Hometown Broadcasting Sports Thursday 7/2/20
2 July 2020 Sports
The Packers announced on Wednesday the signing of their top two draft picks in 2020, first round pick Jordan Love, and second round pick AJ Dillon. 6 of the team’s 9 draft picks are now under contract.
Love, the quarterback from Utah State, received a fully guaranteed contract. This according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. It was reportedly a guaranteed four-year contract worth $12,383,470 with a signing bonus of $6,566,160. Garafolo said it’s the first time the number 26 pick received a fully guaranteed deal under the current rookie contract system.
Dillon, a running back from Boston College, announced his signing before the Packers did with a social media post. Both Love and Dillon are already in Green Bay, working out at Synergy Sports to prepare for training camp, which is still scheduled to open on July 28th.
Six of the nine picks from the 2020 draft are now under contract.
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The NFL will cut its preseason in half and push back the start of exhibition play so teams have more time to train following an all virtual offseason made necessary by the coronavirus pandemic, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the league hasn’t announced that the preseason will be cut from four games to two. However, the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) has yet to sign off on a shortened preseason.
According to the NFL Network, some NFLPA members are in favor of playing no preseason games ahead of the regular season. More details are expected to be released Thursday. The pandemic forced teams to conduct their entire offseason programs via videoconference. So, teams will be gathering together for the first time when training camps open July 28. Minus the usual minicamps, on-field practices and in-person weight training from April to June, players’ conditioning won’t be what it normally is. So, eliminating the first week of preseason games Aug. 13-16 will give them more time to ratchet up their football fitness.
Teams will now play exhibitions Aug. 20-24 and Aug. 27-31 during what were originally the second and third weeks of exhibition play with all 32 teams playing one home and one road game. Most of those games will remain the same as originally scheduled although some matchups in that second slate will have to be changed so every team gets a game at home.
The exhibition finales on Sept. 3 were also scrapped, giving teams more time to get ready for the regular season, which opens Sept. 10 with Houston at Kansas City.
There are no changes to the regular season schedule. The league continues to draw up protocols, not only for COVID-19 mitigation but for ramping up practices during the first few weeks of training camp. The annual Hall of Fame Game pitting Pittsburgh and Dallas on Aug. 6 was recently scrapped as the induction ceremonies were pushed back to 2021.
Each team will have one home and one away game once some of the scheduling is reshuffled, which isn’t necessary for the Packers.
The Packers, who were scheduled to host the Arizona Cardinals and visit the Kansas City Chiefs those weeks, will now only play the Cleveland Browns at home before visiting the New York Giants. If the Giants game stays scheduled for August 29th, there will be exactly 14 days between then and the season opener on September 13, in case anyone will need to quarantine. The preseason schedule change report came shortly after the Packers announced St. Norbert College won’t be hosting them while training camp is in session on Wednesday afternoon.
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For the first time in decades, the Green Bay Packers won’t be staying at St. Norbert College while players attend training camp. The team announced the change Wednesday afternoon, citing protocols put in place by the NFL that has clubs maximizing use of their own facilities to limit exposure to the pandemic. Instead, the Packers say they will use their facilities at Lambeau Field for their entire training camp operations. Those operations include practice, meals and meetings. At this time, housing arrangements haven’t been finalized, and are currently being processed. The team has stayed at St. Norbert College for training camp since 1958. Players have traditionally stayed in an on-campus residence hall, and had dinner in the common area.
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The Fond du Lac Dock Spiders rang in the 2020 season with a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Wisconsin Woodchucks on Wednesday night at Herr-Baker Field at Marian University. The Dock Spiders will travel to Wausau tonight to take on the Wisconsin Woodchucks (0-1) at 6:35 pm.
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