Matt LaFleur’s first game as head coach. The debut of first round picks Rashan Gary and Darnell Savage. A ferocious battle at the wide receiver position for 1-2 remaining roster spots. It was only preseason and the vast majority of marquee players and starters were sitting out, but Thursday’s first preseason game still felt like an important first step in a new era for the Packers.

If nothing else there was a lot to watch for. As mentioned above everyone was champing at the bit to get a glimpse of what first round picks Rashan Gary and Darnell Savage were going to bring to this team. Fans were also hoping for even a small glimpse into the mind of Matt LaFleur and to see how he was going to run his offense.

But for all of the players that Packer fans were excited to see in action, few, if any, expected that the player everyone would be talking about after the game was 7^th round rookie linebacker Ty Summers. What’s even more incredible is that everyone was talking about Summers even though he didn’t tally a single touchdown, sack, interception, or even a tackle for loss. Even though the big play avoided Summers, it was impossible not to see some of his raw natural talent and ability shine through on the field.

#Packers rookie LB Ty Summers played a team-high 66 snaps on defense & added another 13 on special teams vs HST.. Physical & aggressive in run game - triggers downhill quickly & finishes!!

6013 241
Arms: 31.5"
40: 4.51
Vertical: 36"
Broad: 10'3
Bench: 27@ChyronHego Coach Paint pic.twitter.com/0gz2M8vqGJ

— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) August 12, 2019

Summers ended the day with 10 tackles (9 solo) and a couple of big run stuffs throughout the course of the game. He showed off his instincts and ability to read an offense, his sideline-to-sideline speed, and his ability to tackle in the open field. You didn’t need to be a pro scout to see the athleticism and upside that Summers displayed on Thursday.

When I made my initial scouting report for Summers I noted how he was the quarterback of TCU’s defense. Serving as the main signal caller, Summers seemed in constant control and was constantly in communication with the rest of his team.

Ty Summers is another intriguing, late round draft choice, who unsurprisingly put up fantastic testing numbers at the combine. There are games where you see him fly around the field while serving as the "QB" of the defense. He's my topic of discussion for today's film study: pic.twitter.com/LiqVVOrvAC

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) May 8, 2019

In the scouting video I also noted his elite athleticism, his sideline-to-sideline ability, and that he had a tendency to miss too many tackles. On Thursday, we saw a little bit of all of that. While Summers had a big game and showed what he was capable of doing at the NFL level, he also left 3-4 plays on the field that he would have loved to have back. Summers said as much himself after the game.

Here's the full look at @summerTYme42 (Ty Summers) from Thursday's game. From a scouting standpoint, Summers was 

From a coaching standpoint Summers would be the 1st to tell you he'd like a few of these plays back.

That said an impressive 1st outing for the rookie LB!!! pic.twitter.com/bKm16QM5Qk

— Andy Herman (@SconnieSports) August 11, 2019

In the video above we see him get handled by the offensive line on multiple occasions, miss a huge third down tackle on Joe Webb, and also completely overrun a play. These are some of the same things that showed up in college and that he’s going to have to get corrected in order to be relied upon as a starting caliber linebacker should he be called upon.

But while form a coaching standpoint you can pick apart some of the things that happened later in the game when his legs started to get tired, it’s impossible to not watch his play from Thursday and be excited about him as a prospect moving forward. For years Packer fans have clamored for an inside linebacker who wasn’t afraid to diagnose, read his keys, and shoot the gaps to make big plays. Not only did Summers show that ability, but his explosiveness gave him the extra advantage to get through the line quickly and really disrupt the play.

There’s still lots of work to do. Ty’s going to need to wrap up better, he’s going to have to show he can be consistent in coverage, and he needs to play under control. He also, like most players this time of year, needs to work on his conditioning so that he’s still able to do in the 4^th quarter what he did in the 1^st quarter.

With the recent injury to Oren Burks, the rest of the linebackers are going to need to step up. In somewhat of a surprising move, it was undrafted free agent Curtis Bolton and not Ty Summers who got the call with the ones with Burks out this week. How long that lasts remains to be seen, especially if Summers can continue to play the way he did Thursday.

Regardless of whether Summers is the number two linebacker behind Martinez or not, one thing is abundantly clear—Ty Summers is going to make the initial 53-man roster. A team simply doesn’t find a player like Summers in the 7^th round just to cast them aside come cut-down time. Summers has displayed enough potential that even if he doesn’t make all the corrections needed by the end of camp, he’s still in line for a roster spot. His talent is too good to let go this early.

There’s no question that Summers still has a lot of developing to do, but his first game was a memorable one and gives him a ton to build off of. In a game where everyone came in talking about Rashan Gary and Darnell Savage, he made them leave talking about Ty Summers. Not bad for a 7^th round pick.

Rookie on rookie crime here from Ty Summers on Dexter Williams. Love the physicality from Summers and obviously not a great rep from Dex but he doesn’t give up. He’s trying to grab from the ground. Effort. Finish the damn play. pic.twitter.com/nIQvht3giS

— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) August 1, 2019