Family Night brought the usual Lambeau Field pageantry, but the practice itself had a little less polish than the fireworks. The Green Bay Packers mixed in some bright moments with a fair share of sloppiness, leaving Matt LaFleur with plenty to sort through before the season gets here.
The rough edges showed up fast. There were dropped passes, dropped picks and too many penalties, the kind of night that made the session feel far messier than the celebration around it. Still, a few players used the stage to help themselves, while others left with more to clean up.
Rookie kicker Trey Smack was one of the clear winners. After a rocky start to camp, he handled his biggest test yet in front of a packed Lambeau Field by making six of seven field goals.
The only miss came from 51 yards. Before practice, Mike Spofford of Packers.com said Smack had drilled a 62-yarder that likely would have been good from 65.
“I know he missed the 51-yarder, but other than that, he was dead on,” said head coach Matt LaFleur, via Jason B. Hirschhorn of The Leap.
That kind of night can matter for a kicker. Confidence is a fragile thing, and Smack at least walked away with some momentum.
Matthew Golden had the kind of evening that gets attention. He opened by flashing his burst in one-on-ones against Keisean Nixon, then turned around and beat Javon Bullard in team drills for a 52-yard touchdown from Jordan Love.
It’s still training camp, and the preseason hasn’t started, but Golden has been electric all summer. He looked sharp again, and he was clearly feeling it after the touchdown.
Nixon, on the other hand, had a rough go of it. The one-on-one setting usually tilts toward the receiver, but Golden made him look especially vulnerable. Nixon has also been outshined by rookie Brandon Cisse this week, both at Family Night and in recent practices.
Cisse kept building on what has already been a strong summer. After dominating Savion Williams earlier in the week, he got his crack at Christian Watson and held up well.
Watson won some reps, which is no embarrassment, but Cisse also broke up a pass. When the two met again in 11-on-11 work, Watson did catch one down the sideline, though Cisse stayed tight in coverage.
He even left practice early, but the indication was that cramps were the issue and nothing more. At this point, the second-round rookie starting in Week 1 feels close to inevitable.
There was also a mixed night for Anthony Belton. The 2025 second-round pick is projected to start at right guard, but he continues to get work at right tackle, and that experiment remains unfinished.
In one-on-ones, rookie pass-rusher Dani Dennis-Sutton beat him twice with an inside move, according to Wes Hodkiewicz of Packers.com. Belton also drew some frustrating penalties and gave up a would-be sack to Barryn Sorrell.
The Packers are trying to expand his versatility, but the tackle reps still look like a work in progress. The question now is whether there’s any real danger of him losing his job to rising rookie Jager Burton.
Sorrell was one of the night’s strongest performers. He’s been earning first-team reps next to Lukas Van Ness for a reason.
Earlier in the week, he beat Jordan Morgan in one-on-ones and picked off Jordan Love for a pick-six. At Family Night, he backed that up with a disruptive run-stopping showing that would have turned into multiple stops on MarShawn Lloyd if full tackling had been allowed.
The pass rush from Green Bay’s edge group still hasn’t fully popped, but Sorrell has been steady, physical and active in every phase. He’s set to matter while Micah Parsons is out.
In Other News...
Brandon Cisse Gave Packers Fans A Brief Family Night Scare
Brandon Cisse has wasted little time making himself visible in Packers camp after Green Bay took the South Carolina defensive back with the 52nd overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. He has already turned in a few promising reps, including some notable work against Christian Watson during Family Night, the kind of early showing that gets a rookie noticed in a hurry around here.
So when Cisse left practice briefly after dealing with cramping, there was a moment of concern for a crowd that has been watching his every move. The exit turned out to be more of a scare than a setback, and the Packers can breathe a little easier knowing the young defenders camp buzz has not been interrupted by anything serious. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Suddenly Face A Luke Musgrave Problem They Can't Ignore
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The timing makes it harder for the Packers to simply wait and see. Musgrave is in the final year of his rookie deal, and Green Bay is already keeping an eye on Tucker Krafts recovery with a longer-term return target in mind for 2026. For a tight end room that was supposed to offer some clarity by now, Musgraves situation leaves the Packers balancing patience with the need to plan for what comes next. [Read more 🡒]