Packers Activate MarShawn Lloyd from Injured Reserve, With Asterisk

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers placed defensive end Micah Parsons on injured reserve on Wednesday and filled his spot with running back MarShawn Lloyd.

His place on the 53-man roster won’t be for long, though. It’s merely a procedural move.

Lloyd was designated for return from injured reserve on Dec. 1. Lloyd, who was placed on injured reserve at the end of training camp due to a hamstring injury sustained during the preseason, suffered another hamstring injury at practice on Thursday. With his 21-day return-to-play window closing in a few days, there was no chance he’d be healthy before the window closed.

So, the Packers activated him from injured reserve on Wednesday but will place him back on injured reserve this week. By doing so, if the Packers’ season is alive in four weeks, they’ll be able to designate him for return again, if for no other reason than to get him some more work on the practice field to get him ready for 2026.

“His explosiveness is great,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said on Wednesday. “Obviously, his injury bug is extremely unfortunate. I mean, there’s not much more I can say about it other than he has a lot of potential. But, at some point, we got to get him out there so he can realize that potential.”

The Packers have done this before.

With Lloyd.

Lloyd was nearing a return from injured reserve last season before he needed an appendectomy. So, the Packers placed Lloyd on the reserve/non-football illness list. Ultimately, another hamstring injury shut him down for the season.

A third-round pick in 2024, Lloyd has played 10 snaps in one career game. There were 19 offensive players drafted in the third round of that draft. The other 18 have played at least 125, with six playing more than 1,000.

“It’s one of those things that’s very, very, very unfortunate because this guy has worked his ass off to battle back,” coach Matt LaFleur said this week. “To be in that spot again, it’s just what do you say to him? We’ll continue to investigate and try to figure out why this keeps occurring but it’s certainly unfortunate, and I feel bad – I really do. I feel extremely bad for MarShawn.”

Once Lloyd is sent back to injured reserve, the Packers once again will have an open roster spot. That could go to defensive end Brenton Cox, who has been full participation at practice. His return-to-play window also was opened on Dec. 1.

The Packers had one of the top defenses in the NFL last season without Parsons and they’ll try to do it again, starting on Saturday night against the Chicago Bears with first place in the NFC North on the line.

“I’m upset for the player,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “I care about these guys. Devonte Wyatt, he’s out for the year; that’s upsetting to me. We have other guys. (Lukas) Van Ness hasn’t played a whole lot this year; those are upsetting. Micah’s out, it’s the same thing.

“But my responsibility is to this defense and to the Green Bay Packers, and we’ve got really good players in the room that we need to lead and we need to coach and we need to press on. So, certainly, it’s upsetting.

“Did I have a few moments where seeing Micah and looking him in the eye and seeing him sitting there, that’s hard. It’d be hard for anybody who cares about somebody. I mean, I love the guy. But then you wake up and you get back to work and you have to move on. I mean, that’s part of the job.”

On a short week, there wasn’t much time for grieving for Hafley or the players. A huge game is on the horizon.

“You learn that you’ve just got to keep moving forward,” he said. “When you are the leader, people are going to look to you and how you respond to things. And that’s how I’m looking at our players right now, our coaches right now, and it is go forward to the Bears as hard and as fast as we can, and I’ve got all the confidence in the world in the guys in the room right now.”

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