Packer Central

Couple Key Packers Will Miss Start of Training Camp

The first practice of Green Bay Packers training camp will be held on Monday. Here are several injury updates before the big day.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Zach Tom takes a bike to practice at training camp last year.
Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Zach Tom takes a bike to practice at training camp last year. / Appleton Post Crescent-USA TODAY Sports
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – When the Green Bay Packers practice for the first time in training camp on Monday, they will be down a couple key players.

Right tackle Zach Tom and tight end Tucker Kraft, who suffered torn pectorals before the start of OTAs, are not expected to be on the field for Day 1 on Ray Nitschke Field. They are opening camp on the physically unable to perform list but can be activated when cleared by the medical staff.

Both players are progressing nicely from their injuries and shouldn’t be out for long. However, the injury is not one to rush back from – it’s not a sprained ankle, in which a tape job and toughness can get a player on the field, for instance. Plus, both players are incredibly important to the Packers’ fortunes, so they figure to proceed with caution.

Tom is one of the best right tackles in the NFL, proving his talent again and again last season in battles against the NFL’s best pass rushers. Kraft more than picked up the slack after Luke Musgrave’s injured spleen last season. He wound up leading all NFL tight ends in YAC per catch.

“They’re doing great,” coach Matt LaFleur said at the end of minicamp. “You saw Tucker was moving around, doing lifts. You watch Zach Tom move around. I think both of those guys are in a good spot.

“Certainly, you’d love for them to be out there and working on their craft instead or having to rehab back, but I think those are two dudes that I’m not overly concerned about just in terms of how they approach the game. Certainly, they’re still very young players but they’ve gotten a lot of play time and can’t wait to get them back in camp.”

Rookie safety Kitan Oladapo, who missed the entire offseason after sustaining a broken toe at the Scouting Combine, could start camp on the non-football injury list. His stay on NFI won’t last for long, though, as he’s getting close to being full speed.

Undrafted rookie guard Donovan Jennings is on PUP, as well. His stay will not last long and he is targeting getting enough practice time to be on the field for the preseason game against Cleveland on Aug. 10.

On the other hand, running back Josh Jacobs, who missed the start of organized team activities with a hamstring injury but was on the field for minicamp, will be ready to rumble on Monday.

Jacobs is one of the most important players on the roster as he replaces Aaron Jones atop the backfield. Both the team and Jacobs believe the 2022 NFL rushing champion is in line for a bounce-back season as he runs behind Green Bay’s offensive line and attacks defenses that must deal with Jordan Love and a talented receiver corps.

Jacobs told Packers On SI a couple weeks ago that he’s “excited” for the season. He’s been working out five days a week to get ready.

“Probably like twice a day most days, maybe three times sometimes,” he said. “I get bored sometimes at home, so I’ll be like, ‘All right, if I get bored, I’ll just go work.’”

Receiver Christian Watson and cornerback Eric Stokes, two of the team’s most talented players, will be on the field, as well, after both players had their 2023 season ruined by hamstring injuries.

Both players went to Madison after the season to visit a specialist, who helped pinpoint their issues.

For Watson, past injuries meant his left hamstring was significantly stronger than the right.

“One, it puts strain on the left side, and the left is going through a lot more,” Watson explained during OTAs. “And then, two, obviously, when you’re trying to be equal in power, it puts a lot more stress on the one that’s not as strong. So, that’s been the No. 1 thing for me because that leads to fatigue, as well. It’s a bad place to be so, obviously, that’s been my No. 1 goal to just kind of eliminate that.”

Stokes’ hamstring issues were rooted in the foot and knee injuries that cut short his 2022 season. Last year, he played only three games – with defensive snaps in only two – before ending the season on injured reserve.

At OTAs, coach Matt LaFleur said Stokes was “as good as I’ve ever seen him” mentally and physically.

“Man, it’s great,” Stokes said. “Everybody got a little story, everybody got a little thing but, man, this just taught me so many lessons, taught me so many different little things that I can’t wait. I can’t wait. This is a new Eric. Well, I wouldn’t say new. He’s pretty much the same, but just a better, experienced, more it-is-what-it-is type of stuff.”

For both players, the hope is they can be on the field for Day 1 and Day 2 and so on so they can build their skill-sets toward Week 1 against the Eagles on Sept. 6.

“I don’t think you can ever say that you’ve got something perfectly figured out when it comes to the body,” Watson said after minicamp. “It’s a violent sport, so stuff happens all the time but, in terms of my mindset, I’m just trying to get myself going in the right direction and I think I did that so definitely in a good spot with it mentally.”

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Bill Huber

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packer Central, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.