The fourth-year Valentine suffered a leg injury in Sunday’s practice, just before he was preparing to participate in 11-on-11 team drills. Head coach Matt LaFleur didn’t specify what kind of leg injury it was or how severe it is, only that Valentine would be held out of Monday’s first padded practice of training camp. It was later confirmed by Packers.com that Valentine sustained a hamstring injury.

As if circumstances surrounding Valentine’s role in the secondary weren’t already casting a grim umbra over his job security, this latest development isn’t doing him any favors. A heavy dosage of competition was infused into the cornerback room this past offseason, both via the draft and free agency. The Packers spent second and fifth-round picks on Brandon Cisse and Domani Jackson, respectively, and signed Benjamin St-Juste and MJ Devonshire Jr. on the open market.

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And, by all accounts, the hype train for MarShawn Lloyd is already operating at warp speed.

Lloyd, who has been placed on injured reserve four times in his two-year career, is still in the mix in the Packers’ backfield. Despite the myriad injuries and downright misfortune that he’s faced since entering the league as a third-round pick of the Packers in the spring of 2024, there’s optimism—albeit cautious—that Lloyd has finally turned a corner.

Don’t take my word for it.

When asked to name someone who the masses aren’t talking enough about, starting safety Evan Williams had a quick answer for WFRV Local 5’s Carson Fowler.

“Probably this guy to my left,” Williams said, gesturing to the locker beside his where Lloyd was rummaging through his belongings. “This guy MarShawn, dude. I feel like a lot of people forgot just what he’s capable of. He shows up on a daily basis and puts in the work, and he’s flying a million miles an hour.”

The 25-year-old Lloyd has been through the wringer in his short professional career to this point, but there’s an opportunity to be seized in the Packers’ backfield. The team opted not to retain Emanuel Wilson, who has served as the No. 2 running back behind Josh Jacobs for the last two seasons. He has since signed with the Seattle Seahawks, leaving Chris Brooks—a third-down fixture in obvious passing situations due to his blocking prowess—as the only trusted option in the stable.

The Packers will utilize training camp and their three preseason games to gauge what they have in Damien Martinez, Jaden Nixon, and Pierre Strong Jr., but Lloyd takes precedence. In the brief glimpses that the Packers have seen of Lloyd’s ability, it’s become clear that there’s a true, game-breaking talent that’s just waiting to be unleashed.

“He’s had some bad breaks as far as injuries go, but he’s ready,” Williams said. “People have started to write him off, but he’s going to turn some heads this year.”

As a rookie, Lloyd dropped out of the Packers' preseason opener with a hamstring injury and missed roughly a month before returning in time for the inaugural home game of the regular season. He carried the ball six times for 15 yards against the Indianapolis Colts before exiting with an ankle injury. The Packers placed Lloyd on season-ending injured reserve, allowing him to rehabilitate in hopes that he’ll be able to return at some point later in the season.

That point came in November when they were ramping him up in practice, setting the stage for him to return to the field; however, Lloyd had appendicitis and had to undergo an emergency appendectomy and reverted to injured reserve.

The following summer, Lloyd was once again forced to the shelf after sustaining another hamstring injury. His audition hardly lasted a quarter, carrying the ball six times for 15 yards against the Colts—a bizarre, eerie coincidence—and even drawing four targets in the passing game from Malik Willis. Lloyd hauled in a 33-yard completion on a wheel route down the sideline, but reported hamstring tightness to the Packers’ medical staff shortly after.

He had already dropped out of the first padded practice of the summer on July 28 with a groin injury, forcing him to miss seven practice sessions before returning on Aug. 11. The hamstring Lloyd pulled against the Colts landed him on injured reserve again, spending nearly four months there before being designated to return on Dec. 1. The Packers listed him with a calf injury upon his return to practice—not a hamstring, but he’d eventually suffer another hamstring injury over the course of the month and land on injured reserve for a fourth time.

“He’s had some really tough circumstances and has fought through a lot of adversity,” said head coach Matt LaFleur during Organized Team Activities (OTAs) in May. “For a lot of guys—guys who can fight through adversity and stay positive, which he’s done—there’s a lot that can come from that in a positive sense.”

Lloyd has worked closely with the Packers’ medical staff to analyze what can only be described as chronic lower-body injuries, even flying out west for further evaluations that include biomechanical stride analysis. The belief was that the anterior cruciate ligament tear he suffered during his freshman season at South Carolina had ramifications that lingered to this day, long after it was surgically repaired.

The answers that Lloyd sought were encouraging. He consulted with a handful of specialists at Meyer Institute of Sports in El Segundo, California, who revealed that Lloyd’s lower body wasn’t symmetrical—his stride mechanics were overcompensating, adding stress to certain joints and muscles.

Lloyd is still feeling the effects of the collegiate injury—mentally and physically. His NFL career hasn’t panned out the way anyone had hoped, but there’s still an opportunity for him to rewrite his story and change the narrative. Lloyd has openly credited his support system, which includes Dr. Chris Carr, the Packers’ performance psychologist.

The Packers’ belief in Lloyd may even be undeterred, despite everything. They didn’t swing for the fences for a new running back to complement Jacobs, nor did they draft one in April. They’re positioning Lloyd to take advantage of a role that, in LaFleur’s offense, has proven to be incredibly significant. Wilson carried the ball 125 times last year and was on the field for 31 percent of the offensive snaps—if the Packers can achieve even some semblance of that level of production from Lloyd, 2026 will be a success.

Banks, the team’s starting left guard a season ago, didn’t pass his physical when he reported to the facility early last week, landing him on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. Granted, it was a short stay—Banks was activated in time for the inaugural practice of the summer on Wednesday.

However, while he’s been cleared to practice, he hasn’t been doing so at full capacity. The 28-year-old has been working under what the Packers call “load management” as he attempts to navigate a pesky knee issue—that was the case again in Sunday’s practice and, according to head coach Matt LaFleur, it’ll continue to be the case moving forward.

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The 28-year-old has flipped between seeing work with the Green Bay Packers’ first and second-team defenses, but his defining moment—so far—came in 11-on-11 drills Friday. St-Juste jumped a Tyrod Taylor pass on third-and-7, snatched the ball out of the air before it could find Savion Williams’ awaiting hands, and returned it for what would’ve likely been a pick-six in an authentic game environment. It was the second pick-six for the Packers’ new defense headlined by coordinator Jonathan Gannon, the first courtesy of undrafted rookie Marlon Jones on Wednesday.

“He’s an intriguing guy for sure,” said head coach Matt LaFleur ahead of Sunday’s practice. The 6’3” St-Juste, who signed a two-year deal with the Packers in March worth $10 million, is the tallest player at the position on the roster. The next-closest is 6’1” Kamal Hadden.

His frame alone is enough for the Packers to be enamored with what he could provide a cornerback room that could undeniably use a spark. He’s an anomaly in a room whose starters last season were all sub-six-foot.

“You just don’t see many corners that look like him,” continued LaFleur. “I’ve been super impressed with the person. The day he came in here, you can tell he’s a really mature guy. He has a family—two kids—and he’s just a smart guy. He’s picked it up pretty fast.”

St-Juste was brought aboard to fortify a lowly group that didn’t exactly conclude the 2025 campaign on a high note. Keisean Nixon surrendered 15 receptions for 200 yards and three touchdowns over his last five contests to end the season, and Carrington Valentine missed seven tackles in as many games to finish his third season in Green Bay. Valentine was even benched at one point in favor of Hadden, but that was short-lived after Hadden sustained a gruesome ankle injury in the Packers’ Dec. 27 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

Both players, who have been the Packers’ primary starters for the last two seasons, needed competition—competition is best for all parties involved. That’s why the Packers spent a pair of draft picks on Brandon Cisse and Domani Jackson in the second and fifth rounds, respectively, and signed MJ Devonshire Jr. and St-Juste in free agency.

A Canadian native, St-Juste is a former third-round pick of the Washington Commanders. Days before that, St-Juste was drafted in the third round of the Canadian Football League draft by the Toronto Argonauts.

“He’s from Canada, he likes to tell everybody that,” Nixon said in jest after Thursday’s practice. “Nobody really cares.”

St-Juste spent four seasons with the Commanders and matched up with LaFleur’s Packers in back-to-back seasons to begin his career, logging seven tackles in two games. During his time playing under three different defensive coordinators, St-Juste intercepted one pass in 45 starts, defended 34 passes, forced four fumbles, three sacks, and accumulated 206 total tackles.

He signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Chargers last spring and, by all accounts, put together his best season to date. Opposing quarterbacks completed 47.5 percent of their passes into St-Juste's coverage, and he surrendered just a single touchdown—a career low. He also secured the second of his two career interceptions, as well as three pass break-ups and a passer rating of 60.9. St-Juste played in 16 games for the Chargers, as well as in their Wild Card loss to the New England Patriots, but he wasn't a full-time starter. He served as a backup behind primary cornerbacks Cam Hart and Donte Jackson.

St-Juste may be staring into a similar role in Green Bay; it’s likely that he won’t be on the field in anything other than a rotational capacity. The Packers remain committed to Nixon—even amid contract negotiations—but the job on the opposite boundary is up for grabs. It wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility for the Packers to defer to what they know in Valentine, or perhaps Cisse makes a first-year leap into a starting job. Pads don’t come on until Monday, and the first preseason game is still 11 days away; take all observations with a grain of salt.

Remarkably, he had already accomplished a year’s worth of work in the seven games he did play.

Niemann was shelved for the final 10 games of the regular season, and yet, he still finished tied with fellow linebacker Ty’Ron Hopper for the most special teams tackles. Whether that says more about Niemann’s efforts or the dismal group spearheaded by former coordinator Rich Bisaccia is up to your interpretation, but it’s not much of a surprise, either.

After all, the 28-year-old Niemann prides himself on his tackling prowess.

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By the end of the week, he’d be one step closer to getting back on the field.

The Green Bay Packers’ cornerback is nearing a return from the season-ending injury that cost him an encouraging—albeit in a limited capacity—second year with the team. He was carted off the field in the Packers’ Dec. 27 loss to the Baltimore Ravens at Lambeau Field after horrifically twisting his ankle while attempting to tackle Derrick Henry.

In the primetime bout, millions of viewers across the country witnessed teammates either praying together or embracing Hadden on the cart before it journeyed off into the tunnel.

Millions may not witness his resurgence, considering he isn’t a full-time player at a position that could certainly use the reinforcements. But to return healthy, don the No. 36 jersey in Green Bay, and have a second chance to make a name for himself is an opportunity that Hadden isn’t taking for granted.

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Head coach Matt LaFleur confirmed on Friday that Tucker Kraft, who opened training camp on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, is going to be activated. The 25-year-old is on the heels of sustaining a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the Nov. 2 loss to the Carolina Panthers last season.

The Packers are going to err on the side of caution when it comes to Kraft’s return. He won’t participate in 11-on-11 team drills throughout practice, but he’ll be involved in individual periods, which is still a monumental step in his recovery.

“We’ll just kind of get him back ingrained into the process and into individual,” LaFleur said. “What’s great is, when they do come off PUP, now he can partake in some of the walkthrough periods, especially that we do in the evenings. So, just to get him back, hearing the call, lining up, and just going through that.”

The Packers have a strict nine-month rule for players returning from ACL injuries; the clock starts after they undergo surgery. They’ll have to surpass that benchmark before they’re eligible to practice again, but Kraft’s case appears to be a little bit of an anomaly. He’s still a couple of days away from the nine-month anniversary of his injury, let alone when he went under the knife.

The rule could apply to players practicing in an 11-on-11 capacity. Regardless, general manager Brian Gutekunst confirmed on Wednesday that Kraft is still right around eight-and-a-half months post-surgery.

“We want to be protective,” Gutekunst said before the inaugural practice of camp. “He’s coming off a major injury, and he’s still at that eight-and-a-half month mark. But the way he looks, you’d think he’s ready to go, because when you see him out there—he’s a little bit like Christian [Watson]; they look really good early.

“There’s a lot of science behind the nine-month mark, so we’ll be cautious.”

Kraft’s willingness to practice—and the Packers’ willingness to let him, really—could be an indicator that he’s close to signing the long-awaited contract extension with the franchise. Team brass has been working closely with Kraft’s representation, Jack Bechta of JB Sports, over the last several months. Kraft would be the sixth player issued a contract extension by the Packers since the start of the offseason, joining wide receivers Christian Watson and Jayden Reed, starting center Sean Rhyan, linebacker Isaiah McDuffie, and defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt.

Kraft, a third-round pick of the Packers in 2023, had appeared in all 42 career regular-season games prior to his injury, starting 33 of them. Through eight games last season, he recorded 32 receptions for 489 yards and six touchdowns, including two 120-plus-yard performances.

Except now it isn’t really much of a competition.

The Packers released German-born kicker Lenny Krieg on Thursday, just two days after being signed following a successful workout. The 23-year-old never had the opportunity to showcase what is otherwise an impressive leg—he converted on all 14 of his field-goal attempts at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine and booted a 57-yarder in a preseason game for the Atlanta Falcons last summer—because the Packers didn’t have a long snapper.

Rather than Matt Orzech, starting center Sean Rhyan served as a temporary replacement in Thursday’s practice. The field goals that Smack attempted weren’t exactly from the BP gas station parking lot across the street from Ray Nitschke Field—all three were 25-yard chip shots. Orzech, who has been the Packers’ long snapper for the last three seasons, has missed two consecutive practices to begin training camp with a calf injury.

General manager Brian Gutekunst and his scouting department needed to outsource for someone who can take the reins in the meantime; otherwise, Smack might as well skip practice altogether. 10 players were in the facility for tryouts on Thursday, and three of them were long snappers: Cal Adomitis, John Ferlmann, and Brent Matiscik.

According to Sports Illustrated, the Packers intend to sign Adomitis, a former three-year starter for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Orzech is just one year into the three-year extension worth $4.8 million that he signed with the Packers last summer, so he has some semblance of job security. However, it would cost the Packers merely $562,000 in dead cap if they were to move on from him if they feel that Adomitis is a better fit. At the time of the signing, Orzech became the third highest-paid long snapper in the league at $1.6 million per year. The 31-year-old has since dropped to eighth.

Gutekunst appeared to foreshadow the Packers’ intention to host candidates to fill the void left by Orzech.

“There’s some guys on the street, we’ll probably bring some guys in to work out,” Gutekunst said before the inaugural practice of training camp on Wednesday, adding that Orzech’s calf issue isn’t a long-term concern. “It does disrupt practice when you don’t have a guy who can snap it. Special teams guys don’t like that.

“With a rookie kicker, we want to have as much practice there as we can get. It would be nice to have Matt [Orzech] out there, and there may be a time where he’s able to do some of the snapping before he can do a lot of the running. That’s more of the issue, but hopefully, we can get him back soon because that continuity there is important.”

Across three years in Cincinnati, Adomitis started 49 games before spending 2025 with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was their long snapper for nine games in place of Charles Hughlett, who was placed on injured reserve with a core muscle injury he sustained early in the season.

Adomitis spent five seasons at Pittsburgh as a true freshman. He played in 64 consecutive games for the program and earned first-team All-American honors, as well as the 2021 Patrick Mannelly Award, which is presented to the best long snapper in the nation. He certainly has the resume that the Packers—or any team, really—would covet, but a resume won’t win you a starting job.

The Packers will have to ensure that their special teams operations can flow smoothly with someone new snapping the ball, and that’s especially true with a rookie kicker in the fold.

Uncertainty at the long snapper position is a foreign concept in Green Bay. Rob Davis spent 11 seasons (1997-2007) holding down the job before being succeeded by Brett Goode (2008-2017) for the next decade. The Packers drafted Mississippi State’s Hunter Bradley with a seventh-round pick in 2018, and he stuck around for the next four seasons, but by no means was he a consistent performer. In fact, Bradley was released midway through the season in the final year of his contract, and supplanted by Steven Wirtel.

For the most part, it had appeared that Orzech stabilized the position; he’ll just have to get past his calf injury as soon as possible to fend off a potential replacement in Adomitis.

Whether isolated on an island in a one-on-one matchup with some of the league’s premier wideouts, or being tabbed as the scapegoat when things go wrong—it’s one of the two most challenging positions on the field next to quarterback.

That’s why Keisean Nixon wants to be compensated fairly for his services.

If that’s too tall a task for the Green Bay Packers, they’ll have to take it up with Nixon’s representation, Tory Dandy. Nixon, who is entering his fourth season as one of the Packers’ primary starters at cornerback, is on the heels of his first as a full-time player on the boundary. Before 2025, Nixon had shifted between the perimeter and the slot, most notably in 2024 while the Packers gauged how to manage Jaire Alexander’s mid-season knee injury.

Nixon is now penciled in as a No. 1 cornerback on the depth chart for the second consecutive season, even after the Packers invested a second-round pick in South Carolina’s Brandon Cisse. While Nixon missed the inaugural practice of the summer with a minor hamstring injury, it was Cisse who took the majority of the reps in his stead. However, Nixon was back on the field on Thursday.

Even after the ghastly ending to Nixon’s 2025 campaign, the Packers remain bullish on the savvy experience and tenacity the feisty 29-year-old can provide the secondary.

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Instead, the Green Bay Packers’ rookie offensive lineman left the field with a trainer, returned with helmet in hand, and was shelved for the remainder of the session. That remained the case on Thursday, as Burton was held out of practice with what head coach Matt LaFleur described as a hamstring injury.

“He felt something in individual, so we’re just being cautious with him,” LaFleur said at his pre-practice press conference Thursday. “We’ll have a little better idea when he goes through the testing today. He won’t be out there today.”

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McDuffie, 27, was nearing the end of the two-year deal he signed with the Packers last spring; 2026 would’ve been his final season under contract. Rather than waiting for it to expire, the Packers got ahead of it. He signed an extension worth $4.85 million—equipped with $1.5 million guaranteed—with the team that will keep him in Green Bay through the 2027 campaign.

All things considered, that’s a minor price to pay for someone that head coach Matt LaFleur refers to as a “glue guy” for the Packers.

“He’s the epitome of what we want everybody to be in this program,” LaFleur said in a press conference before Thursday’s practice. “He loves football, he’s a great teammate, and I just think it speaks to his character—you can’t have enough guys like that.”

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Zach Tom, the Packers’ bookend right tackle, was seemingly gifted a clean bill of health to begin training camp. He surprisingly avoided having to sit out the first practice of the summer on Wednesday after undergoing offseason surgery for a partially torn patellar tendon.

Just over a year since inking a four-year extension worth a maximum value of $92 million, the 27-year-old isn’t mincing words on where he is in his recovery.

“It’s not an option; I’m playing Week 1,” Tom told ESPN’s Rob Demovsky.

While Tom did practice, it’s worth noting that he hasn’t elevated to team drills yet. He participated in individual drills to begin the week, but that’s likely the Packers erring on the side of caution and easing him back in before throwing a full workload at him. After all, he isn’t just a component that’s critical to the success of the Packers’ offensive line—his stabilizing presence could make or break the offense as a whole.

The former fourth-round pick faced a gauntlet of injuries in 2025. He suffered an oblique issue in the Packers’ season-opening win over the Detroit Lions and missed the Thursday night game against the Washington Commanders four days later. He was back on the field in time for a matchup with superstar pass rusher Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns’ tenacious defense, but aggravated the injury on the first snap from scrimmage.

The 6’4”, 304-pound Tom was absent for the next two games before returning Oct. 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals. At some point, while working his way back into the lineup, he sustained a back injury that would plague him for the remainder of the season.

It was evident.

Over the next 10 games, Tom surrendered 16 pressures, or more than one-and-a-half pressures per game. His season took a nosedive in the Packers’ Dec. 14 loss to the Denver Broncos, when Tom left the game in the first half with the aforementioned knee injury. The Packers also lost All-Pro pass defensive end Micah Parsons to a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament that afternoon, as well as wideout Christian Watson, who was transported to a Denver-area hospital with chest and shoulder injuries.

It was a cataclysmic day for the Packers, but all hope wasn’t lost for Tom. He did everything he could to ensure that he was able to return to action in time for the Packers’ playoff run, including undergoing a platelet-rich plasma injection. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t in the cards—Tom would watch from the sidelines in street clothes as the Packers fumbled a 21-3 lead over the Chicago Bears.

Tom was still contemplating surgery to repair the partially torn patellar tendon by mid-January. Assuming the six-month recovery timeline holds, he likely went under the knife not long after to be back on the field in time for the start of training camp.

Of the Packers’ five preferred starters along the offensive line last season, only one is being replaced: Rasheed Walker, the team’s starting left tackle for each of the past three seasons. He entered unrestricted free agency in March, ultimately signing a deal with the Carolina Panthers and allowing the Packers to plug in former first-round pick Jordan Morgan.

Morgan will be Jordan Love’s new blindside protector while Tom holds down the fort on the opposite end of the line. Aaron Banks will remain at left guard, Sean Rhyan will remain at center, and Anthony Belton is expected to remain at right guard. That continuity is imperative for any offensive line, let alone one that endured the ebbs and flows that the Packers’ starting five did last season.

“That’s what you want; you want to be able to have that continuity where you’re playing with the same guys throughout the season,” Love said at his locker after practice Wednesday. “We know injuries and things like that happen throughout the season, but it’s always a goal to try and be the healthiest team. With a lot of moving parts on the offensive line the past couple years—guys having to play multiple positions throughout the season—I know that’s a challenge.

“If they can stay at one spot throughout the whole season, that’s when you’re at your best, and I think we’ll be able to build on a lot of areas. We’ll see what happens.”

Musgrave, who will turn 26 years old in September, was one of a handful of players placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list to begin training camp. Most of those players—with the exception of Micah Parsons, Tucker Kraft, Kamal Hadden, and Jordon Riley, who are recovering from injuries sustained last season—are going to be temporarily sidelined and should return at some point during training camp.

Musgrave, however, is facing murkier waters.

“We’re working through it to see if it’s going to be something long-term or not,” said general manager Brian Gutekunst in a press conference Wednesday morning. “This is a neck injury, so we’ll take our time until we know what we know before we put him at any kind of risk.”

Gutekunst stressed the abundance of caution on the part of the Packers—or any team, really—when it comes to navigating head, neck, and heart issues. This is the latest inconvenience for Musgrave, who has yet to meet the expectations of his second-round pedigree.

Said head coach Matt LaFleur: “It is what it is. These are the circumstances you can control—it’s how you respond to those. There’s going to be opportunities for these other guys to see what they can do and how they can contribute.”

Musgrave was one of two tight ends brought aboard in the Packers’ 2023 class, along with a third-round pick in Tucker Kraft. Despite being the earlier of the two selections, Musgrave has, unfortunately, underperformed. He appeared in just 18 of the first 34 games to begin his career while fighting through multiple injuries, but played in all 17 a season ago.

He hasn’t fallen out of favor—the Packers are still enamored with the elite speed that he possesses for someone with a 6’6”, 253-pound frame. If weaponized properly, Musgrave still has the potential to be a true difference-maker and provide Jordan Love with a mismatch in the passing game. But for all of his unique traits, they don’t mean a thing if he can’t put them into action and leave his mark on the field; availability is the best ability.

“I know he may not have the production that he certainly wants up to this point in his career, but I do think he’s a—he’s got a legit, premier trait in terms of the speed, and you have to account for that on every play,” LaFleur said.

Musgrave caught 24 passes last season after just seven in as many games the year before. He hasn’t found the end zone since his rookie season.

While being outpaced by Kraft and even surpassed by Josh Whyle, Musgrave is running out of time to validate the Packers’ belief in him. Kraft is still recovering from the torn anterior cruciate ligament he sustained in a Nov. 2 game against the Carolina Panthers last season, and he isn’t going to be out of commission much longer. His return to the practice field for the first time since his injury is on the horizon, and Gutekunst is optimistic that he’ll be acclimated enough to play in the Packers’ Sept. 13 opener against the Minnesota Vikings.

A golden opportunity is presented for Musgrave in Kraft’s stead, but a pesky neck injury may prevent him from capitalizing on it.

The Packers have bolstered their tight end room in the meantime. Whyle, Messiah Swinson, Drake Dabney, Luke Lachey, R.J. Maryland, and Thomas Yassmin are at their disposal. Whyle, Swinson, and Dabney were all on the team a season ago, while Maryland was a post-draft priority free agent signing, and Lachey was signed in June. Yassmin, a former rugby player who qualifies for the Packers’ international exemption designation, was signed on Tuesday after a successful workout the day prior.

The devastating, season-ending injury knocked the then-24-year-old tight end out of commission, one day before he was set to celebrate his birthday.

Almost nine months later, the Packers have a belated birthday gift coming his way. Kraft is on the cusp of becoming one of the highest-paid—if not the highest-paid—players at his position in the near future. General manager Brian Gutekunst and team brass have been working closely with Kraft’s representation for months now in hopes of striking a deal, and while there hasn’t been any movement on that front yet, the hope is that Kraft will be rewarded by the time the regular season begins.

"Certainly, I think for both us and him, it’s in the best interest to try to get something done,” Gutekunst said in a press conference on Wednesday. The Packers’ general manager was at the podium to open training camp, an hour before the first practice of the summer is set to begin.

“But these things take time. We’ve gone through a bunch of extensions this summer, kind of knowing this was going to be the one right about now.”

If ink hits the dotted line, Kraft will be the sixth player issued an extension by the Packers since the start of the offseason. Starting center Sean Rhyan was extended, as were wide receivers Christian Watson and Jayden Reed, linebacker Isaiah McDuffie, and defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt. Kraft, however, is presumed to be the largest of the bunch, and rightfully so.

“We have a little bit of time because he’s just not there yet,” Gutekunst said. “But I would expect, hopefully, that would get done. But you never know how they’re going to go.”

The Packers have a strict nine-month post-surgery rule when it comes to players returning from significant injuries. They’re not permitted to practice until they’ve reached that benchmark, and that’s when conversations about returning to the field will come into play. Kraft is just shy of eclipsing that—he had reconstructive surgery in mid-November, so he’s right around eight-and-a-half months.

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Even so, Gutekunst is optimistic that the otherworldly tight end will make his valiant return to the practice field in the very near future, opening the door for him to play in the Packers’ Sept. 13 opener against the Minnesota Vikings.

“I anticipate him being out there sooner rather than later,” Gutekunst said. “The more work he can get with Jordan [Love] in particular—even if he’s not ready for the team part of it—the more individual work he can get done with Jordan is important for him as he gets into the season. We’ve had a lot of discussions about that and the timing of it.

“Obviously, we want to be protective. He’s coming off a major injury, and he’s still at about that eight-and-a-half-month mark. But by the way he looks, you’d think he’s ready to go. When you see him out there, it’s a little bit like Christian [Watson]; they look really, really good early. But there’s a lot of science behind the nine-month mark. So, we’ll be very cautious as we head into it.”

Kraft, a third-round pick of the Packers in 2023, had appeared in all 42 career regular-season games prior to his injury, starting 33 of them. Through eight games last season, he recorded 32 receptions for 489 yards and six touchdowns, including two 120-plus-yard performances.

I’m still trying to figure out how to navigate Substack, let alone work with it to the fullest possible functionality. If you see a few things that don’t make sense and buttons are either out of place or don’t lead to the right place, just know I’m a moron, and it’ll be fixed soon.

1. Why now?

Listen, I’ve been doing this for a long time. This is what I went to school for. This is why I kept coming back after Twitter suspended my myriad of accounts (some of you may remember my ex-convict days where I’d appear out of the blue and ask everyone to share my account so followers can find me again). This is why I stuck around through everything despite repeatedly falling flat on my face. To write about and cover from all angles a football team that I love dearly, for people whom I owe my deepest gratitude to. There’s no one on the planet like Packer fans—you all deserve the best. Much more than what I’m going to be able to give you, to be completely transparent, but that isn’t going to stop me from doing everything I can to deliver the best possible coverage.

In the spirit of transparency—as I said, I’ve been doing this for a while. I started with the NFC North Barroom in 2015, spent 2016-2019 with Cheesehead TV, and landed with Ross Uglem and Packer Report (247Sports) in the summer of 2019. I’m now the Editor-in-Chief; next month will be seven years since I joined the publication, and I’m not going anywhere. I intend to stick around for 2026, but beyond that, as Aaron Rodgers would say, the future is a beautiful mystery. I’ve also been an NFL staff writer for Pro Football Network since last October, and that won’t be changing, either. I’ve had the privilege of covering games in person, interviewing legends such as Tramon Williams, LeRoy Butler, Randall Cobb, and Dominique Dafney (you wouldn’t get it … or maybe you would), and even being accepted into the Pro Football Writers of America. It isn’t all sunshine in this business, though.

This industry is a cruel mistress. You all see it firsthand. Every few months, some renowned, talented writer is losing their job amid mass layoffs. It’s not easy out here by any stretch of the imagination. Everything can change overnight or with a snap of someone’s fingers. I’ve learned that I can’t stand on the front porch waiting for the door to open—I have to kick it down. That’s why I’m here. If it fails, which isn’t out of the realm of possibility, I can make peace with that and find solace in the fact that I tried. But I’m not going to allow that to happen.

2. Community

You guys are the reason I’m doing this. My readers, my followers—I never thought it’d be feasible to come even remotely close to 20,000 people reading what I have to say on a stupid website. Especially not after I lost my original account in 2019 and had to rebuild from scratch, and yet, here we are. All of us. I’m not going to get all mushy here, because you all already know how much I adore you and the team we share a rooting interest in. Without you, I wouldn’t be here, and that’s not an exaggeration. I can only express gratitude to you all so many times before words begin to ring a little dull, so that’s why I’m going to show it to you in the work that I do. All of the admiration, all of the love, all of the appreciation—every single word that I type will be laced with it.

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And who knows! Maybe this whole endeavor goes well. I might even add to the writing team to give you all a little more diverse array of voices to choose from. For now, you’re stuck with me. Sorry.

3. Specifications

I’ll cut to the chase, because I’ve rambled enough. My free subscribers will receive up-to-the-second updates throughout training camp, preseason, and the regular season. Whether it’s news, injury developments, or a roster transaction—it’ll be at your fingertips. Tons of sites do that, though, so what else?

Paid subscribers gain analysis on a deeper level—the ‘why’ behind the scenes. The subscription will also come equipped with roster analysis, press conference features, All-22 breakdowns, weekly mailbags where I answer any and all questions my readers have, and draft evaluations once that time of year rolls around.

I’m here for you guys. If there’s anything else—anything at all—that you want to see with your subscription, whether free or paid, give me a shout. Just no feet pics.

4. Subscribe!

Or don’t! You have free will to do as you please. I’m signing off from this post with a picture of my all-time favorite Green Bay Packer. I look forward to seeing you around.