Here’s the Truth About Packers’ Injury Situation
GREEN BAY, Wis. – On the final injury report before the game at the Las Vegas Raiders, the Green Bay Packers gave injury designations to six players.
Coming off a bye week filled with rest, relaxation and rejuvenation, the Packers unbelievably gave injury designations to 10 players for Sunday’s game at the Las Vegas Raiders.
“It’s like, did we play a game last week?” coach Matt LaFleur said on Friday.
Other than Madden, no, they did not play any football.
What on earth is going on in Green Bay? Are the players soft? Is the training staff incompetent? Is the coaching staff too conservative?
Or, maybe, it’s just one of those years that happens in a sport filled with explosive athletes and violent situations.
Last year, according to the subscription site ManGamesLost.com, the Packers weren’t one of the most-injured teams in the NFL. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The Packers were the third-healthiest team in the NFL based on games lost due to injuries. Combined, their injured players were sidelined for 121 games. The Minnesota Vikings won the NFC North despite their players missing 184 games. The Detroit Lions, who knocked the Packers out of the playoffs with their Week 18 upset at Lambeau, had twice as many injuries as Green Bay.
How about 2021? The Packers were in the middle of the pack, their 185 games lost the 14th-fewest. It was about quality rather than quantity, with David Bakhtiari, Za’Darius Smith and Jaire Alexander ranking among the 10 most-impactful injuries of the season.
The Packers were more-injured than average in 2020, ranking 22nd. In 2019, LaFleur’s first season, the Packers were the eighth-healthiest.
Jaire Alexander
Photo by Tork Mason/USA Today Sports Images
In fact, you’ve got to go all the way back to 2013 to find a season in which the Packers were truly hammered by injuries. With Aaron Rodgers missing about half the season with a broken collarbone, Packers players missed 266 games due to injuries. They were the second-most-injured team in the league.
From 2014 through 2022, the Packers via Man Games Lost data ranked among the 10 healthiest teams in 2015 (eighth), 2019 (eighth) and 2022 (third) but never among the 10 most-injured teams.
By impact to key players, via Approximate Value, the Packers’ ranking under LaFleur (with first being healthy and last being injured):
2022 – 7th
2021 – 28th
2020 – 14th
2019 – 6th
2018 (Year 1 for GM Brian Gutekunst; last year under Mike McCarthy) – 20th
To state the obvious, health matters.
The 2020 Packers might have gotten to the Super Bowl had Bakhtiari not suffered a torn ACL at practice on New Year’s Eve.
Who knows what might have happened in 2021 had Bakhtiari and Elgton Jenkins been in the starting lineup for the playoffs rather than Dennis Kelly and Lucas Patrick.
In 2022, the Chiefs were the second-healthiest team in the NFL and won the Super Bowl and the Eagles were the fourth-healthiest team in the NFL and won the NFC.
The 2023 Packers, already facing the significant challenge of a young quarterback throwing to young receivers, have been beaten to a pulp. Adding insult to injury – no, make that adding potential injury to injury: Following their early bye, which at least should get running back Aaron Jones back on the field, they’ll have to play 12 consecutive weeks.
A quick list of the team’s 10 most important players entering the season might have included quarterback Jordan Love, Jones, receiver Christian Watson, Bakhtiari, Jenkins, defensive tackle Kenny Clark, outside linebacker Rashan Gary, linebackers Quay Walker and De’Vondre Campbell and Alexander.
Jones has been limited to 48 snaps through five weeks because of a hamstring, Watson missed the first three games with a hamstring, Bakhtiari was done after one game because of his troublesome knee, Jenkins might miss a third game this season against Denver because of a knee, Walker has missed time due to a concussion and knee injury, Campbell is set to miss a third game with an ankle injury and Alexander might miss a third game with a back injury.
Through five weeks, they missed a combined 16 games. That could reach 20 by kickoff Sunday.
It's easy and understandable to want to play the blame game. And maybe there’s something to it. Coming up with solutions needs to be on the offseason to-do list for LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst.
But, in a violent league in which players like to remind reporters that the injury rate is 100 percent, perhaps there are no solutions other than stocking up on gauze, ice packs and Tylenol. The painful start to this season really might be nothing more than the Packers enduring one of those injury-plagued seasons that are inevitable.
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