Our daily look at what happened at Ray Nitschke Field:

Thumbs up: Sam Shields may be green as grass and have only played cornerback for one year at the University of Miami (Fla.), but the kid knows how to make an impression. During 7-on-7 drills, the speedy Shields undercut receivers’ routes to break up passes. Then, he registered the first interception of camp when he stepped in front of a Matt Flynn pass intended for Chastain West to end a team period. Shields’ perfectly timed break on the ball left him in the open field for what would have been a pick-six interception for a touchdown.

Thumbs down: While coach Mike McCarthy lauded the Ray Nitschke Field drainage system for how well it handled the previous night’s rain and the day-long, off-and-on showers that lingered around Green Bay, two players said after practice that they had serious concerns about the wet, slippery field conditions. While the 2-hour, 31-minute practice didn’t have to endure any major downpours, there were several drizzles that kept the field wet throughout. McCarthy’s decision to stay outside rather than move inside the Don Hutson Center – he said he had “zero intention” of practicing inside – was understandable given the 4,000 or so fans cramming the stands, but when the coach said the field was “great” and “excellent,” he would have found a few players in the locker room who would’ve disagreed.

Play of the day: It was only one practice, but both punters Tim Masthay and Chris Bryan impressed. McCarthy had two extended punting periods, and according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s Rob Demovsky, who has turned covering the punting sessions into an art form, Bryan performed better in the first one, averaging 47.8 yards and 4.28 seconds of hang time compared to 44.4 yards and 4.34 seconds of hang time by Masthay, who had one shank that nearly landed in the stands. In the second session, though, Masthay had the better hang-time numbers on Demovsky’s stopwatch, averaging 51.3 yards and 4.56 seconds of hang time compared to 45.7 yards and 4.34 second of hang time by Bryan.

Camp confidential: With just over half an hour left in practice, a bird – some believed it was a crane, others thought it was a loon – flew smack-dab into the wall of the Hutson Center and tumbled to the ground below. After regaining its bearings, the bird flew across the field – past general manager Ted Thompson, who was standing alone at that end of the field – and over the stands. In my 14 training camps, it was one of the oddest sights I’ve seen.

Injury report: The three players on the physically unable to perform list – cornerback Al Harris (knee), safety Atari Bigby (ankle) and running back James Starks (hamstring) – were the only three players who did not participate in practice. Starting left outside linebacker Brad Jones left practice after taking a helmet to the lower back but said afterward that the injury was “minor.”

Practice schedule: The Packers practice twice Sunday, at 8:45 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

GREEN BAY – First-round draft pick Bryan Bulaga is in the fold, which means the Green Bay Packers will open training camp on Saturday afternoon with every one of their players under contract.

Bulaga signed Friday what ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported is a five-year deal worth a total of $14.75 million and including $8.76 million in guaranteed money.

Bulaga, the 23^rd overall pick in the April NFL Draft, traveled to Green Bay earlier this week and will be taking his physical with the rest of the team at Lambeau Field today.

With Bulaga signing and restricted free-agent safety Atari Bigby having signed earlier in the week, the Packers now have 82 players under contract, although the team has yet to announce either deal. There is a hard 80-man roster limit for camp, which means they will have to make two personnel moves before Saturday’s 2 p.m. camp-opening practice.

One of those moves figures to be putting cornerback Al Harris, who is coming back from a near-catastrophic left knee injury that included a torn anterior cruciate ligament, on the active physically unable to perform list until he can pass his physical. Safety/returner Will Blackmon, who’s coming off a torn ACL in his left knee, is also an active PUP candidate, which would keep the team from having to release a player on the eve of camp.

Bulaga’s contract talks sped up after the Dallas Cowboys signed the 24^th overall pick, receiver Dez Bryant, to a five-year, $11.8 million contract which contained $8.3 million in guaranteed money.

Bulaga’s deal is a significant increase over the deal Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Michael Oher, who was selected 23^rd overall last year, received. Oher signed a five-year, $13.8 million deal after missing the first two days of camp last year.

GREEN BAY – Mike Neal not only announced the news, but he put a little pressure on first-round pick Bryan Bulaga, too.

The Green Bay Packers’ second-round pick announced on his Twitter account (@mneal96) Monday afternoon that he had agreed to terms, meaning six of the team’s seven draft picks are under contract and will be ready for the training camp, which starts with players reporting on Friday and kicks off with a 2 p.m. practice on Saturday.

Neal’s signing is key because the team is looking for someone to step up in the defensive line rotation following the indefinite suspension of Johnny Jolly, who started all 16 games each of the last two years but will miss the season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.

Neal could serve as the fourth defensive lineman after starters Ryan Pickett, B.J. Raji and Cullen Jenkins.

In his Twitter post, Neal wrote: Agreed to terms! Let's go @BBulaga!

@BBulaga, of course is Bulaga, the Packers’ first-round pick and the only remaining unsigned draft pick. The Packers’ attempts to sign Bulaga should be slightly better following the Dallas Cowboys’ signing of wide receiver Dez Bryant earlier this week. Bryant was the 24^th overall pick, one after Bulaga.

According to Todd Archer of the Dallas Morning News, Bryant signed a five-year deal worth $11.8 million that includes $8.3 million guaranteed. He will receive a $1.95 million signing bonus immediately and a $570,000 roster bonus in another week. His 2010 base salary will be $320,000, according to Archer.

GREEN BAY – Johnny Jolly won’t be playing for the Green Bay Packers in 2010. And maybe for awhile after that.

The NFL suspended the Packers defensive end “indefinitely without pay” on Friday for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy, the league announced.

Jolly’s suspension begins immediately and will continue through at least the 2010 season.  He will be eligible to apply for reinstatement following Super Bowl XLV, the league said.

Packers general manager Ted Thompson said in a statement issued by the team that Jolly “is a good player that loves everything about the game of football. We appreciate the contributions he has made to the Packers the past four seasons. His focus and priorities now lie elsewhere – our thoughts are with him during this difficult personal time.”

Jolly was excused from the team’s mandatory minicamp last month by coach Mike McCarthy so he could prepare to stand trial for felony drug possession in Houston on July 30 – the same day the players are to report for the start of training camp – in connection with a July 2008 incident. Jolly had not attended any of the club’s voluntary organized team activity practices while he was an unsigned restricted free agent.

“We feel it's important for him to concentrate on his legal situation,” McCarthy said at the time.

Because of the suspension, Jolly won’t receive a dime of the one-year, $2.5 million salary he was set to receive for the 2010 season after signing his restricted free-agent tender last month.

On May 21, Harris County Judge Mike Anderson imposed harsh restrictions on Jolly’s bond, including submitting to a hair follicle test for drugs, a 6 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew and a drug/alcohol evaluation

The Packers have known that Jolly’s legal situation could lead to a suspension for quite some time, and that even if his oft-delayed trial ended in an acquittal, he still could be facing a suspension from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

To prepare for that possibility, the Packers shifted 2009 first-round pick B.J. Raji inside to nose tackle, moved nose tackle Ryan Pickett outside to end and also drafted two defensive ends (second-rounder Mike Neal and seventh-rounder C.J. Wilson) in April. 

Jolly, 27, was arrested after 1 a.m. on July 8, 2008, in the parking lot of a Houston club known for drug and gun use. A police gang unit pulled over Jolly's car because of excessive noise coming from amplified bass music. Jolly was arrested on a charge of possession of a controlled substance after police "smelled the strong odor of codeine" in cups in the vehicle, according to the police report. Lab tests subsequently confirmed the codeine.

The beverage, called “Purple Drank,” was recently a focus of an ESPN “Outside The Lines” report, in which Jolly was prominently featured.

The charges against Jolly were dropped in July 2009 so lab technicians could become proficient with a new piece of equipment that measures codeine. Jolly was re-indicted in December 2009. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

GREEN BAY -- The Green Bay Packers' profit from operations fell for the fourth straight year, to $9.8 million during the 2009-'10 fiscal year -- exactly the kind of continuing economic trend the NFL will use as Exhibit A in its labor negotiations with the NFL Players Association.

As the NFL's only publicly-owned franchise, the Packers' financial information will be the only numbers available during negotiations between owners and the NFLPA on a new collective bargaining agreement. The current CBA expires in March, and a work stoppage looms as the two sides battle over how to share revenues of sports' most popular league.

The Packers' finances will be front-and-center in the debate because the owners have decided not to open their books to the NFLPA to show how rising player costs and dwindling profits are hurting team owners.

"Obviously there's a little more attention this year," said Packers president/CEO Mark Murphy, whose financial report was mailed to shareholders Wednesday in advance of the July 29 shareholders meeting.

And the Packers' numbers clearly illustrate the owners' argument, as expected.

The Packers' net operating profit of $9.8 million continued a downward trend that has seen the profit from operations fall from $34 million in 2006-'07 to $21 million in 2007-'08 to $20.1 million in 2008-'09.

Murphy, vice preident of administration Jason Wied, treasurer Larry Weyers and vice president of finance Paul Baniel unveiled the numbers to a handful of local reporters Wednesday morning, in advance of a national conference call with other NFL reporters.

Total operating revenues were $258 million last year, up from $248 million the year before. Operating expenses, meanwhile, rose from $228 million in 2008-'09 to $248 million in 2009-'10. The biggest increase was in player costs, which went from $139 million in 2008-'09 to $161 million in 2009-'10.

"The expenses we controlled have been either flat or down," Wied said. "The one expense line that has grown is the on we don't have direct control over, and that's player costs."

Murphy said the $22 million increase in player costs reflects a trend in which player salary costs have grown by 11.8 percent annually while revenues have grown at only a 5.5 percent annual rate.

"Player costs are growing at twice the rate of revenue," Murphy said. "That's the reason why we (the owners) opted out of the CBA."

The Packers did see an uptick in overall net income. After investment losses resulted in a $4 million net profit the previous year, last year's bottom line showed a net income of $5.2 million.

"The stabilization of the market helped us," Murphy said. "We basically lost less money (in the market)."

Local revenues have been flat or down slightly over the past three years, with pro shop sales and other local sales and marketing revenue falling from $43.7 million to $43.0 million last year.

Still, the focus from a team -- and league -- perspective is on rising player salaries. Murphy said of the $132 million in incremental revenue the team has taken in over the past four years, $123 million -- or 94 percent -- has gone to players.

"The Packers are financially strong, Weyers said. "But we do have some serious concerns about the system."

Murphy tried to walk the fine line of showing the disconcerting financial trend league-wide while reassuring fans of the league's smallest market team that the franchise remained on solid ground.

"There's obviously a lot of uncertainty," Murphy said. "But I feel from a financial standpoint we're well-positioned."  

GREEN BAY – Four down, three to go.

The Green Bay Packers have signed tight end Andrew Quarless, the first of their two fifth-round draft picks, the team announced Monday. The team had already signed fellow fifth-round pick Marshall Newhouse, sixth-round pick James Starks and seventh-round pick C.J. Wilson.

Quarless was a four-year letterman at Penn State. He appeared in 49 career games, including 29 starts, and finished his career as the Nittany Lions’ all-time leader in receptions by a tight end (87) and second in receiving yards by a tight end (1,146). 

The Packers have three picks left to sign before camp opens July 31: Safety Morgan Burnett, their third-round pick from Georgia Tech; defensive end Mike Neal, their second-round pick from Purdue; and left tackle Bryan Bulaga, their first-round pick from Iowa.