Allen Lazard and Marquez Valdes-Scantling return to practice, Davante Adams has not

ESPN’s Rob Demovsky noted during the media-accessible section of the Packers’ Monday practice that wide receivers Allen Lazard and Marquez Valdes-Scantling returned to the squad. Unfortunately, Davante Adams was still missing.

Lazard was scratched from the Arizona Cardinals game in Week 8 due to the league’s protocol for unvaccinated players who are a close contact of someone with a positive COVID test, with that player presumably being Adams in Lazard’s case. Adams, who was also on the reserve/COVID-19 list, missed Week 8 after being unable to pass two COVID tests with a negative result after his positive test last Monday. Neither receiver made the trip with the team last week.

Lazard and his agent attempted to appeal the league’s ruling last week, stating that the five-day window for Lazard to return to the team should have started a day earlier, which would have led to him being able to play against Arizona. The league overruled the appeal and he was not allowed to make the trip to the desert.

Valdes-Scantling did make the trip for the Cardinals game, as the team has been awaiting his return from injured reserve due to a hamstring injury he developed against the Detroit Lions. Unfortunately, he was not able to suit up after they attempted to work him out and test his hamstring leading up to Thursday Night Football. If you’re a betting man, you’d probably bet that MVS will play against the Chiefs on Sunday.

The fact that Adams is still not on the practice field at least leaves open the possibility that he won’t play against Kansas City. Adams will be eligible to return when he passes two COVID tests more than 24 hours apart, something he apparently hasn’t been able to do since he was originally put on the reserve/COVID-19 list last Monday. Prior to his placement on the reserve-COVID-19 list, Adams was third in the league in receiving yards league-wide.

Last week, without any of their top three receivers, running back Aaron Jones (52 yards) and now-injured tight end Robert Tonyan (49) were the team’s leading pass-catchers. Juwann Winfree, technically on the Packers’ practice squad, led Packers wideouts with 30 yards on the day.