GREEN BAY, Wis. — No one knows more about trials and tribulations than MarShawn Lloyd.
After being placed on injured reserve four times in two years to begin his career, the Green Bay Packers’ running back—and former third-round pick from USC—appears to have rid himself of the monkey on his back. He’s made it through two exhibition games unscathed and is in pole position to enter the regular season as the team’s No. 2 behind Josh Jacobs.
Knock on wood, of course, but not only is Lloyd basking in a clean bill of health, but the dynamic tailback can finally say that he’s tasted the end zone.
Amid a 12-play, 63-yard scoring drive against the Denver Broncos Friday night, Lloyd capped it off with an 11-yard reception on a Texas route. Jordan Love, who was only on the field with the Packers’ No. 1 offense for that lone possession, hit Lloyd in stride, allowing him to waltz across the goal line.
The touchdown symbolized much more than a measly six points.
For someone who has been through the wringer since entering the league in the spring of 2024, it was a testament to just how far Lloyd has come—the strenuous rehab, the seemingly endless cycles of disappointment, the adversity, the mental hurdles, the grim realization that he may never be healthy enough to leave his imprint on the league.
Six points paled in comparison.
“MarShawn’s journey—dealing with different injuries throughout preseason games and things like that—for him to be out there and putting up plays, just to be able to see him, is great,” Love said after the Packers’ 20-point clobbering of the Broncos.
“I think he’s done a lot of good things throughout camp. They’re things to just keep building on.”
Lloyd played 16 snaps against the Broncos, up four snaps from last week’s opener versus the Pittsburgh Steelers. He carried the ball six times for 17 yards—both numbers, once again, trending upward from his four-carry, 13-yard night in Pittsburgh. Not only has he seen his fair share of work on the ground, but the Packers have attempted to involve Lloyd as a receiver, and he’s certainly shown that he’s capable of it.
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 pull over the course of the month and land on injured reserve for a fourth time.
“All you guys that have been around know, when players miss time, that’s tough,” said general manager Brian Gutekunst earlier this week on Aug. 18. “That’s tough on these guys. They’re young guys, and they want to be out there so badly. You saw [Tucker Kraft] get out there for the first time the other day; no different than MarShawn.
“When they get out there, and they’re playing football, they’re usually at their happiest. So, whenever you see guys go through things and then get back out there, you can kind of see the joy in them. I’m happy for him.”
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. If Friday night is any indication, Lloyd is galloping further and further away from the public’s perception of the player he’s been over the last two years.
“I think he has a chance to help us this year, which will be great,” Gutekunst said. “Doing this for as long as I’ve done it, it’s really tough on these guys when they’re not out there, and they want to be. They want to be out there competing with their teammates because they love the game.
“When they finally get their chance and get back out there, it’s neat to see.”