Packer Central

Packers-Eagles Sunday Injury Report: Everybody Practices

The Green Bay Packers kicked off the practice week on Sunday. With a Week 1 showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles looming, all 53 players practiced.

Bill Huber

The Green Bay Packers kicked off the practice week on a sunny September Sunday.
The Green Bay Packers kicked off the practice week on a sunny September Sunday. / Bill Huber/Packers On SI
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Just as you might expect for a team that rested all its key players for the final preseason game, the Green Bay Packers are a picture of health headed into their season-opening game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

All 53 players practiced on Sunday, the first practice of the week leading into a Week 1 showdown.

The big news for Green Bay was the return of rookie running back MarShawn Lloyd. Lloyd suffered a hamstring injury on his second touch of the preseason opener against the Cleveland Browns and sat out the rest of training camp and the preseason.

After practice, coach Matt LaFleur said Lloyd was limited participation.

“We’ll give him the week to watch him as he progresses,” LaFleur said. “We don’t want to give him something that he’s never done before. I think that’s unfair to the player. I think you’ve always got to teach him, put him through it and then have that confidence that he can go execute that in a game. We will be smart with him, but we certainly won’t give him anything that he’s never done before.”

These will be an important few days for Lloyd to show he’s physically and mentally ready to contribute.

“For me, it’s not really making up (for lost time),” Lloyd said this week. “I know the playbook, I put myself in the positions of the reps our other backs are doing. When they’re in the play, I make sure I’m behind them, making sure I’m looking at my reads, knowing everything,

“I’m staying in it mentally. I know physically I’m in the NFL, so I know what I can do. That’s the reason why I’m here on this team. The things I can do physically. So just mentally, taking mental reps, being in the game, staying in it, I feel like that’s the biggest thing right now.”

A third-round pick out of USC, Lloyd was one of the most explosive running backs in this year’s NFL Draft, ranking second in yards per carry (7.1), eighth in yards after contact per attempt (3.97), first in percentage of yards coming on runs of 15-plus yards (56.7 percent) and first in yards per catch (17.8), according to Pro Football Focus.

Lloyd was expected to be a change-of-pace back behind workhorse veteran Josh Jacobs and bruising AJ Dillon.

With Dillon on season-ending injured reserve, there is an even larger opening for Lloyd to carve out a big role.

So long as he can stay healthy. He missed the 2020 season at South Carolina with a torn ACL, was limited to nine games in 2022 at South Carolina and missed one game due to injury at USC in 2023.

“This is nothin’. This is nothin’ At all,” he said. “I had my first year of college, my ACL, so that was the biggest thing. It definitely molded me to just (have a) what’s-next mentality.

“You’re going to have adversity, it’s how you come back from it. That definitely helped me, just the ACL process but now I’m older, the hamstring is nothing. Hamstring is nothing. The season hasn’t even started yet. So, that’s the biggest thing for me. As long as it’s not in the season, I’m fine with it.”

With the Packers playing on Friday night in Brazil, the team’s official injury reports will be released on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. In addition to Sunday, the Packers will practice in Green Bay on Monday and Tuesday before flying to Brazil on Wednesday.

All of Green Bay’s newcomers were on the field for Sunday’s full-pads practice, including backup quarterback Malik Willis and kicker Brayden Narveson, as well as two practice-squad additions, running back La’Mical Perine and tight end Andrew Beck.

“I think this is one of the healthiest we’ve ever been here,” LaFleur said. “So, that’s a credit to everybody in this building. Obviously, a credit to the players for working hard, and I think just from a medical staff, obviously, and a training staff, I think everybody’s done a nice job.”

More Green Bay Packers News

Grading every position group | Youngest roster again | Packers sign former fourth-round pick | What channel for Packers-Eagles? | Dillon thanks fans | More practice squad additions | Injuries in the backfield | Brayden Narveson likes the pressure | Sixth time the charm at kicker? | Malik Willis thankful for opportunity 

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, 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.