Cheesehead
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- Mar 19, 2019
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He’ll get another one next week with Houston receiver DeAndre Hopkins in town for two days of practice. The defense as a whole, which Rodgers has noted repeatedly has a “juice” to it he hasn’t seen in a while, may start to see its leaders step to the forefront more with a fresh opponent on the other side.
Rodgers said other veterans such as inside linebacker Blake Martinez and free-agent outside linebacker Za'Darius Smith are taking on larger leadership roles as well, so it’s not falling on one person in the first year the Packers have moved on from former leaders like Clay Matthews and Mike Daniels.
“There’s natural leadership opportunities for anybody on defense,” Rodgers said. “What I’ve seen is ‘50’ stepping up and taking a bigger role and then both the Smiths, it’s very natural for them. ‘Z’ is kind of a scary guy just looking at him. Walking in the door, he has that clout, as Julius Peppers did, where there’s a healthy, ‘I’m not going to cross that person.’ They have natural opportunities when they open their mouth to be leaders, and they’ve taken advantage of that.”
Mostly with Alexander, he’s just being who he is. Receiver Davante Adams said it isn’t long after practice every day before Alexander is coming up to him with his iPad, going over the film of their snaps against one another, asking questions about moves and thought processes.
He’s not looking to see if anybody’s watching, because that’s not why he does it, but there’s a good chance someone’s noticing.
“When I see him go about his business like that, it makes me excited to be on the same team with him,” Adams said.
“I’ve spoken highly of Jaire since he first got here. I like the way the kid operates. He walks around with his headphones on during the day and he’s locked in. He doesn’t show up to work like it’s just another job. He takes it serious.”
Whether he gets the practice official to call it his way or not.