Jarrett Boykin off to a fast start to 2013

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Packers WR Jarrett Boykin shined during the Packers' only night practice of the summer.
Packers WR Jarrett Boykin shined during the Packers’ only night practice of the summer.

With Greg Jennings playing in Minnesota and Donald Driver out of football altogether, the Green Bay Packers have some job openings at wide receiver, and in the early stages of training camp, Jarrett Boykin is taking full advantage of the opportunity.

Jordy Nelson, James Jones and Randall Cobb will assume the top three spots. But behind Nelson, Jones and Cobb, there’s a competition for the No. 4 spot, featuring Boykin, Jeremy Ross and a handful of rookies.

Seventh-round picks Charles Johnson and Kevin Dorsey have been sidelined due to injuries, allowing the incumbents (Boykin and Ross) to showcase their abilities. And at Friday night’s practice at Ray Nitschke Field, Boykin had a big day.

Boykin made several nice plays during the one-on-one portion of practice.

Lined up against cornerback Jarrett Bush, Boykin got a couple steps on Bush before making a leaping, acrobatic catch in the endzone. The play drew cheers from the packed audience, and even Bush looked impressed by the catch.

On Boykin’s next rep in the drill, he plucked a short out route with one hand.

Later during Friday’s practice, Boykin made his presence felt by making a diving catch deep down the right sideline. Perhaps even more impressive than the athletic catch was the fact that it came against Davon House–one of the most impressive players at Packers training camp thus far.

Now through one week of practice, Boykin is turning heads much like he did last summer. Boykin led the team with 13 catches and 166 yards during the 2012 preseason, en route to cracking the 53-man roster as the team’s sixth receiver.

In June, wide receivers coach Edgar Bennett called Boykin “a tremendous player”–per JSOnline.com. In Jennings’ absence, whoever wins the No. 4 job may be in for an expanded role within the offense.

Although not the fastest–4.62 in the forty–Boykin uses his size (6-2 218) to his advantage against physical cornerbacks. As things currently stand, Boykin is the frontrunner for the team’s vacant No. 4 receiver spot, although Ross has had an impressive camp of his own–as a receiver and return man.

The Packers kept six wideouts in 2012; one would figure the team will keep at least five this year. Through the first week of camp, the top five appear pretty clear–Nelson, Jones, Cobb, Boykin and Ross. Behind the top five, undrafted rookie Tyrone Walker has been the most consistent of the young bunch.

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Marques is a Journalism student, serving as the Sports Editor of UW-Green Bay\'s campus newspaper The Fourth Estate and a Packers writer at Jersey Al\'s AllGBP.com. Follow Marques on Twitter @MJEversoll.

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8 thoughts on “Jarrett Boykin off to a fast start to 2013

  1. Nice to hear that the year 2 guys are stepping up, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed that Johnson and Dorsey are missing their chances to show what, if anything, they might have.

    I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, one of those two could follow in DD’s footsteps and become a future GBP HOF player from a #7 pick position.

    1. Its unfortunate Johnson and Dorsey haven’t practiced in training camp yet IIRC. You have to remember tho that they are on PUP and if they were to practice, they would then be ineligible for the regular season PUP. Packers have to be careful and make sure they’re completely healthy before they Practice. I was looking forward to seeing both of them too, but I think one or both will be getting PS at the minimum. We’ll still get time to see plenty of them whether soon or on PS or next year. We’ll see… Not overly worried yet and none of the other WR have distinguished in training camp among the guys they’re competing with.

  2. It looks to me like TT will probably carry five this year, and a couple of the young guys will get stashed on the practice squad. I think that he is going to try to leave some extra room at DL, since we are going to need as many guys as possible to generate the pressure that was so critically lacking last year. There are also some questions at OL that need to be resolved. I think we look reasonably good everywhere else (maybe a bit thin at LB).

  3. I’m happy for Boykin. Glad that he’s getting a chance to play a bigger role in the offense. But, in retrospect, it was a mistake letting Tori Gurley go a year ago. Taller, heavier and faster than either Boykin or Walker, Gurley is now trying to make the roster of the Browns. At 6-4,” 232 with a 4.55 40 yd dash, what a target he would be for AR! He certainly isn’t as “delicate” as Johnson and Dorsey appear to be. Gurley would be nice to have around, especially following this season when possibly both James Jones and Jermichael Finley sign with other teams.

  4. How was cutting Gurley a mistake? I was high on him last year too, but the fact that he’s been cut multiple times shows that we as Packers fan kind of overrated him.

    1. Not too mention that Boykin beat him out last year. They were competing against each other and Boykin won out. That says something about Boykin and presumably less about Gurley! What are the Packers supposed to do, keep the loser of a competition?

  5. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I’m happy for Boykin. I hope he’s our #4 WR. In addition to Boykin, had we kept Gurley, he’d probably beat out both of the 7th rounders and emerge as our #5 or #6. When Jones and/or Finley leave following this season, we’ll need a big, strong WR to fill the void.

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