Packers tight end Tucker Kraft passed his physical, allowing the team to remove him from the active/physically unable to perform list.
Kraft tore a pectoral muscle while lifting weights this offseason, and the Packers are expected to ease him back into practice.
The Packers made Kraft a third-round pick last season, and he started eight games as an injury replacement for Luke Musgrave. He ended up playing 621 offensive snaps and 194 on special teams.
Kraft caught 31 passes for 355 yards and two touchdowns. He added five catches for 24 yards and a touchdown in two postseason games.
The Packers are expected to use Kraft and Musgrave in their multiple tight end formations.
The Packers cut quarterback Jacob Eason on Monday, the team announced.
Green Bay signed Eason on July 23 with Jordan Love not practicing as he awaited a new deal. Love’s four-year, $220 million deal four days later made Eason expendable.
The Packers also have Sean Clifford and Michael Pratt on the roster.
Eason took part in the team’s rookie minicamp on a tryout basis this spring. He entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick of the Colts in 2020 and also has spent time with the Seahawks, Panthers, 49ers and Giants.
He has appeared in two regular-season games, going 5-of-10 for 84 yards and an interception.
The Packers conducted their annual Family Night practice on Saturday. Newcomer Josh Jacobs didn’t participate in 11-on-11 drills during the open session.
Via Zach Kruse of USA Today, Jacobs is recovering from a minor groin issue. He’s expected to return to practice without limitations on Tuesday.
The Packers signed Jacobs as a free agent in March, moving on from former starter Aaron Jones. Jacobs led the NFL in rushing in 2022, with 1,653 yards. Last season, he generated 805 rushing yards with the Raiders.
If healthy in 2024, Jacobs becomes an ideal complement to quarterback Jordan Love, setting Green Bay up for a potential pick-your-poison offense.
Julius Peppers didn’t need long to earn induction of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He didn’t need long to finish his induction speech either.
Peppers, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, took just long enough to thank more than two dozen people, many of them in the Panthers organization where he spent 10 seasons. The second overall pick in 2002 played 17 seasons and made 159.5 sacks.
He used a story he heard from Tyler Perry throughout his speech, referring to the root people, the branch people and the leaf people in our lives.
“Some people come into our lives for a season,” Peppers said. “They get easily influenced and probably don’t last through the tough times. When the wind blows, they fall away. Those are the leaf people. Some people come into our lives for support, and they’re a little stronger than the leaves, but if you put too much pressure and weight on them, eventually they break. Those are branch people. Then, sometimes you meet people that are solid, that you can depend on no matter what, to help you build a stable foundation that allows you to grow. They provide strength, and they hold you through the storms. Those are the root people.”
Peppers become the 90th player to earn first-ballot induction after becoming one of only 29 players in history to be on two All-Decade teams. He was the best of the best edge rushers in the 2000s and 2010s.
Peppers spent his first eight seasons with Carolina before playing for the Bears (2010-13) and then the Packers (2014-16). He finished his career with a two-season reunion with the Panthers.
He made 11 sacks in 2017 at the age of 37, one of only five players in NFL history with a double-digit sack season at 37 or older.
Five years after his retirement, Peppers is enshrined with the best of the best, and NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan was one of those who came to Canton to celebrate Peppers’ induction.
Peppers said he wouldn’t be where he is without all the “root people” in his life, and encouraged everyone to be a “root person” for others.
“Everyone can’t be a Pro Football Hall of Famer,” Peppers said. “But everyone can be a Hall of Famer in life. . . . Whatever it is you do, do it with respect, passion, resilience, dedication and gratitude. That alone will make you a Hall of Fame person. And you, too, can have the legacy that lives on forever.”
Steve McMichael announced in 2021, at the age of 63, that he was battling ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Since he couldn’t get to Canton for Saturday’s enshrinement ceremony, the Hall of Fame took the ceremony to him.
Hall of Fame president Jim Porter and several of McMichael’s Bears teammates, including Hall of Famers Richard Dent and Jimbo Covert, joined McMichael’s bedside in his home in the Chicago suburb of Homer Glen. McMichael’s wife, Misty, and their daughter, Macy, unveiled the bust.
“That’s you, baby, forever,” Misty said.
One of McMichael’s sisters read a short speech from McMichael, who is unable to speak.
McMichael had said he didn’t want his legacy to be ALS.
“What I did on the field was my legacy,” McMichael said.
His legacy now is home in Canton after a 25-year wait, having played his final game in 1994.
McMichael played 13 seasons with the Bears before finishing with one year in Green Bay. He ranks second in team history with 92.5 sacks and played in a franchise-record 191 consecutive games.
With “Mongo,” as he’s affectionately known, the Bears won six division titles and Super Bowl XX.
The 1985 Bears defense, one of the best in NFL history, now has four Hall of Famers.
The Packers unveiled a new helmet on Thursday.
White helmets will make their debut for the team’s Week Seven home game against the Texans. The traditional green logo and green stripes will also be part of the helmet for the October 20 game at Lambeau Field.
The team will pair the helmets with white jerseys and white pants for what they are calling their “Winter Warning” game. They are also encouraging fans to dress in white to create a whiteout effect that goes beyond the field for the matchup with the AFC South club.
There is a history of white helmets in Green Bay, but it has been a while since the team has worn them. They were used in the 1950s before the team opted for different looks.
After Aaron Rodgers said he looked forward to playing with Davante Adams again, the receiver and his agents were compelled to make it clear the receiver is staying in Las Vegas. For now, anyway.
Rodgers stoked the rumors of a reunion with Adams during the American Century Championship golf tournament in Lake Tahoe earlier this month, telling a reporter, “I love Davante. I can’t wait to play with him . . . again.”
On Monday, Rodgers was asked about his comment that ignited the Adams-to-New York rumors.
“Well, I do love Davante, for sure,” Rodgers said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN. “That particular [reporter] was a tad bit irritating. Those are things where it’s like somebody is asking the same question over and over and over, and I just give him something and get rid of them.”
With a smile, Rodgers added, “Yeah, but I think I was talking about golf.”
Adams has 622 catches for 7,590 yards and 69 touchdowns in 108 games with Rodgers, and he made the Pro Bowl five times with the Packers.
When last we saw receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling, he was making key catches in postseason wins over the Bills and the Ravens. After being cut by the Chiefs due to a salary that the team believed his skills didn’t justify, he signed with the Bills.
He could be cut again.
Joe Buscaglia of TheAthletic.com recently reported that MVS “has faded into the background” and “has yet to make a strong impression in the passing game during team drills” and his chances with quarterback Josh Allen “have dwindled.”
Buscagalia notes that Valdes-Scantling, during a first-team versus first-team drill which included a few substitutes on each side of the ball, was relegated to a second field with backups.
The Bills gave him a $1.125 million signing bonus, and his $1.125 million salary is fully guaranteed.
Valdes-Scantling played four seasons with the Packers and two with the Chiefs, winning a pair of Super Bowl rings.
The Packers have two new cornerbacks on the roster.
Don Callis and LJ Davis have both been signed by the NFC North club. The Packers also signed long snapper Peter Bowden and they waived kicker James Turner, cornerback Zyon Gilbert, and fullback Henry Pearson in corresponding moves.
Callis tried out for the Packers during their rookie minicamp earlier this year while Davis spent time with the Titans after going undrafted last year. Bowden was signed by the Packers as an undrafted free agent in the spring, but was released last week.
Turner’s departure leaves the Packers with two kickers. Anders Carlson and Greg Joseph remain in contention for the job in Green Bay.
Packers rookie running back MarShawn Lloyd is ready to get on the field.
Lloyd has been sidelined by a hip injury since the start of training camp, but head coach Matt LaFleur said at a Tuesday press conference that the fourth-round pick is set to do individual drills.
Lloyd ran 116 times for 820 yards and nine touchdowns while at USC last season. He’s part of a running back group that also includes Josh Jacobs and AJ Dillon and the Packers have talked about the rookie’s speed could be utilized in their offense this season.
Safety Kitan Oladapo is also set for his first on-field work of training camp. The fifth-round pick has been on the non-football injury list due to a toe injury.