Green Bay It's usually a one-horse race, but rookie cornerback Sam Shields is giving veteran Charles Woodson a run for his money in this training camp.
Every year, the Green Bay Packers' defensive backs have a contest to see who has the most interceptions during camp. Passes picked off in games count more than ones picked off in practice, and the player with the most points after the last exhibition game wins.
As usual, Woodson is ahead, but Shields has been a surprise contender, and how he's done it and what he has done afterward have been most interesting. Every time the speedy Shields gets near the ball, something exciting happens.
On Thursday morning, while playing on the scout team, he stepped in front of a Matt Flynn pass to the sideline and returned it for a touchdown. That came on the heels of an interception he returned 98 yards for a score in the scrimmage Saturday and raises his camp total to three.
"That was a nice one," cornerback Tramon Williams said of Shields' latest. "Real nice."
The 5-foot-11, 184-pound Shields has been the surprise of camp, signing as an undrafted free agent with mostly special teams experience at the University of Miami. He was a wide receiver until his senior year, when he switched to cornerback and started 10 of 12 games.
"He's definitely got the speed," Woodson said this week. "He's a fast guy, but he's a young guy and he hasn't played at this level. He still has a lot of learning to do. But one thing you can't coach is speed, and so if he gets the defense down and understands the ins and outs of being a corner, he'll get better and contribute to this team."
Shields considers special teams his ticket to a roster spot, and not just returning punts and kickoffs. In fact, he has struggled to field both cleanly. Rather, it's his ability to chase down punt and kickoff returners - he was Miami's special teams player of the year in 2008 - that could be his most important asset this year.
He'll get a chance to show whether he can handle the physical nature of the NFL on Saturday in the exhibition opener against Cleveland at Lambeau Field.
"That's how you're going to make the team, special teams," Shields said. "That's what the coaches are stressing right now, getting better at special teams."
Ol' switcheroo: It's not what he prefers, but tight end Spencer Havner has no choice.
He is going to have to play some linebacker for the Packers on Saturday.
Havner, who came to the Packers as a linebacker and switched to tight end before the 2009 season, helped fill some holes at an injury-depleted linebacker position during both practices Thursday. It helps his chances of making the team if he can play more than one position, but after catching five touchdown passes last year, it's clear his best position is tight end.
That's where he needs to compete for a job.
"It doesn't hurt to be able to back up another position, that's the way I'm looking at it," Havner said. "But I really like tight end and really prefer a lot of work."
Havner was informed of the decision Wednesday and began attending defensive meetings in order to prepare himself. The Packers were down to seven linebackers in the morning and could have only eight for the game, not including Havner.
Havner said he was caught off-guard by the request even though he trained at two positions last year.
"I wasn't sure how they were going to play it out this camp," he said. "I guess I wasn't expecting it."
As far as one prominent member of the organization is concerned, the move is not permanent. Period. End of conversation.
"He's staying at tight end, just for the record," quarterback Aaron Rodgers piped in during an interview with Havner, his next door neighbor in the locker room.
On notice: Second-year fullback Quinn Johnson acknowledged that running backs coach Edgar Bennett came to him earlier this week and told him he needs to pick up his play.
"Basically they told me to go out and play my game and stop thinking so much," Johnson said. "Just go out and play the game I know I can play. I think they want to see the physicality that they saw last year. They want to see that, but they want to see on another level."
Not only did Johnson drop an easy pass in Saturday night's scrimmage, he also failed to show the physical blocking style that was touted when he was a fifth-round pick in 2009 out of LSU. He has to pick it up because the Packers already know fullbacks Korey Hall and John Kuhn can play.
"I feel like it's in my grasp still," said Johnson, who battled weight and playbook issues last year. "I'm never thinking that I'm counted out. If I'm here, I'm going to get it."
Heating up: A sign on the bank down the road from the Packers' practice facility said the temperature was 95 degrees during the morning practice.
The official reading was 90, with a "real feel" index of 98. For a place that factors in the wind chill six months out of the year, it was hot.
"I think you always hope as a coach that you have a few days like this," said defensive coordinator Dom Capers. "We very well could go back and have this kind of day back in Philly in the opener. You have a couple of days like this and you see what guys fight through it and what guys give in to it a little bit."
No one dropped out of the first practice, even though coach Mike McCarthy gave a select number of veterans the morning off, leaving the others to handle their workload.
"I think you're trying to wear yourself out in training camp," linebacker Brad Jones said. "You stress yourself and test yourself all the time. Camp is the hard part. Games, it's rough to say, but that's supposed to be the easy part."