Packers Camp — Sep 3: Lloyd Is the Starter, Six Carries In

The Packers' starting running back has six carries in the NFL, and the general manager who drafted him says he is ready. MarShawn Lloyd is the lead back for the opener, per Mike Spofford at the team's site — six career carries and one reception, with Chris Brooks as the third-down back and Kaleb Johnson, acquired from Pittsburgh on Sunday, behind them. "As ready as he's ever been since he's been here," Brian Gutekunst said this week, per Spofford; Matt LaFleur praised his availability through camp and his "shiftiness and breakaway speed." Lloyd's own words: "I trust in my ability. Don't do too much, just be you." He carried 10 times for 30 yards in two preseason games, per Spofford, and topped 15 carries in a college game just three times. That is the whole résumé, and it is the résumé of the man replacing Josh Jacobs.

Jacobs is on the Commissioner's Exempt List. He has not been suspended, though the league can still suspend him. He is paid, cannot practice or play, and there is no timetable, which means no Week 1. What is new since our last episode is the coach and the general manager speaking. LaFleur, on Tuesday, per the Associated Press at NFL.com: "There were many conversations obviously and certainly don't know all the details, but what he tells me, I believe him and I trust him." Gutekunst: "We have not seen the video. Those are legal things going on right now, so we'll let those play out." Both said they hope he plays this season.

Now the roster. Green Bay made no waiver claims on Monday and lost one player, nose tackle Nazir Stackhouse, to Tennessee, per Bill Huber at Packers On SI. Two more of Sunday's cuts landed in Miami — safety Jaylin Simpson and receiver Will Sheppard, both on the Dolphins' practice squad, per Spofford. The three arrivals were settled before the wire opened: running back Johnson for a 2028 sixth-round pick — the same pick Miami had sent for Kyle McCord earlier that day, per Spofford — tight end Mark Redman from the Rams for a 2028 seventh, and tight end Jonnu Smith on Saturday. All three practiced as Packers for the first time on Tuesday, per Huber. LaFleur on Johnson: "Certainly, I think he's really good at the outside-zone stuff." On Redman, per Huber: "The thing I liked about him most is the contact courage that he displays" — and Redman on himself, per Spofford: "That's what I'm coming here to do. So just kind of embracing that role, just get dirty, and finish some blocks." On Smith, per Huber, a 10-year veteran who played for LaFleur in Tennessee as a rookie: "Very explosive guy and I still think he can be. He's still running pretty well." Smith's reason for signing: "I've got some familiarity with what Matt wants to do and what he's done over the years."

The practice squad is Green Bay's own camp roster coming back. 13 signed Monday, per the team, every one a 2026 Packer. On offense: tackle Dalton Cooper, guards Josh Gesky and Dillon Wade, tight end Drake Dabney, receivers Chris Hilton Jr. and Isaiah Neyor, running back Pierre Strong Jr. On defense: defensive tackle Jaden Crumedy, edge rushers Nyjalik Kelly and Arron Mosby, linebacker Kristian Welch, safety Murvin Kenion III, and cornerback Domani Jackson — the sixth-round rookie we told you was released. Kenion, an undrafted rookie, finished third on the team in preseason tackles with 11 and tied for second with two passes defensed, per Huber. Kelly had a sack, three tackles for loss and an interception against Arizona, and LaFleur said he "made tremendous progress," per Huber; Gutekunst counts him and Mosby behind the four edges on the 53 — "those six guys I feel pretty good about," per Jersey Al Bracco at CheeseheadTV. Strong is the one to keep in mind: released despite a strong camp, back the next day. Asked whether he could be called up in the first couple of games to give Kaleb Johnson time to acclimate, Spofford answered, "Entirely possible." Then Tuesday: quarterback Kedon Slovis, released by Arizona on Sunday after playing against Green Bay in the finale, signed as the third quarterback the McCord trade vacated, per Huber — "Got here last night. So, quick turnaround," Slovis said. And Huber reported Tuesday, from a source, that kicker Lenny Krieg is coming back on the international spot — Krieg was released in July to make room for a long snapper, and the spot opened when tight end Thomas Yassmin went to injured reserve with a knee. Huber had the practice squad at 14 that day with room for two more, the international slot sitting outside that count.

Two corrections to the page from our last episode. We passed along Huber's expectation that safety Mark Perry would return on the practice squad; Perry told Easton Butler he will not be returning, carried in Huber's Monday tracker. And "30 players released" should read 30 released +3 waived with injury designations — McCallan Castles, Trey Dean III and Yassmin — per the team's release. Three names we listed as released came back on the practice squad: Jackson, Neyor and Strong.

Nothing changed on the reserve lists after Sunday except Yassmin, and the injuries now have names, per Huber: Micah Parsons with a knee, Jordon Riley with an Achilles and Luke Musgrave with a neck on the reserve physically-unable-to-perform list; receiver Savion Williams with an ankle and edge Collin Oliver with a calf on injured reserve with return designations. Parsons can begin practicing after Week 2, per Spofford, who said of the timing: "I don't think the Packers' record will have anything to do with it. It'll be about where Micah is and what the doctors think." Under the rule he misses the first four games, so his first chance to play is Week 5. The only new Week 1 question is defensive tackle Warren Brinson, who missed Tuesday's practice with a lingering calf; Gutekunst said he has "a good chance" to play, per Huber.

Back in July we previewed the Packers as the division's highest-floor offense carrying a defensive experiment — new coordinator, new scheme, no Parsons for the first month, Hargrave as the named insurance. The floor: nine, seven and one last season, a wild-card seed, an offense that ranked fourth in expected points added per play — the measure of how much each snap moved the expected score — and third throwing the ball, against a defense 20-second by the same measure. Cut day made the defensive half official and moved the offensive half to complicated, because the backfield the preview treated as settled became three bets at running back. This week named the order of the bets and put a number on the first one. Six carries. The floor is the passing game, and it did not change. What is underneath it did.

Next is the Vikings, Sunday, September 13, at U.S. Bank Stadium. What to watch: how many of Lloyd's carries stay with Lloyd once Johnson has two weeks of the playbook, and whether Brinson practices by the weekend. The Recap follows the game.

_Data via nflverse._