Nearly a week into Packers Training Camp and with Family Night Practice on the horizon; it’s difficult – after the long, dark, NFL offseason – to temper one’s excitement. Packers fans are in a league all their own, showing up at sunrise for practices, filling chats and blogs like this one with comments to get their fill on the latest news on the team, following every camp tweet, McCarthy post practice press conference, wanting to know the surprises and disappointments, wanting to know everything.

Fans were asking for standouts on day 2 of camp. The internet is brimming with praise for so far camp standouts like Ty Montgomery and LaDarius Gunter and full of wondering if the window is closing on injured players like Jared Abbrederis and John Crockett, as they continue to miss playing time and others at their respective positions are standing out.

This is the time, much like the beginning of a relationship, when everything (outside of injuries) feels full of promise and hope. A player is catching every ball thrown at them? Throw them in, at the very least, as the number 3 wide receiver. Multiple interceptions and pass breakups? Maybe cornerback isn’t a position to be worried about after all.

With the first cuts not due until September 1^st, the daily and weekly camp standouts are bound to change. A week ago, few would have guessed that Gunter would be the name on everyone’s lips, that Abbrederis and retirement would be a common talking point or that some circles have Khyri Thorton already cut.

A week from now, Montgomery and Richard Rodgers may still be catching nearly every ball thrown their way and Rajion Neal may still be running Crockett’s roster spot into the ground. Or maybe another less heralded, less familiar player may be the talk of the town.

So, for fun, because that’s what this time of year calls for, let’s look back at some of the players who were standouts in 2014 fifth practice and 2013 sixth practice.

In 2014, Sean Richardson was a stud with numerous picks. Members of the media said he was always around the ball and that he looked really good. Quotes from the CheeseheadTV camp live blog “don’t count him out of the safety competition.” Richardson did make the team, returning from a serious neck injury. He played on defense in 12 regular season games and logged 25 tackles. (Compare with Micah Hyde’s 59 tackles in 16 regular season games). Wikipedia doesn’t even list him on the Packers depth chart. Richardson was a restricted free agent in 2015, and the Packers matched the Raiders contract offer to him to keep Richardson on the team. 

Other notable names from 2014’s fifth practice: LaDarius Perkins was “turning heads” – spent the final two months of the NFL season on the Steelers practice squad – and Alex Gillett a member of the Packers 2014 practice squad and currently on the roster. Chatters were already beginning to wonder about Khyri Thorton and if he would pan out and felt confident that Sam Barrington could replace Brad Jones.

In 2013, fans watching practice were yelling “alligator arms” at Randall Cobb after repeated drops and online chatters were suggesting keeping Cobb on special teams and as an “out of the back field/trick play” option. Loyce Means took snaps with the ones, and people were praising Jerron McMillian’s good camp. During the 6^th practice, McMillian had back to back plays of breaking up passes; McMillian didn’t make it through the 2013 season, being cut in early December.

But the big name people were talking about: James Nixon, multiple interceptions and performing on a consistent basis. Nixon played in three games for the Packers in 2013 and left a goose egg in the stats columns.

Hindsight is 20/20. Anyone can go back to tweets, posts, comments a year later and say “you thought player X would be great, boy were you wrong.” No one is right on every player, every year. And it is interesting to see the players that the fans and the media were excited about early on that did pan out. But at this point in the season, the swell raises quite high, quite quickly upon news of a potential new star and crushes like a black hole on the potential downfall of a player. It’s the thirst for water after walking in the offseason desert; take the news, soak it in and live it to the max.

So don’t be surprised if next week we are talking about completely different players. Players who might not stand out in early morning practices, but shine under the lights at Lambeau; players who take a little longer to learn new plays and begin out preforming ones who caught on quicker. Or players who did great when part of the team was still learning the plays, but fall behind when facing another team in preseason.