Packers Injury Report Aug. 28: Jenkins Doesn’t Practice

Rather than progressing into team drills, Elgton Jenkins didn't practice at all on Sunday.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Left tackle David Bakhtiari returned to practice but his potential bookend on the offensive line, Elgton Jenkins, spent the start of Sunday’s practice on an exercise bike.

“Not necessarily planned but I’m going to keep it internal,” coach Matt LaFleur said before practice. His absence is not related to the torn ACL sustained during a game at the Vikings in November.

The team does not have to provide injury updates this week.

For what it’s worth, Jenkins retweeted Steve Harvey, who at 12:14 a.m. tweeted, “Go where your appreciated.” It was Jenkins' first activity on Twitter in almost a month.

Go where your appreciated.

— Steve Harvey (@IAmSteveHarvey) August 28, 2022

A second-round pick in 2019, Jenkins is entering his final season under contract. A Pro Bowler at left guard in 2020 and a standout left tackle until suffering the season-ending knee injury, he figures to be the team’s starting right tackle once fully cleared.

When Jenkins was activated off the physically unable to perform list on Aug. 14, he was asked if he considered taking a more conservative approach to his comeback given what’s at stake financially.

“No,” he said. “Just control what you can control. You can’t worry about those things. You’ve just got to worry about the process and what matters most, and that’s just getting my knee back at 100 percent.”

Starting safety Darnell Savage practiced for the first time since suffering a hamstring injury on Family Night and backup safety and key special-teams performer Dallin Leavitt practiced for the first time since suffering a shoulder injury on a wicked fumble-forcing fumble in the preseason opener at San Francisco a little more than two weeks ago.

“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.”

Bakhtiari returned to practice last week, working on Sunday and Monday before getting Tuesday off. He was scheduled to go through individual drills on Sunday.

Tight end Robert Tonyan also practiced. Kicker Mason Crosby has not been activated from the physically unable to perform list but was scheduled to kick again on his own as he makes his comeback from offseason knee surgery.

With training camp complete, reporters are no longer allowed to watch team drills.

“I would say it’s much more like training camp,” LaFleur said when asked if these practices would be the start of preparation for the opener at the Vikings on Sept. 11. “We’re just going to go our 1s vs. our 1s on both sides and then 2s vs. 2s.”

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).