Leavitt Makes Surprising Return Following Shoulder Injury

After experiencing the most painful injury of his life, the expectation was safety Dallin Leavitt would be sidelined for a significant chunk of the season.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – After new Green Bay Packers safety Dallin Leavitt injured a shoulder in the preseason opener at San Francisco, coach Matt LaFleur struck an ominous tone.

“He’ll be out a while,” LaFleur said.

Typically, that’s LaFleur-speak for a significant injury. Presumably, Leavitt would make the opening 53-man roster before going on injured reserve to continue his recovery. And then, at some point deep into the season, he’d potentially return to action.

“Yeah, I’m going to be honest, I think that most people probably felt that way in the building, as well, that, ‘He’s going to be out for a while,” Leavitt said upon returning to practice on Sunday. “I just can’t live like that, you know what I mean? I’m not OK with being out, so I’m going to do everything I can to get back.”

That he’s back – or at least on the way back – seems remarkable. Late in the first half against the 49ers on Aug. 12, Leavitt delivered a wicked shot to Ray-Ray McCloud that forced a fumble. As Krys Barnes scooped up the loose ball, Leavitt lay on the field writhing in pain.

“Yeah, it was painful,” Leavitt said with a smile. “It’s on tape. You can see how much pain I was in. It was extremely painful, I’ll just put it like that. Definitely the most painful – pure pain – injury I’ve ever had on.”

Leavitt had been going through on-field rehab for the past week. On Sunday, he went through individual drills. Leavitt was careful to not proclaim himself good to go for Week 1. He’s wearing a DonJoy Sully Shoulder Brace to restrict movement. While he didn’t say it, it seems that his comeback is a bit of a trial. What he handle one day? Can he handle a bit more the next?

This might be an apples and oranges comparison but, following last year’s shoulder injury, Jaire Alexander returned to practice on Dec. 8 but didn’t play for more than six weeks.

After the long layoff, Leavitt said it felt like he was running on “baby deer legs.”

“I’m still a ways off from where I want to be,” he said. “I don’t want to speak on it too much in that sense, but I’ve got certain goals that I’m not going to put out there. I just want to take it day-by-day. I just know that every day I come in here with the athletic training staff and try to do the best I can to get healthy and, when we go out to the weight room and run at practice, I’m trying to get healthy and get strong so I can go out there and play.”

The Packers pounced when Leavitt was released by the Raiders on July 20. Last season, he led the Raiders in tackles on special teams. Those kicking units were coached by Rich Bisaccia, who’s now Green Bay’s special teams coordinator. Leavitt and Bisaccia are close on and off the field. When Leavitt came to Green Bay to sign, it was Bisaccia who hung out with his family.

Leavitt quickly became a No. 1 on all four phases of special teams. That he might have been only the fifth safety was irrelevant to his potential role in curing Green Bay’s consistently awful special teams.

“When you get in the huddle with Aaron Rodgers on offense, I think the hair on the back of your neck stands up and you have to know what you’re doing,” Bisaccia said recently. “I like to think when you get in the huddle with Dallin Leavitt, the hair on the back of your neck better stand up. You have to know what you’re doing, and he’s been through the process.”

While Leavitt downplayed his potential importance to those units, there’s no denying what he could mean as a proven performer who could serve as an extension of Bisaccia on the field.

“Special teams is really different than offense and defense,” Leavitt said. “Think about: If you run left and the right corner’s hanging out or the right receiver’s just hanging out, it doesn’t really affect the play. I think in special teams, if someone is out of their gap or someone misses their assignment, it can mess up the whole play. It’s just going to be doing my one-eleventh. I don’t want to say, because it’s not the case, that I’m the most important or any more important than any other guy on our special teams unit. I’m just one-eleventh of our piece and what needs to be done.”

Packers Sunday Injury Report

Did not practice: OL Elgton Jenkins (not knee), TE Nate Becker, TE Alize Mack, S Innis Gaines (hamstring), DT Akial Byers (ankle).

Returned to practice: S Darnell Savage (hamstring), S Dallin Leavitt (shoulder).