Packers Injured Playmaker Vows Strong Return Season After ‘Freakish’ 2024

His rookie season was not exactly what Packers running back MarShawn Lloyd envisioned. As the team’s third-round pick in 2023, it was anticipated that he would have a significant role in the team’s rebuilt running game, primarily as the backup to new starter Josh Jacobs. But we never quite got there with Lloyd.

In fact, we never quite got much of anywhere with Lloyd. He opened training camp on the injury list with a hip problem he suffered after minicamp last year. He played in one preseason game and hurt his hamstring, which put him out for the Packers’ season opener in Brazil.

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. But form there, he hurt his ankle, went on the injured reserve and, as he was prepping to come off it, suffered appendicitis and needed surgery. The Packers did not get Lloyd back for the rest of the season.

That, he is hoping, is about to change.

Packers Moving Slowly

Lloyd was back at full throttle in minicamp, which was welcome for him because, though he felt good in OTAs, he was sequestered from the rest of the team and left to rehab with a coach.

Well, he does not see it as rehabbing. More along the lines of re-acclimating.

“Not rehabbing anything just, when you go through a year where you have certain things, like, you have a hamstring or you have a hip, there’s certain things you can’t just throw a person out there,” he said.

“You got to figure things out, you got to figure the body out, so I was up for playing and feeling 100%, but they wanted to just slowly get my way into it. I haven’t played a team sport for, it’s been a minute. Eventually, as the middle of OTAs went through, I started to get back into practices, and now I’m good.”

MarShawn Lloyd Ready for 2025 Opportunities

The Packers still hold out a lot of hope for the 5-foot-9, 220-pound Lloyd. Late last year, position coach Ben Sirmans said the team should view it as a “redshirt” year.

“Some of the things are freakish that obviously happened to him,” said Sirmans. “Obviously, he’s disappointed the way the year has gone for him but it’s almost, to a degree, like having a redshirt year from the standpoint of the time that he’s missed.”

There should be opportunities. Last year, the Packers’ No. 2 back, Emanuel Wilson, got 103 carries and No. 3, Chris Brooks, got 36. Lloyd is expected to leapfrog both on the depth chart.

He says he will be ready, injuries aside. “I play football,” he said. “I am very comfortable with everything I can do. I am not trying to prove anything to anybody. I know what I can do. I mean, if you’re watching, you’re watching.”