On Monday evening, the Green Bay Packers received some good news regarding the statuses of second-year running back MarShawn Lloyd and defensive end Brenton Cox Jr. According to Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, the Packers opened up the 21-day practice windows for both players.
As you can imagine, Packers fans were excited about Lloyd’s practice window being opened, as his return has been teased for a couple of weeks now. Green Bay hopes that the young running back can add more firepower to its offense.
That said, Packers fans should not sleep on Cox Jr., who is returning from a groin injury that he suffered in Week 1 against the Detroit Lions. He might not play a big role with Green Bay having Micah Parsons, Kingsley Enagbare, and Rashan Gary, but he’ll give them more depth off the edge for the stretch run.
Brexton Cox Jr. Is Returning at Perfect Time for Packers’ Defense
If you remember, the 25-year-old defensive lineman was one of the surprise stories towards the end of last season. After being a healthy scratch for the first nine games in 2024, the Packers finally allowed Cox to play, with Preston Smith getting shipped out to Pittsburgh.
The former undrafted free agent did not disappoint in his regular-season debut, racking up three combined tackles, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, two pressures, and a sack against the Chicago Bears.
Little did Packers fans know, the 6-foot-4 defender’s performance against Chicago wasn’t a fluke, but a precursor of things to come. In his next six games, Cox produced nine combined tackles, six QB pressures, five QB hits, three tackles for loss, and three sacks.
Cox’s production came at the right time last year as the Packers desperately needed some juice off the edge. That’s not so much the case this season, as Green Bay is tied for 10th in sacks with the Detroit Lions (32) and ranked sixth in quarterback hits (81).
Parsons and Gary are leading the way with 12.5 and 7.5 sacks, respectively. However, Gary has not recorded a sack in five straight games and has only two QB hits over that stretch. This lack of production has frustrated some Packers fans, and it's opened the door for Enagbare, who has one sack on the season, but he plays like a high motor and doesn’t quit on plays.
Along with Gary, there’s also Lukas Van Ness, who briefly returned from his foot injury in Week 12, but only played six snaps.
Van Ness got off to a tremendous start to begin the season and was finally living up to the expectations of being a first-round pick.
However, with Van Ness’ availability up in the air going forward, Cox could become a valuable rotation piece this month when he’s officially activated off injured reserve. Green Bay likely won’t put a lot on Cox’s plate when he returns, but if he can do what he did last season in spurts, that will go a long way.