You’ll get a look at the Green Bay Packers’ first-team units on Saturday against the New York Jets, apparently. Today, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur stated that he wanted to get all four of his quarterbacks some snaps in the team’s preseason opener. For perspective, starting quarterback Jordan Love only threw two passes in the preseason in 2024 after throwing 33 in 2023.
Per LaFleur, the NFL is pushing teams to play their starters in the preseason, referencing numbers that claim that players who participate less in these exhibition games are more likely to be injured during the regular season. I’m not sure how that takes into account of joint practices, which the Packers will participate in for both Week 2 and Week 3 of the preseason.
Either way, it looks like we’re going to get to watch the starters, at least in limited reps, this preseason. Today’s practice, which featured players in shells, was Green Bay’s last open practice before the team’s preseason opener. So what happened on the field? Let’s dive in.
The big news from Wednesday was that offensive lineman Travis Glover went on the injured reserve. His season is over, as there’s a plan for him to have surgery on his lat. Previously, it was believed that Glover would make the Packers’ 53-man roster as the team’s ninth offensive lineman. Now, that opportunity will likely go to one of either Donovan Jennings or Kadeem Telfort.
Running back MarShawn Lloyd was wearing a helmet at practice today and was finally off of the injury report. With that being said, he wasn’t a full participant in practice, similar to how linebacker Quay Walker eased back into the lineup over the course of several weeks. So Lloyd is trending in a positive direction and isn’t on the injury report anymore, but he’s not exactly “back.”
The following players were non-participants in practice on Thursday: RB Emanuel Wilson (knee), WR Jayden Reed (foot), WR Christian Watson (knee), WR Dontayvion Wicks (calf), T Rasheed Walker (groin), C Elgton Jenkins (back), OL John Williams (back), DE Collin Oliver (hamstring), CB Nate Hobbs (knee), CB Kamal Hadden (hip) and S Xavier McKinney (calf). The new injuries were to Reed, Jenkins and McKinney, who all practiced yesterday.
Without Walker or Jenkins, the team’s preferred starters at left tackle and center, Jacob Monk was inserted as the first-team center and Jordan Morgan played left tackle today. Both Monk and Sean Rhyan rotated between center and right guard, similar to how they practiced before Jenkins’ return from his holdout, hold-in and later injury. None of this should be a surprise. For the most part, the Packers’ offensive line pecking order with their top seven options on the team is fairly set. Behind Monk and Morgan will be second-round rookie Anthony Belton, and then whoever ends up taking the spot that Glover just vacated by going on the injured reserve.
The Packers’ offense did very well in the red zone period today. Not only did quarterback Jordan Love dice up the defense, but he also kept the ball on a speed option touchdown, according to Packer Report’s Andy Herman. Hopefully, Love is able to regain some of the speed from his pre-knee injury stretch of play.
A player who is developing well, per Packers.com’s Weston Hodkiewicz, is tight end John FitzPatrick. FitzPatrick was a mid-season pickup off of the Atlanta Falcons’ practice squad last year, and by the end of the season, he was receiving more reps than Ben Sims, who has been with the team for the last two years. According to Hodkiewicz, he’s no longer just a blocking tight end and has shown that “over the past week.”
Keisean Nixon wasn’t on the injury report today, but he did sit out team drills, likely due to veteran rest. With both Nixon and the injured Nate Hobbs out, the starting outside cornerbacks today were Carrington Valentine and Bo Melton. The fact that Melton is already the team’s number four outside cornerback should give you a feel for how the Packers’ coaching staff believes their cornerback room will shake out.
Mind you, though, this is with Kamal Hadden also dealing with injury. Hadden has missed the last week of practice, but the fourth cornerback job probably comes down to one of him or Melton. We’ll have to see how the addition of free agent Corey Ballentine plays into the mix, though. Speaking of Ballentine, practice ended today when he made a pass breakup in a competitive period with the second-team unit.
Another battle that is continuing on defense is at linebacker. On the Packers’ official depth chart, the team listed Isaiah McDuffie as the Packers’ third linebacker. In reality, though, Green Bay is very much pushing McDuffie with free-agent signing Isaiah Simmons. Today, per Herman, Simmons got the nod over McDuffie in first-look team drills.
Kicker Brandon McManus has been red hot this summer, but did miss multiple field goal attempts today for the first time in training camp. He was four of six today, bringing his training camp total to 47 of 51 (92 percent), according to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. Last season, McManus was 20 of 21 for a make percentage of 95.2 percent. That number was only bested by the Tennessee Titans’ Nick Folk, who was 21 of 22 (95.5 percent).
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