Packers Injury Update: 5 players return to practice on Thursday

On Wednesday, the Green Bay Packers listed 17 players with injury designations on their first injury report of the week. The practice was a light “mental day,” so the hope was that Green Bay was simply being conservative with their participation in practice. On Thursday, though, 15 players remained on the injury report with the two changes being to receiver Christian Watson (concussion protocol, no longer listed) and outside linebacker Rashan Gary (knee, placed on injured reserve), which is a mixed bag in itself.

The players who have missed back-to-back practices to start the week are inside linebacker Krys Barnes (concussion), inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell (knee), receiver Romeo Doubs (ankle) and cornerback Eric Stokes (ankle/knee.) Based on the reporting of Doubs’ injury and the way head coach Matt LaFleur spoke about Stokes’ injury, it was assumed going into this week of practice that those players would not play against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. The one real surprise here is that Campbell, who stated on Monday that he doesn’t have a tear or structural damage to his knee, has yet to practice.

Five players went from non-participants in practice on Wednesday to limited participants in practice on Thursday, which is about as good of injury news that’s going to come out of Green Bay in 2022. Those players are left tackle David Bakhtiari (knee), cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles (ankle), left guard Elgton Jenkins (knee), quarterback Aaron Rodgers (thumb) and receiver Sammy Watkins (knee.) Jean-Charles has missed the last two weeks due to injury while Rodgers has been dealing with his injury since London. Both Bakhtiari and Jenkins are expected to play but we’ve seen how “fluid” their injury situations have been this season. Watkins’ injury seemingly popped out of nowhere this week so it’s good to see that he’s trending in the right direction with Doubs more than likely out for a few weeks.

The six remaining players on the injury report have been limited participants in back-to-back practices: kicker Mason Crosby (back), cornerback Rasul Douglas (calf), running back Aaron Jones (ankle), receiver Allen Lazard (shoulder), right guard Jon Runyan Jr. (knee) and outside linebacker Preston Smith (neck.) The injuries to Crosby and Douglas appear to be new this week while the other four players either entered Week 9 with their injuries (Lazard and Smith) or were injured against the Detroit Lions (Jones and Runyan.)

Linebacker Anthony Barr (hamstring) remained a non-participant in practice for the Cowboys but was joined by tight end Jake Ferguson (illness) on Thursday. Only three other players were limited in practice in Dallas today: receiver Noah Brown (foot), running back Ezekiel Elliott (knee) and safety Donovan Wilson (tooth.)