After connecting with him for a pair of touchdowns during a red-zone period at Tuesday’s minicamp practice, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers raved about the way receiver Jake Kumerow continues to go about his business during the offseason workout program.

A big fan of Kumerow last summer, Rodgers explained why No. 16 continues to be a favorite target of his to start this summer.

The chemistry between the two just continues to build.

“The key is being reliable, and earning my trust,” Rodgers said. “I never feel like there’s been a real difficult recipe or plan. It’s, you know what you’re doing, and you’re in the right spot at the right time, and you don’t make repeat mental mistakes He is an extremely intelligent guy who is in the right place at the right time. He makes contested catches, he makes the plays that are there and he does the little things.”

Kumerow was a standout during training camp last August and made big play after big play during the preseason, but an unfortunate shoulder injury forced him onto IR to start the regular season. He came back in December and caught eight passes for 103 yards and a score over the final five games.

Kumerow continues to make plays in a new offense. And he’s earning style points, too.

Rodgers explained how earlier in the offseason workout program, Kumerow made a subtle but tough catch in the back of the endzone by effortlessly getting two feet down in bounds.

“Just little things like that he does, I think almost innately, I think almost separates him from a guy you might not trust as much because you know the guy is going to do it right, he’ll always be in the right spot, he knows what he’s doing all the time and what the other guys are doing,” Rodgers said. “And when he gets a chance to make plays, he makes plays. And he does it in a super classy, understated way. Obviously, I’m a big fan of him. I don’t need to keep going on that.”

For the second straight summer, Kumerow has positioned himself to make a serious run at a 53-man roster spot. Although others, such as Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Trevor Davis, have stepped up and impressed this spring, the position battle remains fluid, and Kumerow clearly has the trust and chemistry with Rodgers to not only win a roster spot, but carve out a legitimate role in Matt LaFleur’s offense.