Packers-Vikings Injury Report: Jordan Love Trending Toward Playing

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love was back at practice on Wednesday and seems on track to return to the starting lineup on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings.

Green Bay Packers QB Jordan Love at practice on Wednesday. / Bill Huber/Packers On SI

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love practiced on Wednesday and seemingly is on a trajectory to play in Sunday’s NFC North showdown against the Minnesota Vikings.

Officially, he was limited participation on the first injury report of the week. However, Love agreed that he was “less limited” than last week.

“Yeah, we’re building it up, for sure,” he said after practice. “It’s kind of just based on how I’m feeling and basing off of practice today, how I’m feeling, and going from there.”

Love was limited participation at practice last week, too, but there was an early clue he would not play.

During the brief portion of practice open to reporters, the three quarterbacks on the 70-man roster worked with the four running backs. That meant, for each set of handoffs and passes, one quarterback would have to take two snaps through every rotation.

Last week, that was Malik Willis. Tellingly, Willis got most of the snaps with Josh Jacobs.

There was a big change to start this week.

On Wednesday, Love got the two reps in every set, so twice as much work and the same as his typical workload for this drill. Love took the first rep with Jacobs, Willis took the next rep with Emanuel Wilson and Sean Clifford took the third rep with Chris Brooks. Love took the fourth rep with Ellis Merriweather, a practice-squad running back, then took the next snap with Jacobs as the cycle repeated itself.

Love practiced on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week as limited participation. On Sunday, he went through a pregame workout. It was a rehab workout – simply the next phase in his comeback – and not a workout to gauge his availability to face the Titans.

“That was just a workout to keep building up and ramping my body up,” he said.

Love did take some team reps last week, his work on the practice field perhaps all geared toward getting him ready for a big game against the undefeated Vikings, who field one of the best defenses in the NFL for esteemed defensive coordinator Brian Flores.

The only player on the 53-man roster who did not practice for the Packers was rookie offensive lineman Jordan Morgan, who was inactive against Tennessee with a shoulder injury.

Cornerback Carrington Valentine, who did not practice last week and was inactive against the Titans due to an ankle injury, returned to practice as limited participation.

Tight end Tucker Kraft, who is battling through a shoulder injury that briefly took him out of the lineup on Sunday, practiced with a no-contact red jersey, just like last week. He was limited participation, as was fellow tight end Luke Musgrave.

The Vikings are doing their due diligence on Love and Willis because of the difference in offenses.

“I think Malik is doing some great things and Jordan Love is one of the best young quarterbacks in our league,” Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell said on Monday. “We'll prepare as if both will play. It'll require a little bit of work (because) they are different with Malik in there. At the same time, he made some big-time throws and moved the team. There were chunks on the tape that we've got to try to keep off of our tape.

“Then Jordan in there, we've seen it first-hand when he gets into a rhythm and gets going, he's as talented of a thrower as there is in our league. We got to be prepared for both of them. We're not going to get the benefit of knowing exactly what we're going to see so we've got to make sure we've got a game plan that's extensive for both those guys. They've got a great group of skilled guys, a really good running back, great O-line, pretty special group.”

Under the assumption Love will be back, the Packers are 3-point favorites at DraftKings and 2.5-point favorites at FanDuel. Those lines are largely unchanged from last week at this time.

Packers Wednesday Injury Report

Did not participate:  G/T Jordan Morgan (shoulder).

Limited participation: CB Jaire Alexander (quad), DT Kenny Clark (toe), LG Elgton Jenkins (rest), TE Tucker Kraft (shoulder), QB Jordan Love (knee), TE Luke Musgrave (quad), C Josh Myers (shoulder), WR Jayden Reed (calf/quad), RT Zach Tom (quad), CB Carrington Valentine (ankle).

Full: None.

Vikings Wednesday Injury Report

Did not participate: C Garrett Bradbury (ankle), LB Ivan Pace (ankle), S Jay Ward (knee).

Limited: WR Jordan Addison (ankle), DL Jonathan Bullard (knee), LB Kamu Grugier-Hill (knee), TE Josh Oliver (wrist), OLB Dallas Turner (knee).

Full: QB Sam Darnold (knee).

More Green Bay Packers News

On Sunday, #Packers coach Matt LaFleur and #Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores will match wits in an NFC North showdown.

Flores, whose unit has dominated to start the season, had plenty to say about LaFleur. ⬇️https://t.co/lhBnkvwwI8

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 25, 2024

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