The Green Bay Packers finally have a full 53-man roster again following the trade of defensive Preston Smith to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the placement of first-round rookie guard Jordan Morgan on the injured reserve. Last week, the Packers added Robert Rochell, who was inactive against the Chicago Bears, to their active roster and now third-round running back MarShawn Lloyd will join him after being activated off of the injured reserve.
Last Wednesday, Lloyd’s 21-day practice window to return to the active roster opened when he began to practice with the team following the ankle injury that placed him on the injured reserve in the first place. Unfortunately, though, Lloyd was the victim of terrible timing, as he was diagnosed with appendicitis during the week of practice and underwent an emergency appendectomy.
At the time, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur stated that he was unsure how the league would treat the situation, as Lloyd would likely need more than the allotted window to return to practice again due to this new injury — which could have possibly warranted some sort of exemption from the league. LaFleur didn’t address Lloyd’s situation on Monday.
ESPN’s Rob Demovsky’s belief is that Lloyd is joining the active roster so that the back can then be put on an injury list for the appendectomy, rather than the ankle injury, which would clarify the situation on the league’s end. Ultimately, Lloyd will be able to be designated to return from the injured reserve again, but it will have exhausted one of the Packers’ return designations for the season.
Per NFL rules, a player may be designated to return from the injured reserve twice during the season. Teams are allowed eight return designations from the injured reserve during the regular season and up to 10 if they make the playoffs. Assuming that Lloyd comes back twice and tight end Luke Musgrave and Morgan are brought back eventually, that brings Green Bay’s projected designated to return count up to four for the 2024 season.
In the meantime, Chris Brooks and Emanuel Wilson will serve as Josh Jacobs’ primary backup running backs. Brooks has recently displaced Wilson as the number two back in recent weeks, earning snaps as the team’s “Pony” (two-back personnel) back next to Jacobs. Against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Brooks played 10 snaps to Wilson’s three.
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