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Wearing a large brace on his left knee, Green Bay Packers guard Elgton Jenkins confirmed he sustained a sprained MCL during the second quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons.
The injury was to the same knee as the season-ending ACL tear in 2021. Jenkins won’t miss nearly as much time with this injury, though there’s no timetable at the moment.
“I really can’t even say,” Jenkins said on Monday. “We’re just doing rehab and see how I feel.”
A lineman can come back from a minor MCL injury in just a few weeks. As Jenkins walked slowly through the locker room and struggled putting on some shorts, that short turnaround seemed a bit optimistic.
Jenkins was injured when running back AJ Dillon fell on him. “Wrong place, wrong time,” he said, though he did think Atlanta’s artificial turf surface might have played a role.
“(Expletive), yeah, I felt like it had something to do with it,” Jenkins said. “Foot got caught in the ground and the turf didn’t want to give, and all those good things. But, yeah, it was just unfortunate, but it is what it is. It’s football.”
The injury to Jenkins is another blow to an offense that has hobbled out of the starting gate. Running back Aaron Jones, receiver Christian Watson and left tackle David Bakhtiari were inactive on Sunday.
“Obviously disappointed,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “He means a lot to our football team, obviously, and he’s played at a really high level. It’s an unfortunate play and I’ve got to give him credit. He stayed in there and battled and played another two plays.
“When they told me he was down, it actually kind of shocked me because I saw the initial hit (and) I was a little concerned. I saw him slow to get up, but then he kept going and I thought he was going to be able to play through it.”
Royce Newman played the final 2 1/2 quarters at left guard. With 22 starts his first two seasons, the Packers could roll with him for Sunday’s home opener against the New Orleans Saints. A fifth-round pick in 2021, his play has been wildly inconsistent, though he did a “nice job” on Sunday, LaFleur said.
The alternative in a man-for-man replacement is Sean Rhyan. A third-round pick in 2022, Rhyan had a miserable rookie season. He played in only one game, with his only snap coming on special teams, before serving a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. He has not played in two games this season.
Or, the Packers could go outside the box and move right tackle Zach Tom to left guard and insert Rasheed Walker or Yosh Nijman at right tackle. Tom replaced an injured Jenkins at left guard against Buffalo last season.
“I think that’s a conversation we’re going to have tonight,” LaFleur said.
Jenkins earned Pro Bowl honors in 2020 and 2022. He was hoping to return to elite status at left guard this season after taking Bakhtiari’s spot at left tackle in 2021 and starting at right tackle to open 2022.
“I always want to be out there with the guys playing football,” Jenkins said. “That’s what we do. But this is part of it, something that comes with it, and we’ve got to get better, for sure.”
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