What’s Next for Packers RB MarShawn Lloyd After Appendicitis?

Green Bay Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd’s difficult rookie season took another twist after he was diagnosed with appendicitis on Friday.

Green Bay Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd (32) runs with the ball against the Cleveland Browns. / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – MarShawn Lloyd’s rookie season with the Green Bay Packers has gone from bad to significantly worse. Sidelined three times by football-related injuries, Lloyd is out indefinitely due to appendicitis.

“You can’t make this stuff up,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “It’s a shame, because he was making progress. But he’ll rebound. I’m confident in that. That’s what I told him. But it is a shame, certainly.”

Lloyd was designated to return from injured reserve on Monday after missing seven games with an ankle injury. He practiced on Wednesday and Thursday this week and seemed poised to return to action on Sunday at the Chicago Bears.

Instead, as he was getting up off the training table before practice on Friday, he felt a pain in his abdomen. Team trainers checked him out and sent him to the hospital.

It’s the latest setback in a season gone horribly wrong for the talented third-round pick.

Lloyd suffered a hip injury during a workout with other Packers rookies before the official start of Packers training camp. After missing the start of camp, he was on the field for the preseason opener at the Cleveland Browns but suffered a hamstring injury. That injury kept him out for the rest of training camp as well as the season-opening game in Brazil against the Eagles.

In his NFL debut against the Colts in Week 2, he suffered the ankle injury that sent him to injured reserve.

As he spoke after Friday’s practice, LaFleur was not sure if Lloyd had surgery.

Late in the 2022 season, former Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari had an appendectomy that sidelined him for three games.

When the Packers designated Lloyd to return from IR from the ankle injury, it opened a 21-day practice window. At the close of those 21 days, a team must add the player to the active roster, release him or place him on season-ending injured reserve.

This, however, is a different situation because it’s a different medical issue.

“I don’t know how that impacts everything,” LaFleur said. “I think that’s something we’re trying to work through right now with the league and all that because I don’t think this has ever happened.”

If LaFleur was hoping there was a loophole in the IR rules, there is not.

Fortunately for the Packers, they’ve been generally healthy this season, so there is a path for him to return late in the season. 

Teams are allowed to designate eight players to return from injured reserve, or 10 if the team makes the playoffs.

The Packers aren’t even close to that threshold. In fact, defensive tackle Jonathan Ford is the only player that’s been designated to return this season.

Moreover, the Packers have only three other players on injured reserve. Tight end Tyler Davis and running back AJ Dillon are out for the season and Luke Musgrave is working his way back from ankle surgery.

So, Musgrave would be only the second player designated to return.

Thus, the Packers could add Lloyd to the 53-man roster and then place him on injured reserve. Thus, they’d be able to designate him to return again once he’s been cleared.

That would be the only way to get Lloyd back on the field, a league spokesman told Packers On SI.

Lloyd has played in only one game this season. Against the Colts, he got the ball seven times in 10 snaps before the injury.

“I can’t wait to get him back in the fold,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said on Thursday. “Obviously, with the bye week you go back and self-scout, watch all the old film that you had from the year, and the one game that he played you just saw his explosive potential, his quickness, his receiving ability.

“Very good player. He’s working through some stuff and he’s trying to get back as fast as he can but, at the same time, we’ve just got to make sure we’re smart with it and everything. But, yeah, he’s working and I’m looking forward to getting him back very soon.”

Fortunately for the Packers, they don’t need Lloyd. They can continue to focus on Josh Jacobs and backups Emanuel Wilson and Chris Brooks. What Lloyd would have added is a different dynamic to the offense. With big-time speed, Lloyd ranked among the national leaders in yards per carry last year at USC.

“MarShawn was doing some really good things,” quarterback Jordan Love said this week. “I think the explosiveness, I think he’s a really fast running back and I think he did some good things just when he got the ball (with) his ability to get through that line.

“I think getting him back will help us create more explosive plays. Obviously, he’s a guy we’re going to want to get the rock to but, at the same time, Josh is playing so well, too. I think just getting him back in the lineup, getting him some touches, is going to be very, very huge this week.”

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