Green Bay Packers: Reinforcements are on the way, right?
By Paul Bretl
The Green Bay Packers are 7-1 to start the season, just as they were in 2019, and they were off to another hot start in 2020, winning six of their first eight games. However, this year that 7-1 record and the overall start to the season feels a bit different than the previous two, given all of the adversity that this team has had to overcome on the injury front.
At various points throughout the season, whether due to injuries or time on the reserve/COVID list, the Packers have been without David Bakhtiari, Elgton Jenkins, Josh Myers, Davante Adams, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Malik Taylor, Tyler Lancaster, Krys Barnes, Jaire Alexander, Kevin King, Preston Smith, Chauncey Rivers, Dennis Kelly, and Za’Darius Smith.
We can now also add Kylin Hill and Robert Tonyan to this list as well after both sustained season-ending injuries in Arizona.
"“You’ve just got to be ready to adapt and adjust and pivot to wherever you have to go. Our job as coaches is to try to put the players in the best position possible, and it definitely makes it easier when you have really good players to do that,” LaFleur explained via the Wisconsin State Journal.“We never want to put a guy in a position where he’s set up to fail. That’s our job, to try to scheme around certain things. But we are fortunate that we have a lot of confidence in the guys — not only our starters but everybody in that locker room.”"
And adapt the Green Bay Packers have. Although the team has been without a number of key players over the first eight games of the season, many of Green Bay’s backups and role players have stepped up in a big way. Dean Lowry, Chandon Sullivan, Lucas Patrick, Rasul Douglas, Jon Runyan, Randall Cobb, and others have all contributed and made impact plays during this stretch.
However, despite it looking bleak at times on the injury front, several of those players mentioned have already returned, and prior to Green Bay’s Week 9 matchup with Kansas City, a few more could be back in the lineup as well.
The Green Bay Packers could get several key players back for this week’s matchup with Kansas City.
According to Rob Demovsky, Lazard and Valdes-Scantling were both back at practice on Monday. This is not a guarantee that either will play this coming Sunday, but it’s a good sign, nonetheless. Lazard provides Aaron Rodgers with another reliable target and could see his role expand in Tonyan’s absence while MVS brings that home run ability that has been missing from this offense.
Although it’s unknown how long Adams will remain on the reserve/COVID list — he did not practice Monday — there is the possibility he could return at some point this week as well. In fact, it sounds like the hope is that Adams can return later this week, and the same goes for Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry.
Bakhtiari has been back at practice since Week 7, and the team has until November 10th to activate him from the PUP list. There is certainly the possibility that he will make his 2021 debut in Kansas City.
This, of course, would be a massive boost to the offensive line that, to their credit, has held up well this season even with a number of injuries–they currently rank third in ESPN’s pass-block win rate metric and 11th in run-block win rate. Bakhtiari’s return would also allow Jenkins to move back to left guard, where he was a Pro Bowler.
Matt Schneidman of The Athletic would then report that Kevin King was at Monday’s practice as well–again, this is not a guarantee, but a good sign. Although he’s had his ups and downs, he’s coming off a very good performance against Cincinnati when he last played and provides some much-needed depth and experience at the cornerback position.
The Green Bay Packers’ bye week is still about a month away, but this mini-bye following their Thursday night matchup with Arizona came at a key time. As the Packers continue through a difficult part of their schedule that includes games against Kansas City, Seattle, Minnesota, and the Los Angeles Rams, some reinforcements could be on their way soon–we will just have to wait and see when.