young dbs

The Green Bay Packers started training camp last week. In some respects, it's more a day care when one considers the very VERY youthful group of defensive backs.

When it comes to NFL experience in the defensive backfield, the emphasis is on GREEN for the Green Bay Packers. Of the 11 cornerback hopefuls and 6 safety candidates, 12 are under 25 years of age. And of that age group, only HaHa Clinton-Dix has any real amount of actual NFL game experience. Granted, last year's rookie stars, Kevin King and John Jones (both 23) played a bit, but both were slowed by injuries.

Toss in first-year defensive coordinator Mike Pettine's new approach and system, and it's more school than day care for the young group.

Former defensive coordinator Dom Capers said that his complicated defense was best run with veteran players. Former general manager Ted Thompson's squads were consistently among the youngest in the league, so that might have been part of the problem. But Pettine has had success wherever he's been -- and former players, like Wisconsin DC Jim Leonard, speak highly of him.

Folks, be patient. There's gonna be a learning curve here. Learning how to play defense the Pettine way, and learning how to adjust to the speed of the NFL game. Mistakes will be made,  no getting around it. But will they LEARN from those and improve, or just be the same old/same old from week to week.

Don't look for a lot of flash in the pre-season, either. Teams tend to play vanilla defense, for the most part, in these tilts. So we probably won't know a lot about this defensive group until September. And that's being generous. I don't think we'll get a real read on the defensive backs until October. In other words, until we've seen these kids getting trial-by-fire game experience.