MarShawn Lloyd turned Thursday’s Packers practice into a small showcase, hitting a few splash plays while Josh Jacobs sat out with a groin injury. It was the last workout before Friday’s Family Night at Lambeau Field, and the running back room had a chance to separate itself in front of the media even though the session was closed to the public.
The timing mattered. The Green Bay Packers are headed into Family Night on Packers.com for a second straight year, and Lloyd’s reps came as the team had to look past Jacobs’ absence and keep sorting out running back work during camp. Chris Brooks remains on the non-football injury list, so the room has already been missing depth before the preseason even gets going.
LaFleur said he hopes Brooks returns to the field “sooner rather than later,” which is about as direct as he was willing to be about the backfield picture. Jacobs got all of two snaps in the 2025 preseason, so Thursday was less about one player missing a practice than it was about the Packers needing a real answer on who can handle the next wave of work if the starters are protected again. Lloyd’s flashes did not settle that, but they did make him the most visible back on the field that day.
That same need to sort out availability ran through the rest of the roster. Luke Musgrave remains on the physically unable to perform list with a neck injury, Javon Hargrave is still there with a knee injury, Jordon Riley is out with an Achilles injury, Micah Parsons is dealing with a knee injury, and Matt Orzech has been held back by a calf injury. Carrington Valentine also missed Thursday with a hamstring injury, and Johnathan Baldwin was the only other DNP while working through a knee issue.
The Packers have been conservative with starters in preseasons past, and this camp has already shown how thin some spots can get when injuries pile up. Aaron Banks and Zach Bako-Bewele are still out of the lineup in team drills, which has pushed Jacob Monk and Darian Kinnard into the familiar replacement spots at left guard and right tackle. On Thursday, Anthony Belton took a heavy dose of reps at right tackle, Jager Burton slid into the guard opening that created, and Donovan Jennings picked up some first-team guard work as the competition widened.
The clearest read from Thursday is that Lloyd is getting his chance at exactly the right moment, and the Packers still have one more look to sort through the bodies around him. Family Night is next, and if the same players are missing then the same questions will follow onto the field again.
