Injuries at One Critical Position Impact Packers Training Camp

Every year, injuries tend to hit one position group particularly hard. Entering Friday’s eighth practice of training camp, and on the eve of Family Night, that position group for the Green Bay Packers is receiver.

“We better,” coach Matt LaFleur said of having enough healthy receivers for Friday’s practice.

The combination of injuries and Saturday’s showcase practice at Lambeau Field will mean a “scaled-back” practice on Friday, LaFleur said. The team will not work in pads and practice will be shorter than usual.

“We only have three team periods, so it’s not going to be a long one. It’s like an hour-and-20-minute practice,” he said. “Some of it will be down in the red area. We’ll always be able to adjust. We have enough tight ends and backs and other positions to make it work.”

The good news for the Packers is they have a lot of receivers. Even with Christian Watson on the physically unable to perform list and Bo Melton locked in at corner, the Packers have 11 on the roster. That’s by design.

“Usually in camp, we like to try to be at that 11 or 12 mark of healthy bodies,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said at the start of training camp.

The problem is they no longer have 11 or 12 healthy bodies.

Dontayvion Wicks, who sat out Wednesday’s practice with a calf injury, returned on Thursday but didn’t complete the full practice.

“Just trying to get him back,” LaFleur said.

Jayden Reed dropped out of Thursday’s practice, though he stood behind his fellow punt returners and went through the motions, signaling his issue might be minor. His foot injury is “nothing long-term,” LaFleur said.

Rookie third-round pick Savion Williams, who dropped out early in Wednesday’s practice as he recovers from a concussion, was limited to individual drills on Thursday.

Impressive undrafted rookie Sam Brown went into the Don Hutson Center during the final stages of Thursday’s practice.

Malik Heath seemed to be dealing with a leg-related issue but powered through the day.

Without Wicks and Reed, Romeo Doubs, Heath and first-round pick Matthew Golden got a lot of reps with Jordan Love on Thursday. To compensate for the limited numbers, the Packers ran more two-tight-end tandems with Tucker Kraft and Luke Musgrave.

A couple of the unheralded young players, Julian Hicks and Cornelius Johnson, both of whom were on the practice squad last year, had strong days on Thursday. Undrafted rookie Will Sheppard, who was signed just before the start of training camp, has made some plays, too

“All those guys have had moments where they have played and made plays,” LaFleur said. “That’s what you’re looking for, just more opps they get, the consistency with which they do that is important. And they’ll get a ton of reps. Once we get into these preseason games, these guys are going to get a lot of time.”

From top to bottom, the Packers have a young, deep and promising depth chart that will make for heated battles for spots on the 53-man roster and practice squad.

“That’s pretty much been my mindset throughout my whole career,” Brown said recently. “Going back to Houston, it was me and Matt, who was the first round draft pick for them, and then Joseph (Manjack), pretty good player. And then me going off to Miami, I had Jacoby George, Xavier Restrepo and Elijah Arroyo, so I pretty much know the ball’s not going to come to me every play. You just got to work for it. That’s pretty much what I’ve been doing, just trying to be consistent every day.”

As for Williams, it’s been a rough start to his rookie season after doing only individual drills during the offseason practices following labrum surgery.

“We’ve got to get him out there,” LaFleur said. “That’s been the hardest thing I would say with him in regards to the offseason and then into training camp. It’s hard to get rolling when you’re not available. But what he’s been given, he’s demonstrated that he knows what’s going on, especially we’ve had him in a lot of the walk-through settings, and he’s done a nice job with that. Now it’s just taking that walk-through and doing it out there in practice.”