Packers Wednesday Update From Practice: Getting Him ‘Ramped Up and Ready’

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Only one player didn’t practice for the Green Bay Packers on Wednesday as they turned their attention away from last week’s brutal loss to the Vikings and toward Sunday’s game against the New York Jets.

The Packers might be licking their wounds from how they lost but they aren’t wounded headed into Week 2. In fact, the only player who didn’t practice on Wednesday was defensive tackle Warren Brinson. He suffered an injured calf during warmups before the second preseason game at Denver and has not practiced since.

Sunday’s game will be one day shy of one month since the injury.

Of note, left guard Aaron Banks was working with the rest of the linemen after being a somewhat surprising inactive for the Minnesota game due to knee tendinitis.

“He’ll be back out there at practice, and we’re trying to get him ramped up, ready to go,” coach Matt LaFleur said before practice. “But, again, that’s a process that we’ll take through the week.”

Here’s Aaron Banks pic.twitter.com/f150THABc5
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 16, 2026

The potential return of Banks would be huge for the Packers in light of the debacle at Minnesota. Officially, the Packers gave up 15 quarterbacks hits, the most in Jordan Love’s three-plus years at quarterback. If that seems bad, it was actually worse. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said there were 18.

How will that group – however they’re lined up – react?

“I think that’s to be seen, but I would expect them to react positively,” LaFleur said. “I think they’re going to take the coaching, they’re going to take it to heart. I know that’s a prideful group, and you know we’re just looking at, to get a little bit better each and every day.”

They’re going to have to, because they’re going to face a strong Jets defensive front.

Will McDonald, who the Packers could have selected instead of Lukas Van Ness in the first round in 2023, had 10.5 sacks in 2024, eight sacks in 2025 and one sack in his season debut last week.

David Bailey, the second overall pick in this year’s draft after earning All-American honors with 14.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for losses during his senior season at Texas Tech, had one sack in his NFL debut.

Kingsley Enagbare, who had 12.5 sacks in four seasons with the Packers, had one sack in his Jets debut last week.

The defensive tackles are sturdy Harrison Phillips and massive T’Vondre Sweat. Ageless Demario Davis, who leads all active players with 1,544 career tackles, anchors the linebacker corps.

“I think they’ve got good edge rushers and they’re big inside,” LaFleur said. “McDonald and Bailey, obviously, are very talented; JJ (Enagbare) had a sack versus Tennessee, so I think they’ve definitely upgraded the talent on that defense. We saw them last year in the preseason, but it’s really tough to get a great evaluation on that.

“I think they’re a complete football team. I don’t see any glaring weaknesses. I think they’re just a really sound, they play really hard, I think it’s a complete team.”

Also of note from the injury front, edge Barryn Sorrell, who was on the injury report last week with an ankle injury but started against the Vikings, missed most of the media portion of practice while getting a tape job.

Plus, practice squad running back Pierre Strong, who might have been active for the Minnesota game if not for a hamstring injury, was back at practice.

The two additions to the practice squad, receiver Quincy Skinner Jr. and experienced defensive tackle Eric Johnson, were at practice. There is still one opening on the practice squad that was not filled as of the start of practice.

Who's up? Who's down?

Here's our Packers stock report from Week 1 and what it means moving into Week 2. 📈📉https://t.co/vgylpG2P1k
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 16, 2026

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