Any discussion about the status of Green Bay Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd has to begin with his absence. Green Bay picked Lloyd in the third round out of USC in 2024, hoping he could develop into a solid backup for new free-agent signee Josh Jacobs, who was in line to be the team’s star back going forward.
But Lloyd was seldom seen in 2024. He had a hip problem at the start of training camp, and was on the injured list for much of the summer. He hurt his hamstring in the one preseason game he played, and that injury kept him out through the season opener. He played in one game against the Colts in Week 2, and ran for 15 yards on six carries, with one catch and three years receiving.
And that, to date, is the sum total of MarShawn Lloyd in a Packers uniform. An ankle injury led to an IR stint, which was followed by appendicitis that needed surgery. This past summer it has been a mysterious and seemingly never-ending hamstring injury that has lingered so long that it’s only here in early December that Lloyd is finally back at practice.
MarShawn Lloyd Speaks Out at Packers Practice
But, he is practicing. There’s a chance, too, that we could even see Lloyd back on the field for the Packers at some point, though it will be tough for him to find a role with Jacobs still entrenched atop the depth chart and Emanuel Wilson behind him.
All we really know about Lloyd is that he went to California this season to “get right” physically, as coach Matt LaFleur put it. Lloyd wasn’t explaining what, exactly, that means, but he did say he is ready to play.
“Now it is just getting back into football,” he said. “Catching the ball, running the ball, just getting back into football shape.”
He said he has done what he can to maintain connection with the team, including staying involved with team meetings and tests as the season has gone on.
“All the team meetings I been in there every day,” Lloyd said. “My coach still keeps me as if I am playing, so he asks me multiple questions as if I’m playing, pretty much has me on blast. I still take the tests we take every Saturday, I take all the tests. So I am still in it, mentally.”
GettyGreen Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur
MarShawn Lloyd: ‘Mental Is Good’
Obviously, whatever has been going on with Lloyd physically has had an impact mentally, and it’s unclear how much of what he has been going through as he has missed time is mental vs. physical. He said he feels mentally fit now, though.
“Mental is good but I am not going to sit here and say it wasn’t challenging. Because you—it happens here, it happens there. I am a human,” Lloyd said.
“There was times when I was up. The only person who really knows how I feel was my girlfriend, when I go back home I talk to her and different things. But just having the right people around, you know, Dr. (Chris) Carr, our psychologist here. Talk to him, talk to my girlfriend, just be open to everybody. I feel like that was the biggest thing. But just keep the right mind, but also just my faith and that’s been the biggest thing.”
Packers Ready to Play Him?
Lloyd has been trying to show the Packers he can be a useful player this week in practice. Whether they’re ready to take the leap and play him now is a question. But he said he’s eager to play football again.
“Football, I love it. I love football,” he said. “When I am on the field, I am ready to go. I am not going to sugarcoat anything, I am just ready to go. It was fun to be out there. When I get the ball in my hands I make sure I sprint as fast as I can. I catch the ball, cut as well as I can. So that’s something that sticks with me.
Still, Lloyd was asked what he’s been through, and said, “A lot. But you gotta deal with it. I had one of my teammates came up to me and asked me, he was like, how do you do it? And I am like, I don’t know. It’s hard. It’s definitely hard. But you got to keep your faith.”
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