A look back at all that happened during the Green Bay Packers' off-season

GREEN BAY -- The 2016 Green Bay Packers season is officially underway with the start of Training Camp -- and Packers Family Night on Sunday, July 31st. A lot happened for the green and gold during the off-season.

The Packers didn't wait long to make some changes this off-season.

First, Mike McCarthy tweaked his coaching staff. Tom Clements will now serve as the associate head coach/offense instead of the offensive coordinator -- and he will not be calling plays.

Brian Angelichio was hired as the Packers tight ends coach, and Ben Sirmans took over as running backs coach.

Quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt will focus on that position this season -- giving up his receiver duties to Luke Getsy.

David Raih was promoted to assistant offensive line coach.

"It brings new energy, new ideas. It brings a freshness and aspect that we really haven't had," Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy said.

Then, there changes made to the roster.

On the defensive side, the Packers did not bring back linebacker Mike Neal and they also released linebacker Nate Palmer.

Cornerback Casey Hayward departed for San Diego as a free agent, and the biggest surprise was BJ Raji -- the defensive tackle deciding to take a hiatus from football.

"BJ was a great player. He had a ton of experience. He was one of our leaders on the defense. It's definitely somebody we can't replace as far as experience wise. That's the life of an NFL player. It's a business. Some guys depart. Some guys arrive. You just have to do what's best with what you have," Packers defensive back Micah Hyde said.

On offense, backup QB Scott Tolzien signed with the Indianapolis Colts to play the same role, and two familiar contributors weren't re-signed -- receiver James Jones and fan favorite fullback John Kuhn.

"Disappointed for sure. I mean John is, he's a dear friend. It's tough when you lose guys like that. Or you show back up in the locker room and they're not there. And that's part of getting older in the league is you look at the last three or four years -- AJ Hawk , James Jones, and John are three of my closet friends and teammates over the years. You'd love to see guys like that be around because you know they can help us win," Aaron Rodgers said.

"I don't think you ever close the door but you guys follow our roster and right now we're working on these young players," McCarthy said.

The team did keep many familiar faces -- re-signing kicker Mason Crosby, linebacker Nick Perry and running back James Starks.

For another running back, Eddie Lacy, the off-season starting with a warning.

"His off-season last year was not good enough -- and he never recovered from it, so I had the chance to talk to Eddie and that was pretty much the majority of our conversation. He has to get it done because he cannot play at the weight he played at this year," McCarthy said.

It appears Lacy got that message. He brought a new attitude and look to Packers OTAs.

"It can get quite annoying -- but it comes with the territory. I feel like I handled it well and I held up my end of the bargain. I got to keep going and keep hoping for the best," Lacy said.

Packers OTAs also brought the return to the practice field of receiver Jordy Nelson -- albeit in a limited capacity. Nelson is coming back from a season-ending knee injury suffered at Pittsburgh last pre-season.

There are plenty of new faces on the Packers' squad this year.

First rounder Kenny Clark from UCLA highlights a draft that saw the team pick up seven new players and focus on getting bigger.

The team also added what they hope will be a weapon on offense with the signing of free agent TE Jared Cook.

"I mean, it's Green Bay. It speaks for itself. The tradition, the coaching, the players, the work ethic -- everything is just kind of self explanatory. So when I get here and met the coaches and the staff, and saw the building, and everything -- the experience that comes along with it just kinda sold it even more," Cook said.

The season will start later than usual for two Packers players. Both defensive lineman Mike Pennel and cornerback and special teamer Demetri Goodson will have to miss the first four games of the regular season after violating the NFL's rules on performance-enhancing drugs.

Another thing that happened during the off-season -- news that Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers were scheduled to meet with NFL investigators over the linebackers' inclusion in an Al Jazeera network report in December 2015 linking them to performance-enhancing drugs.

The man making the allegations has since recanted his claims -- but the NFL is conducting an investigation.

Matthews and Peppers addressed their situation again during the week leading up to Family Night -- but there weren't any new developments.

"There's nothing that I really can do. I'm just kind of waiting for the NFL to conduct its investigation, in which case the truth will come out and it'll be another thing that I've had to deal with in my career -- but there's nothing that I can really do now. I mean, it's kind of ridiculous," Matthews said.

"I can explain anything. I spoke on it once already when it was first reported. I stand but those statements. Anything other than that -- I really don't have anything to add," Peppers said.

Practice continues this week in Green Bay -- leading up to the Hall of Fame game Sunday, August 7th in Canton vs. the Colts: