Rodgers feels good about his back, place in offense

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers returned to practice but his role for Thursday night against Oakland is undetermined.

During a period against a scout-team defense mimicking the Oakland Raiders, DeShone Kizer ran the Green Bay Packers’ No. 1 offense.

Does that mean Aaron Rodgers won’t play in Thursday night’s preseason game at Winnipeg? Or was Rodgers taking a slightly lesser workload on Monday because of the back tightness that kept him out of last week’s game at Baltimore as well as Sunday’s practice?

“That just depends on Matt and what he wants to do with us,” Rodgers said on Monday of the plan for the third game of the preseason.

Rodgers said he was feeling “pretty good” after his back “locked up on me last week.” Other than sitting out the scout-team reps at the end of practice, Rodgers didn’t appear to be limited in any fashion on Monday. He moved in the pocket, threw with accuracy and, at one point, took all eight snaps in a no-huddle period.

Rodgers, of course, has never been a fan of playing in preseason games, a viewpoint no doubt sharpened by watching Jordy Nelson suffer a torn ACL in the preseason opener at Pittsburgh in 2015 – an injury that effectively ended the Packers’ season before it started. So, if it were up to him, there’s little doubt Rodgers would appear in Winnipeg to serve as assistant quarterbacks coach to Kizer, Tim Boyle and Manny Wilkins. Even operating a new scheme hasn’t changed Rodgers’ opinion on the importance – or lack thereof – of preseason reps.

“I’m kind of right where I always am,” he said. “The practices are so much more important than the preseason. The looks that we see on a day like today are invaluable reps. It’s an attacking defense, it’s different fronts, it’s different pressures. Oakland does some different things over the last couple preseasons that stress you at times protection-wise, so it’s not as vanilla as you might see in the preseason. But the best reps I’m going to see all summer are in practice. If Matt (LaFleur) wants us to play, we’ll play and go out and compete. If not, I feel pretty good about where we’re at.”

Ultimately, it will be up to LaFleur. At one point after practice, LaFleur said “he had a pretty good idea” how he wanted to handle his starters’ workload. Asked about Rodgers, LaFleur said: “We’ll see.”

“I don’t think it's going to make or break us one way or the other,” LaFleur continued. “Again, I got so much confidence in him and I know our guys do, as well, and we’ve gotten a lot of good work, so I’m not overly concerned either way, whether he plays or not.”

General manager Brian Gutekunst said he’d like to see Rodgers get some game action before the season begins at powerful Chicago. However, as a 15-year NFL pro who is entering season No. 12 as a starter, Gutekunst said his level of concern “wouldn’t be high” if Rodgers didn’t take any exhibition snaps.

“It’s not like it's a different sport,” Gutekunst said of Rodgers and the schematic changes. “You know what I mean? Football’s football. Again, we’d love to have him out there. But, again, I think he got a lot practice reps against Houston (in joint practices on Aug. 5 and 6). I know he wasn’t a fan of them, but those two days vs. Houston I think were important to get out there in that environment. So, like I said, I think the plan is to get him out there Thursday night and we’ll see about Kansas City.”