GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It was a collection of firsts for Green
Bay Packers tight end Brandon Bostick. First catch, first touchdown, first
(attempted) Lambeau Leap.
For a player who originally stepped onto the Packers’
practice field on a tryout basis during Green Bay’s 2012 rookie orientation
camp, it’s clear Bostick has made a lot of progress in the past 18 months.
Bostick wasn’t satisfied, though, describing his performance
against the Philadelphia Eagles as “a decent game.” His own standards have been
placed at that high level partially because the Packers’ coaching staff isn’t
letting the 24-year-old get too excited about anything.
“I think it was a little bit of a confidence-booster for
him, because we’ve known what kind of talent he is, as far as athletically,”
tight ends coach Jerry Fontenot said. “And just being able to put it together
in the right situation at the right time, he got an opportunity on the ball and
he made a good catch and got the ball in the end zone. Nothing more than that.
“He did what we expected him to do based on the way the play
worked out. It’s good to see that he looked the catch all the way in and used
the fundamentals that we coach all the time. Outside of that, I think it was
just a step in the right direction. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a breakout
game, necessarily.”
At 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds with a ton of athleticism,
Bostick went undrafted last year because of how raw he was as a football
player. Playing at the Division II level at Newberry College also made it more
difficult for Green Bay -- or any NFL organization -- to judge whether his
skills could translate to the professional ranks.
Bostick’s ability to block from the tight-end position is
one aspect that’s held him back, but he’s beginning to feel confident in that
area.
“I definitely think I made tremendous strides in the
blocking and the passing game,” Bostick said. “Coaches trust me now to go out
there and be able to make plays for the team.”
Bostick’s 29 snaps in the Eagles game were a career high.
Fontenot, however, brought Bostick back to reality in some ways.
“I’ve made it a point that his overall performance needs to
improve,” Fontenot said. “That (touchdown catch) was a good play, great, let’s
learn from it and let’s move forward. So the confidence building, it’s like
Coach (Mike McCarthy) talks about, we talk about stacking small successes and
that was a small success in a body of work that needs improvement overall.”
After a full year on the practice squad in 2012 and only
playing 12 offensive snaps in the first six games this season, Bostick has
gotten a chance to play significantly more in recent weeks due to Jermichael
Finley’s neck injury. Finley had been playing 70 percent of the offensive
snaps, but now that he’s on injured reserve, there are opportunities for
players like Bostick to step up.
“We have to see who’s going to rise to the top,” Fontenot
said. “I think Brandon is certainly moving in the right direction. He’s not
there yet.”
Bostick has a similar body type to Finley (he’s two inches
shorter and three pounds heavier) and can nearly match his athleticism. But let
the comparisons stop right there, at least for now.
“I’m not trying to be Jermichael Finley,” Bostick said. “He’s
a tremendous player, he did a lot of great things here and he’s a great tight
end. But I’m just trying to be the best I can be, day in and day out. Just
trying to be the best Brandon Bostick I can be.
“I think I’ve got a long way to go before I’m able to be a
dominant tight end.”
Bostick got to keep the ball from his first NFL touchdown.
Even though that play was also the first touchdown pass of Scott Tolzien’s
career, he let Bostick have the ball to mark the occasion.
If Bostick is going to make getting in the end zone a
regular occurrence, Fontenot already established there’s a lot of work to be
done. But once the touchdown is scored and the points are on the scoreboard,
there’s also some work to be done.
“The celebration after the catch was really anticlimactic,
and we kind of coached him up on that,” Fontenot said with a smile. “Just
tossing the ball up in the air in an awkward manner, we really kind of laughed
about it.”
And as for his first-ever Lambeau Leap, that didn’t go as
planned, either.
“I was tired,” Bostick said. “It was a long drive and I just
tried to get up there. It was actually higher than I thought it was, so I just
tried to jump up, but it didn’t work.”
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