bretl
How did Kylin HIll make it to the Green Bay Packers in Round 7?
What a find for the Green Bay Packers at the back end of the seventh round. Kylin Hill is so fun to watch with the ball in his hands. He shows patience, burst, and wiggle in the open field. As I noted in my Instant Takeaways article, we know that Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon will take a bulk of the running back snaps — as they should — but LaFleur needs to get Hill some touches as well. To put it simply, he’s a playmaker.
Isaiah McDuffie helped himself immensely
Isaiah McDuffie participated in OTAs and mini-camp but began training camp on the NFI list and spent a good portion of this last month on the sidelines. As a sixth-round rookie, that doesn’t exactly bode well for your chances at making the final roster. However, after a solid performance against New York, McDuffie played most of Saturday’s game against Buffalo, finishing with nine tackles and a sack. We also saw him utilized as a blitzer, similarly to how Oren Burks was used Week 1 against Houston.
While that was certainly an impressive performance, what McDuffie really has going for him is that he can be a Day 1 special teams contributor–and if he makes the roster, it will be for that reason, the ability to tally nine tackles and a sack are just a bonus.
Most importantly–no injuries
Remember, going 0-3 in the preseason doesn’t matter. We’ve seen the Detroit Lions go 4-0 in the preseason and then 0-16 during the regular season. For all three preseason games, the Green Bay Packers had 30+ players inactive–these performances are not indicative of who they are going to be this season.
What does matter, however, is that no major injuries were sustained. That is a huge win and all that truly matters.