6 Takeaways from Packers 2nd week of training camp practices
By Paul Bretl
The Green Bay Packers long-snapper may not be on the roster yet
An early takeaway from the first 10 or so practices that the Green Bay Packers have had would be that undrafted rookie Jack Coco is in the driver’s seat for the sole long-snapping roster spot on this team.
In a majority of the practices so far, he has been working with the first team special teams unit–not the incumbent Steven Wirtel.
However, with both receiving some additional reps during the Family Night practice, neither looked all that impressive working with the punt team–which makes one wonder if the Packers long-snapper for the 2022 season is even on the roster yet.
GM Brian Gutekunst would acknowledge this when speaking with reporters on Wednesday, saying that Wirtel and Coco are also competing with any long-snappers around the league who may end up cut.
Mike Spofford of Packers.com would add that bringing in a specialist late in the summer isn’t an uncommon practice either. In fact, we saw it last year when the Packers traded for Corey Bojorquez.
Wirtel is coming off a season in which he battled inconsistency and was PFF’s third-lowest graded long-snapper. Coco spent his final season at Georgia Tech playing tight end instead of long-snapper, and when he did have long-snapping duties, it was only on the field goal team–not on punts.
As Gutey would also say, once the preseason begins, we will have a better idea of where each of these players stands.