-- Two minicamp practices are in the books, and at this point, there still isn't much room to make any judgment calls on who's going to be what in 2018 -- save that for training camp.
With 16 veterans excused from the Green Bay Packers' three-day stretch of mandatory minicamp this week, that also leaves more reps on the field for players with five or fewer years of experience under their belts.
Among those veterans was quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who will be entering his 14th NFL season, and his 11th as a starter. That's good news for his backups trying to not only win position battles, but in the undrafted Tim Boyle's case, a roster spot.
But all eyes have been on the familiarized Brett Hundley and newly-acquired DeShone Kizer, who the Packers snatched from the Cleveland Browns in a trade back in March. Hundley, the presumed backup, has the obvious edge between the two simply due to his accustomed nature with the Packers' offense.
Kizer, entering just his second season in the league as opposed to Hundley entering his fourth, is still adapting amidst a transition that could end up helping his career flourish.
"The confidence is here now," Kizer said on Wednesday after the Packers' second minicamp practice. "Now it's about going out and showing that I can be a consistent quarterback. It's kind of universally known that the ability is there and the potential is there, but now it's about going out every day, every rep, and proving myself."
The Packers place a significant emphasis on footwork with their developing quarterbacks, as was the case when Rodgers entered coach Mike McCarthy's "Quarterback school" in 2006.
Rodgers' mechanics -- from ball placement, shoulder placement, release point and hand-eye coordination -- were molded into a system that made Rodgers nearly unrecognizable by 2008 in comparison to when he was first drafted out of Cal in 2005.
If the Packers play their cards right, they're hoping for similar results with Kizer. Just three months into his tenure in Green Bay, his steady improvement has already been well-documented.
"There's still a couple of things -- you get into the intricacies of the situational game that you might get a couple plays here and there that you might have to think through, but for the most part as far s the base gameplan would go, I think I'm pretty comfortable with what's going on.
"Here, it’s geared towards a more athletic quarterback than in my past systems in a sense that they allow Aaron to make adjustments within his drop through the drop rather than at the top of the drop, which is a new situation for me. I’m starting to gain some confidence with it."
Kizer started minicamp red-hot, more notably connecting with receiver Jake Kumerow for a 44-yard over-the-shoulder completion in the two-minute drill. He also hit receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, this year's No. 207 overall pick, for a deep completion.
In his second practice on Wednesday, however, Kizer went 0-for-7 in the two-minute drill, hovering more so in the vicinity of freezing.
The reps are what count for Kizer, who went from having the remarkably poor 0-15 record of the 2017 Browns under his watch associated with his name to learning behind one of the best quarterbacks ever.
Capitalizing on a series of opportunities and improving as a player all starts in practice, and it should be just enough to erase those demons from memory.
"When you only get a few reps at practice as opposed to going out there and running a practice last year, you try to prove yourself in every opportunity you get," Kizer said.
"You take what's given, you try to get as many completions as you can, but when you can prove that you can have some chunk plays and extend plays and push the ball 45-plus yards down the field on a given play, I think it allows you to want to once again prove yourself, who you are and what you can do."
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