All 53 players on the Green Bay Packers roster practiced in some form Thursday in advance of the team’s season opener against Detroit on Sunday.
Wide receiver Jayden Reed and cornerback Nate Hobbs were both out on the field after not taking part in practice on Wednesday. Reed is battling a foot injury that kept him out of the last half of training camp, while Hobbs underwent surgery on his knee last month. Thursday was the first time Hobbs had taken part in individual drills since returning.
“We’ll see,” coach Matt LaFleur said of managing Reed, who has a Jones fracture in his foot. “He’s a guy we’ve been around quite a bit. So we’ve gotten to know him and he’s done a really good job of communicating where he’s at. We’ll just see how he’s feeling.”
While Reed is entering his third year with the team and should be able to slide back in seamlessly if he plays, Hobbs was one of the key offseason additions on defense. Working him back in is a little different than Reed.
“You try to just do it a little bit at a time. Try to get him back engrained to it,” LaFleur said. “He’s done a really good job, I would say, when he’s not been playing of being intentional, paying attention, obviously, in the meetings, but also being locked in and doing those mental reps when he’s off to the side.”
Prized acquisition Micah Parsons practiced for a third time this week as he continues to deal with a back injury, though he was considered limited. LaFleur said his reps and work will continue to increase but there is no guarantee he will play Sunday.
“He was able to do what we had planned for him today, so he’s doing a good job with that,” LaFleur said.
As for quarterback Jordan Love, he is still wearing a brace on his left hand after undergoing surgery on his thumb roughly three weeks ago. While he’s going to play it’s unclear how much he’ll be able to use his left hand to hand the ball off. While LaFluer said he hadn’t done it at all, video from practice showed Love doing so in individual drills.
“It absolutely can change things in regards to some of the things you may be limited to doing,” LaFleur said of a quarterback unable to hand the ball off with his left hand. “He’s done a good job with what we’ve given him.”
The rest of the players on the injury list included safety Zayne Anderson (knee), center Elgton Jenkins (hip), defensive lineman Barryn Sorrell (knee), and wide receivers Dontayvion Wicks (calf) and Savion Williams (hamstring). All them were limited.
