MarShawn Lloyd Camp Update — August 23: His First NFL Touchdown

MarShawn Lloyd scored his first NFL touchdown Friday night in Denver: an 11-yard catch from Jordan Love on a choice route, finishing the starters' opening drive in what became a 33 to 13 Packers win, per Mike Spofford at the team's website, who marked it as the first score of a career that injuries have mostly kept in street clothes. Rob Reischel at Forbes added the drive's other Lloyd play — a rush that moved the chains by inches — and Wendell Ferreira at A to Z Sports noted the touchdown came on a route where Love had adjusted the protection pre-snap and trusted Lloyd to win the matchup.

Count the ledger that actually matters here: that is now two preseason games played, two exited with no reported setback, in consecutive weeks, from a back who had gone roughly a calendar year without game action before this month. The scoreboard stat is nice; the availability stat is the story. The competition context stayed favorable too. Josh Jacobs returned to practice Tuesday but sat the game, per Bill Huber at Packers On SI and Reischel; Chris Brooks appeared nowhere in the game coverage; the remaining backfield work went to Pierre Strong Jr., eight carries for 37 yards, and Jaden Nixon, who added a late touchdown, per Wes Hodkiewicz and Spofford. Lloyd is the one back in the room stacking first-unit moments.

Availability has been the entire Lloyd question since our June preview — a soft-tissue cascade cost him about 30 straight regular-season games — and he has now taken contact in consecutive weeks and stayed upright, with the score arriving as a receiver, the passing-down profile that preview called his path to a real role. Watch next whether he stacks a third healthy week through the preseason finale, and where he sits in the backfield behind Jacobs when the roster cuts to 53 on Sunday, August 30. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._